Please pray for my Papa

February 23 /10

Hi friends.

My Papa is sick and we really need your prayers. I will turn this post over to Mama so she can explain. In the meantime, I am giving my Papa lots of kisses and snuggles and I'm making him laugh at all the silly things I do. I'm so glad I'm here to make him smile.

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Hi everybody. Since we are pretty private about most personal things, I haven't posted about Morrie's illness. But I have decided to let you all know what's going on in our family because I really need your support and encouragement right now. You are like an extended family to me and reaching out to you just seems like the right thing to do.

A few weeks ago Morrie was diagnosed with melanoma. He had a "thingy" removed from his back three weeks earlier. I had noticed blood on his shirt and when I looked at his back there was a small red bump, about the size of a boil. I urged him to see the skin doctor, although the thought that it could be cancerous was fleeting. I just didn't believe it could be serious.

I'll never, ever forget the Wednesday afternoon when he came home from work and sat me down and said, "I have cancer." At 9 a.m. he'd received the call at his office from the dermatologist with the news. He went to work that morning, carefree. And he drove home a cancer patient. It hit him like a ton of bricks. And then the bricks hit me. I fought so hard not to fall apart because he needed me to be strong and efficient. And I'm trying to stay strong when we're together but when I'm alone, I cry my heart out.

After Morrie broke the news to me all he talked about was how Daniel and I would be if .... It was just a few hours since he'd heard the news himself and he had already begun to get things in order for us, in case .... (I can't even type it.) There wasn't a hint of self-pity or "why me?" It was all about Daniel and me. I was amazed that we were his first concern and not himself. What a man.

I did lots of research and discovered that melanoma is a tricky, stubborn cancer. It can recur at any time in any place in the body, including major organs. Even after the first cancer is removed, cancer cells can travel through the lymph nodes and take up residence anywhere at any time, forever.

If Morrie is lucky enough to have escaped lymph node involvement, we will always have to be one step ahead of the cancer and have him thoroughly checked on a regular basis for the rest of his life.

So our life has changed completely. Within minutes it was turned upside down. I know we will eventually adjust and do what we have to do, but I haven't reached that place yet and I am still scared about what the future holds.

We visited the surgeon and after reading Morrie's chart and checking him over, he said he had a feeling the prognosis would be good. I don't think a doctor would go so far out on a limb and say that if he didn't believe it. We're hanging so much hope on those few words ....

Morrie's surgery will be on Thursday morning. They will remove any of the cancer the dermatologist may have missed and wide-margin tissue surrounding the tumour. They will also remove his Sentinal Lymph Node for biopsy to see if and how far the cancer may have spread. We will have the results of the biopsy two to three weeks after that.

It's been very hard keeping our life as "normal" as possible, to not let this terrible, sudden crisis get the better of us. I'm working hard to keep my family strong and positive and to carry on as always while we fight this with all our strength.

Please pray for my darling man. Please pray for his continued good health which he deserves so much. He's such a good person and has always been our tower of strength. The thought of him leaving us or living in a weakened condition is so heartbreaking.

I know there has been so much awful news that we've all shared lately. And I hate bringing more bad news to all of you. I know so many of you are struggling with your own troubles and health problems. But please add one more person to the list of those you are praying for.

Thanks so much. I will keep you posted.

Linda

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