Monday, May 31 - Biopsy Day

 Dad's surgery was scheduled for 6am, so that meant Mom was wide awake by 5am. She called the hospital to see how Dad's night went and was able to talk to the Neurosurgeon doing Dad's procedure. He was able tell her in detail what was about to happen. They were going to attach a metal cage to Dad's head as a guide for the MRI. They would then attach a secondary cage to the one already in place. They would then go into this brain with a catheter and take a biopsy of the tumor to send away to pathology. Even though considered a small procedure it was still considered major surgery as it was dealing with his brain. They would start at 6am, Mom didn't ask how long it would be so she didn't sit and time them as well as worry.

The Doctor said that Dad was quite alert and was understanding what was going on. The Doctor was quite interested in Dad's RCMP history as Dad was telling him all about it as they were getting him ready for surgery. He would also be awake for the surgery so they could monitor his speech and motor movements. (He doesn't remember anything from the surgery and is convinced he slept through it). The one thing he does remember it them putting the cage on his head as the had to screw it into his skull. He says it hurt but wasn't too bad!

At 1015am we got a call from the Doctor that everything had gone as planned and that Dad was in recovery and would be for a couple of hours. We were told that the tumor was growing from the Brain and had not metastasized from anywhere else in Dad's body, which at the time sounded like very good news. Not even 15 minutes later Mom's phone rang and the call display read "Health Science Center"...needless to say she didn't want to answer the phone seeing as she just hung up and it could only mean things had taken a turn and they were calling back. She gingerly picked up the phone and said a very weary "Hello?"..."HELLO HUNNY, IM IN RECOVERY...DON'T KNOW WHY OR WHAT KIND OF SURGERY I HAD...BUT IM IN RECOVERY!"...What a glorious voice to hear on the other end of the phone (there may have been happy tears shed). Before Mom hung up with Dad she had one very important question to ask him (more like test him). She asked if he remembered the tractor he and his friend Jake were dealing on the past week, clear as a bell he answered..."The Versatile 256"...made us smile that he remembered "The Important Things in Life"...LOL!

Jason and Max came into the city in the afternoon and the nurses set up the iPad so we could Facetime with Dad once he was back in his room. It was so good to see him. When we were gathered around Mom, Dad took one look at us and stated..."Look it's my family...the whole heard of them"...as you can tell they didn't take his sense of humor!

Once we knew he was doing just fine, I was able to go back to my family at home and Jason back to Shoal Lake with Max. We knew Mom was in good hands at my Aunts and Dad was in the best place he needed for the moment.

We now had to wait for almost 2 weeks for the results and the next steps in this journey. With everything going on with this journey...the WAITING GAME is the worst. 

We all knew that we were surrounded with Prayers and Support from all you wonderful people...and we want to Thank you all for that. It is our Faith in the Lord and the support of family and friends that has gotten this far and that same support will get us through to whatever the end of this journey looks like. Thank You...we Love you All!