What's New Since Terminal 4

Over the past few weeks, the number of personal emails I’ve written has been steadily diminishing until now it’s close to zero. While I have read and appreciated each and every email people have written to me, I’d like to use tonight’s blog to explain why I haven’t written much in return.
The whole move/transition here has been challenging in many ways. Most of the time, I try to keep it light and on the bright side. After all, there are silver linings to be found if you know where to look. The blog has pretty much kept everyone up to date on these things.
Starting last week, however, there has been a big omission. As many of our friends know, my dad (Jennifer’s dad) has been undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer. Colon cancer is one of the easiest cancers to cure if it’s caught early, so I encourage everyone (and everyone you care about) to get an annual screening test done starting at age 50 (40, if you have a family history). Dad’s cancer wasn’t caught early, and (thanks in large part to Hurricane Katrina), his treatment wasn’t started promptly either.
When Markus moved to Doha for work, Ellie and I stayed behind with Dad for a couple of months. During that time, he was struggling with his chemo, but generally he was responding well and scans showed that the tumors were shrinking (i.e., the chemo was doing its job). He still had a lot of pain that went unexplained (increasing pain despite increasing pain meds), but he was okay most of the time.
Recently, the pain and other troubles got the better of him and he was readmitted to the hospital. We’ve subsequently learned that the cancer is just about everywhere, and he’s experiencing tremendous pain caused by extensive cancer in his bones (spine, hip, some ribs…). By the end of last week, the decision was made to stop the chemotherapy and focus on quality of life. Medications were increased. Hospice was called in to provide daily home care (a nurse comes by for a little time each day). A hospital bed was moved into the house. Dad was sent home.
Ellie and I will be headed back to the US tomorrow night (Doha time), arriving Thursday evening (Ocean Springs time). While the weekend went relatively well and Dad seemed relatively comfortable (eschewing the hospital bed for his leather recliner), he seems to have taken a turn for the worse in the past 24 hours. We’re hoping that it’s just a (very) low point and he’ll perk up again, but that’s where it stands for now.
That’s all I can really write at this point, but I just wanted to let everyone know what’s going on. Please keep writing me emails about what’s going on in your life. I really want to know and I am checking for them every day! It helps to let my mind escape from time to time. Just please understand that I may take an extra while to write back.
God bless you all.