Update on Dad

I'm typing on a computer terminal at Methodist Hospital. We got good news although it won't sound like it at first.

When we pulled into the Medical Center area, we got a call from mom saying to come to the hospital right away, rather than going to the hotel first, because they couldn't do surgery. Bad.

When we got to the hospital, she said that the doctor had already been in and said that they probably wouldn't be able to remove the tumor because, after the last CT scan, they found major blood vessels attached to it. Bad.

After a couple of hours, the nurse came out (still before we got there) and told mom the tumor was a lymphoma but that that was good news. Good?

We arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes later. The doctor came in about 30 minutes after we got there and told us that this was "the best possible news." He said a lymphoma isn't treated surgically and is highly curable with chemotherapy and that the chemotherapy can be done in Beaumont.

The doctor said that the recovery from this surgery is a lot less complicated and more straightforward than the Whipple and dad should be in the hospital around 7 days rather than 10 to 12 days. He said dad's gallbladder was "bad and full of stones" so he removed that and put markers around the tumor in case dad needs radiation therapy. Good.

Dad has been talking to us since shortly after surgery and he's asking a million questions and entertaining all the nurses in surgical ICU. He's in good spirits and so are we. We should get a room today.