I remember it so vividly. It was my first day at my new job at Seattle Yachts. I was learning the phones and it was a busy day. In the middle of the busyness and feeling like my brain was on overload, I got a text that slowed down time. “It’s Cancer.”

My Dad had had some blood in his urine and had been to see a few doctors. They treated him for a UTI but that didn’t change the bleeding. So, this appointment on this day was the one we held our breath for…the one that would change our lives.

That appointment went smoothly and he was told the cancer was minimal and it would not be a problem to remove. Surgery would be scheduled and it would be a day procedure. While knowing it was cancer was really hard to cope with, the news sounded encouraging and the outcome good.

Nothing about the last year has been easy and it’s all been hard to cope with! That initial surgery was a nightmare. The tumor was huge and in the process of trying to remove it, his bladder was nicked. He had to be rushed to the ER to check him out. He had to have a blood transfusion and a few day stay to let the bladder heal. Those moments of not knowing what was going on were excruciating. We were just told the bladder had been punctured and he was going via ambulance to the ER. They didn’t even wait for my Mom to hop on the ambulance. It was only about 30 minutes before we found him and she could be with him, but it was an awful 30 minutes.

What has followed has been more surgeries, so many anxious moments, scans, lots of travel and decisions to make.

As with everything in life, it’s so hard to see someone you love suffer, knowing you are not able to ease the pain. Both of my parents have been superheroes through this whole ordeal and they are battling this beast head on. My Dad is tired, but is able to do what he wants to do most of the time. He is active and will tell you he feels fine. For that I am so grateful!

The latest scans don’t show much of a change, so it’s decision time once again. There are two clinic options that offer an alternative to the traditional chemo method. So we will find out soon what the CA clinic recommends. So far he’s been doing 10% chemo and it seems to be holding the cancer at bay, but not reducing the tumor load. There is a local clinic that recommends a higher chemo dose as well as radiation.

Thank you for being a part of our journey over the last year. We definitely feel your prayers and appreciate your check ins and kind words. There have been soo many difficult moments and so much stress for all of us. However, we are trying to find moments in each day to take a breath, find joy and be grateful for the moments. This is a formidable beast and we continue to fight.