Good bad news

OK just got a call from Natalie.

Dad has Lymphoma which is the good news albeit the worst good news you could ever imagine hearing.

It is Stage IV diffused large B-cell non-Hodgkins. I'll leave the google work to you. They found cancerous cells in his spleen and in his bone marrow. He is starting his first chemotherapy treatment tomorrow which will last 5 days - two days on an I.V. and then three with oral medications. He's already been told to expect the loss of his hair and to experience the nausea associated with chemo. Hopefully after a few treatments the spleen will be irradiated and he won't have to have that removed. With his blood counts being low they won't perform surgery on him anyway. After this initial round of treatment he's hoping to get home and take over from me on the blog (which is fine, I'll have much more fun mowing their yard while he's inside typing). The outlook right now is as best as we can expect, all things considered.

Along these same lines I have to mention that Natalie's mom, Karen as well as a good family friend of ours, Larry also have Lymphoma. It is said there is strength in numbers and between the three families we're packing some serious horsepower. Never will the path from patient to survivor be void of a loving hand or guiding light for these three.

Ed