Chapter 102: Happy Memorial Day!
Honoring the dead. It's strange to think of the day as a holiday. I don't feel that a whole lot of people even stop to reflect on the fact that we're honoring the dead anymore. I guess today I'd like to honor the living by saying a couple of words about my father. My dad served in Vietnam as part of the Air Force, and while I don't really care to regale you with any stories of his time in service to his country, I would like to say a couple words in service of him and his recent battles.
Over ten years ago my father was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Luckily he hasn't been affect as some are with deteriorating MS. If you've ever seen the West Wing, my father has the same type of MS that President Bartlett played by Martin Sheen had. It is called relapsing-remitting. Although unpredictable in its nature due to the randomness of the "attacks" it has only caused my dad one incident of double vision but remained otherwise passive in nature. Although this is a battle that has been an important one, there was a larger one to come.
After an MRI to check on my Dad's back and see how his MS was doing, his doctor found a malignant tumor in the early parts of this year on the right side of his brain. I didn't find out about it until I was already down in Biloxi, and my Mom downplayed the dangers of it. It wasn't until after the operation that she told me that it was cancerous and that my Dad would be going through radiation and chemo treatment. As I understand it, the tumor was high density which means it had a good chance of withstanding the first round of radiation.
I'm extremely happy to say that I got a chance after my semester down in Biloxi to take my Dad in for the MRI which told us that the radiation had indeed eliminated the tumor with the doctors only finding traces of scar tissue on the area where the tumor formerly was. As of now my father is doing really well and his blood work continues to come back with excellent results. He will continue with the chemo for the rest of the year but he has already made it through the first round this month and was feeling okay as a result.
Now, I know this isn't the traditional battle that we celebrate on Memorial Day, but I'd like to give thanks to my Dad for always being there for me, and continuing to be there for me in all my decisions.
