Wait. Hope. Pray. Repeat.

So my dad's surgery went well. He was alert a couple hours later and released the following day. His only complication was a lot of tiredness. The docs did a good job of disguising a pretty large incision on his head. The hospital also gave the family cell phones that would ring from the operating room with updates, pretty awesome customer service! My mom knew everyone there and they were all awesome. Was so happy to be there, never had the "waiting room" experience before. So this overall sucks (becoming a family phrase), but it's had a silver lining of bringing us all together even stronger.

What wasn't awesome was the preliminary pathology report. Looks likely to be malignant and the presence of suspected necrotic (dead) cells and lots of change from the last MRI probably means it's pretty aggressive. The docs and longtime pathologist at the hospital said it was really unique looking and they're sending it to Mayo Clinic for an opinion. We hope to know more tomorrow (Tuesday) and are trying to be optimistic. We'll find out what it is and look at treatment options knowing he's under great care. He has a moment here and there, but still doing pretty good for a guy with a tumor, so the doctors are proceeding with the "do no harm" principle. So many times you hear of people with memory, speech and movement issues with aggressive tumor treatment and his docs are trying to avoid all that. We played cards and ate a lot (steroids he's on gave him a Killer appetite much to my mom's dismay). At times he seemed a little down, but for a tumor, brain surgery and a murky biopsy I can't fault him for channeling his inner Eeyore once and a while.

The whole family was in town and we had and extended family BBQ (for which I did all the grilling) on Sunday. My 2 y/o niece came in and she was a blast. Pam and I registered at Bed Bath and Beyond. Some walks with my sister and dog and some heavy garden work for my mom made for a well rounded weekend.

So now we wait, pray and hope for the best. Seems to be our theme for the last month, but will probably be our continued theme for the next few weeks too.