Crappy News

My family had been planning a 3-night trip to a large cabin in Island Park for all of us siblings and the cousins to get a chance to play together. The plan was to kick it all off with family pictures first. Well, on our way to family pictures, we got a phone call no one ever wants to get - Dad, Grandpa Millar, was in the hospital. The trip was automatically cancelled. There was no way we were all going to head up there without Grandma and Grandpa.

NOTE: For the next little bit, I'm going to summarize Grandpa's experience written in hind sight, since it is now May after all.

Grandpa's Story: At Thanksgiving I noticed that Grandpa's cheek was a little swollen but didn't mention anything about it. It was something that had apparently been bothering him mentally for quite some time. He just had a bad feeling about it. After some rather emotionally roller coaster-like tests, we learned that it was sarcoma. The only fortunate aspect was that it was a very treatable form of cancer. Just before Christmas, Dad received what was to be the first of six chemo treatments. Unfortunately, as well as I understand it with my non-medical background, Dad's weak liver wasn't able to filter the treatment like normal, and his blood counts went crazy. He had virtually no white blood cells and got really, really sick. Off to the hospital he went for three days.

The next two rounds of chemo weren't much better. With the second one he ended up back in the hospital with a horrible cold on top of everything else. With the third, he just holed up in the house for days, not daring to be around anyone. It was one of the hardest things I've gone through, watching my dad go through such misery and becoming so weak.

After that third round, the doctor decided to stop with the chemo. It was just too hard on him. Instead they did 30 days of radiation. He had  a special mask made that helped keep the treatment to its localized place on his face, and he endured the treatment with some nasty mouth wounds and very sore lips. It was miserable, but maybe a step up from landing in the hospital.

The treatments worked, though, and he was able to go on his hunting trip to Africa with Bryce last month (April 2012). It was good for him to have something like that to look forward to. It helped him have something big to look forward to. He's supposed to be going back for some follow-up testing in the next week or so to see where things stand now. I pray that everything is gone for good.

Events like that are horrible for everyone involved. The only real positive thing is that it reminded us to appreciate every day we get to have with our loved ones. You never know what tomorrow is going to bring. Love every day like it's the last and you won't have any regrets. I love my dad. I've always looked up to him. As a kid, he was always the man who could do anything and fix anything. He has shared his love for family and the outdoors with me and has taught me that life is meant to be lived not endured. When you treasure what you have and try hard to forget about the things you don't, life is much more fun. I love you, Dad, and I'm so grateful to still have you in my life.