Answered Prayers......

WE have had a good two weeks. Nick's Dad has improved way beyond our hopes!! He has made the chemo look easy and his wound has continued to heal inspite of the chemo, we can't even believe it. I don't pray much, and I don't often go to church, but I have definitely begun to believe in the power of prayer!! Peter's improvement since arriving at Halifax has even astounded the doctors!! Typically the wounds don't heal once chemo has started, but Peters has!! We are thrilled and can see the end in sight. The doctors were so impressed with his progress that they have even allowed him a day pass to come home to the Valley for Easter. He was allowed 24 hours of leave from the hospital, under the watchful eye of his wife Nancy!! The family was thrilled, after seven weeks away from home he was finally back, even if only for a day!!

Praying for a Miracle..........

February was a tough month in our house. NIck's Dad Peter was suddenly diagnosed with cancer.
In January he was feeling ill and his stomach was bothering him. He went to the doctor several times and they seemed to diagnose him with various things. Gastridious was one of the things. However, he keep feeling worse, finally in February he could stand the pain no longer and asked his secretary ( also his sister in law) to take him to the hospital. They arrived at Valley Regional and the doctors there quickly discovered that he had colon cancer. That wednesday they decided to operate to remove the tumour. The sugery was sucessful, they removed half his colon the tumour and he didn't need a colostomy bag. We were so thankful.However after several weeks, he was still unable to digest food, and was often throwing up. So March 7th they decided to go in again and find out what the problem was. They discovered that there were now tumours all over his bowel and small intestine. There was nothing they could do. They closed him up and informed us that day that preparing and pallative care were the only options. This was a hard day for Nick and our family!
Nick's Dad is a very healhty active man, who works all the time, and eats healthy has never smoked or drank. Didn't seem to make much sense. Nick's Dad just turned 50 in January. Nick's family owns a small business and Nick is the third generation, they work very hard. And losing Nick's dad was not only sad as a family but as a business, Nick had a the feeling of where do I go from here?!!
Last weekend we were feeling very hopeless and wondering what to do. HOwever, a doctor in the city learned of Nick's dad, as his cancer is a very rare form of non hodgekins lymphoma called Mantle Cell that had grown in the colon ( not actually colon cancer as we had first been told). This doctor wanted Nick's dad in Halifax. So Monday he was transported to Hali by ambulance. He is now at the VG and will be there for atleast two months. Tuesday we were given news that they believe that this cancer could be treatable with Chemo, this was a relieve as Mantle Cell typically is not treatable with Chemo. We now have new hope, but also fear because Nick's dad still has a major open wound on his stomach from the two surgeries, which will have difficulty healing while he is doing chemo because chemo destroys so many cells. The doctors words were that it would be dicey and difficult, but we are just happy there is something we can try. The doctor informed us that this cancer will return, but we are hoping that he will survive this round of chemo, and we will take the next round on when the time comes. We just want more time........if nothing else!! We are all praying, and hoping......that he gets through this chemo and is able to come home......