His name is Frank. He is a retired conductor on the railroad, a father of 2 daughters, the grandfather to 2 grandsons and 2 granddaughters, and the brother of 2 brothers. He is 69 years old, born April 8th 1949 (the same birthday as his mother).
After he retired in 2008, he sold his home in Ohio and retired to sunny Florida where his new home had been waiting on him for many years. He finally made it. He had his pool, a Cadillac (his choice of cars), a good pension from 37 years on the railroad, a clean bill of health from his doctor just last year (he quit smoking 25 years ago, ate healthy, and ran on the treadmill almost every day), and as much sun as he could handle. Who could ask for more?
Dad makes a couple of trips to Ohio every year to visit. He spends 2 days driving because he absolutely refuses to fly, and he stays a couple of weeks visiting with family and friends.
His last trip until now was in June of 2018 (this past summer). He wanted to be here for my birthday (I am his youngest of 2 daughters) which was June 22nd.
Fast forward to now. Dad planned a trip home in October. He had a wedding to attend in Pennsylvania, and was planning on coming home for a week before heading back to Florida. He was excited to be able to celebrate my sister’s birthday on October 10th.
He called me from Pennsylvania on Sunday, October 7, 2018 to tell me that his cousin had taken him to the Urgent Care center because of severe stomach pains and diarrhea. They recommended he go the the Emergency Room but he told them that he wanted to wait until he got home and then he would have his daughters take him.
Dad arrived on Monday, October 8, 2018, and I noticed he was extremely distraught from pain and had obviously lost weight since his last visit. My sister and I took him to the emergency room where he had a CT Scan done as well as a MRI. He was admitted to the hospital. On October 10, 2018 (my sister’s birthday), he had a biopsy done and was discharged from the hospital on October 11, 2018 pending the results.
The waiting game began until we received a phone call from his oncologist that the biopsy results were in, and an appointment was scheduled to review them for October 17, 2018. Click here for Dad’s results.