I am starting a blog site to keep everyone up to date on Dad's illness. Bear with me - the only thing I really know how to do well on the internet involves email, and my friends will tell you that I really am not that good at that either.

Dad showed his first symptom two weeks ago today. When Kevin went to his house around 4pm, Dad asked him why he was there so early in the morning. He said a few things later in the week that didn't really make sense, but we chalked it up to him being tired. Last Sunday, Dad made a few mistakes in his sermon, and we insisted that he see the doctor. Monday, Dad got lab work done. Tuesday, he had a cat scan. Wednesday afternoon, the doctor told Dad that he had a mass in his brain that was a little smaller than a golf ball. They immediately called my brother-in-law, Gregory, who is a pediatric neurologist at Vanderbilt. I don't know what we would have done without him. He called the head of the neurosurgical oncology department that night, and found out how we needed to proceed. We have definitely had the Lord's hand guiding us all the way. The surgeon said that we needed an MRI, and that we should get the results to Vanderbilt. This is where Dad's care really is quite amazing. On Thursday morning, my sister Kristie talked to her friend at the hospital - who told us she could take care of getting any tests Dad needed. We got an appointment for the MRI at 10:45 - that morning. We had the results of the MRI by 12:00. Kristie and I jumped in the car and drove them straight to Vanderbilt. My brother-in-law (also known as our Godsend) met us at the back door at the loading dock and took us straight to his office. He read the MRI and said it was an "oddball" tumor. He then took it to another neurologist. He agreed with Gregory - this doesn't look like a typical tumor. Kristie and I waited, hoping that the head neurosurgeon would be able to read it, but he hadn't gotten out of surgery by 7:30, and we still had 2 hours and 40 minutes to drive home. The neurosurgeon called Gregory at 9 PM and told him that he'd meet him at 9:30 Friday morning to read the results. The results were not what we wanted to hear. The neurosurgeon feels like it is one of three types of cancer.

1. lymphoma - this is what he is leaning more towards. This is also the only one of the

three choices that is relatively treatable with chemotherapy and surgery.

2. glioma - very serious, and only treatable depending on the grade of the tumor.

3. central nervous system cytoma - also very serious and not easily treatable.

Gregory called Mom and Dad around 10:30 with the terrible news. The surgeon said that Dad needed to get a cat scan of his chest, abdomen and pelvis area to check for lymphoma that could possibly have spread to other parts of his body. We also needed to get lab work to check for lymphoma. Kristie got on the phone with her friend, and we had the lab work lined up at 12:30 and the cat scan scheduled for 2:45 - THE SAME DAY. Praise the Lord for making our path as smooth as possible. The cat scan took the rest of the afternoon, and brought us more really bad news. Dad has an aneurism in his stomach that is 8cm, and it covered an area that is 12cm long. The radiologist told us we needed to see a surgeon before the weekend, and it was then 5:30 on Friday night. Apparently, at 5cm, an aneurism is considered very dangerous, and they operate immediately. We talked to Gregory and he told us to bring Dad to Vanderbilt in the morning, and in the meantime he would talk to the vascular surgery department. Gregory called back that night: the vascular surgeon on call said that although the aneurism was indeed very dangerous, it was, for now, asymptomatic. If Dad had surgery on the aneurism, they would have to postpone his brain surgery, and that would be worse. The swelling in his brain is getting worse, and his confusion and memory are rapidly deteriorating.

The vascular surgery department is supposed to give them a call tomorrow to set up an appointment. Then they have an appointment with the neurosurgeon on Tuesday at 11:15. Dad will have a permanent shunt put in his brain to relieve the fluid and swelling tentatively on Friday, and the biopsy will be performed then. The surgery date may change after they meet with the neurosurgeon - we are hoping that it might be done sooner.

It is amazing to think that we have journeyed this far already in only a week. My sister Kay (Gregory's wife) says that Vanderbilt takes care of its own, and Dad is certainly a testament to that. We have been so blessed to have Gregory manning "Freeman Central" - I know that he's spent many hours coordinating all the doctors and departments to take care of Dad. For that, our family will be forever grateful. Also, Kristie's friend Lisa has been so wonderful, getting Dad the tests within hours of a phone call.

We know that Dad is on prayer chains across the country, and we know that prayer is even more valuable than having the best doctors in the country. Please keep Dad lifted up - and also Mom and our family. Thank you for keeping Dad in your hearts and in your prayers.

I CAN DO EVERYTHING THROUGH HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.

Philippians 4:13

With love,

Renee

PS - You can leave any notes for Dad and Mom at the bottom at the comments link below - they don't have the internet, and I don't see them ever getting it - but I will make sure they hear every one of them. Thanks for your support.