Update on Dad

So here is an update on my dad… You all know that last July/ August he had surgery to remove the 2 inch mass in his esophagus. At the time of the surgery they had found much more of the cancer than they thought was originally there and so they took as much from his esophagus and lymph nodes as they could get. Since then he has been having routine chemotherapy and radiation to try and “zap” the cancer that was left behind. They even inserted a semi-permanent port into his chest that is timed to give him a dose of chemo every so many minutes. He lost almost 75 lbs which if you ask me it looks like way more and honestly he looks like a shadow of his former self. Dad’s spirits are up and he is very on the ball when it comes to his medicines and treatment but in general the Al Herrman we all know (and feared a little) is not here right now. Kaitlynn enjoys her visits with “BaBa” and I am out at my parents’ house every day that I don’t have to work. Kyra is doing alright with Dad being sick but once in a while you can see that it gets her down a little. We stayed pretty active this fall trying to distract him a bit from the obvious but also to dull the pain a little bit. I know he really enjoyed all the visits with the family these past six months and having family and its support is huge for him right now. In the beginning of January he started a new med that is going in his chemo pup 24/7 for I think 3 months. He should be done in mid March if his lab values maintain themselves. For a while his white blood cell count was too low so he had to take a break. But that is something that he has had to deal with from the beginning. I have to say that it is a hard thing to watch and I am sure it is torture to go through. Things have been rough and they continue to improve ever so slightly. The most recent news is that the scan he had in the beginning of the 2010 year showed that the cancer had not moved into any of the other organs nearby… but they never saw it outside to begin with. I am trying to stay optimistic here but its pretty sh*tty to see your parent so sick at 27. Argh… I guess this is just going to make me a stronger person in the long run but honestly I just want my dad back… I’ll be ready to talk about it someday but right now I am a little overwhelmed…