Rich will be discharged soon. I can’t wait to get him home! He is still in a lot of pain and sleeping most of the time; however, it should be manageable with the meds. We are so thankful for all of the calls, cards, visits, flowers, and most importantly, the prayers! Wow-you are all so wonderful! Rich will be having another surgery on Monday at Mease Dunedin Hospital. The plan is to get him home this afternoon and right back to sleep. He has to rest for Monday’s surgery. Radiation has been put off an extra week due to how invasive this week’s surgery was, and Rich has to gain about 15 lbs before it can start.
So thankful to be taking him home. We are going to have some excited boys!

God keeps answering prayers! Keep ’em coming while you continue to…

Press On!

Went to see Rich today. He looks great considering all he has been through and doesn’t seem to be in too much pain. The hope is that he will be able to come home today. Keep praying!

The doctors removed all lymph nodes on the left side of Rich’s neck as well as any muscle tissue that looked like it had been infected with the cancer—down to the microscopic level. They are all pretty confident that they got as much as humanly possible. Anything that is left, they will eliminate through radiation, which is expected to begin next week. Radiation normally does not produce any side effects, but in this case, there will be some because the cancer is located in the neck/head region. There will be 40 radiation treatments. After the first 20 are finished, Rich will have a PET scan to see if there is any remaining cancer. If there is, they will also begin chemotherapy at that time.

All in all, everything right now is looking positive. Keep praying!

Again, thank you to everyone for your comments. They are very encouraging words to the Hayes family. It is very reassuring to them to know that you are all on their side (not that you wouldn’t be) and that you are interceding with our Heavenly Father on their behalf.

We can’t wait until Rich can do his own blog entries and say…

Press On!