Prayers for my Father

[reeb]

DL,

My prayers go with him and you.

will not be awarded the Purple Heart as they clearly were not injured as a result of enemy action, but rather by their own negligence.

As i just put on here,

How in reality did your dad receive the PH? You said that he fell from a telephone line. Why and How, and never in combat areas.

Just curious !!

enough.........

[MORTARDUDE]

May God Bless !!!!

Larry

[Dragon Lady]

Reeb,
I honestly don't know how dad got that PH other than the story he told us.
Only two things I can think of...
One - Somebody put him in for it and was able to pull some sort of rabbit out of a hat trick.
Or
Two - He got it for some other reason and just won't tell. There were many times that Dad went out on remote tours or TDYs to odd places. I always thought he worked on telephones...who really knows.

One thing for sure, he never flaunted it or was especially proud of it. In fact I never knew about it until I came acrossed the medal stuffed in some old dusty box in the attic. His uniform had the ribbon on it among a few others, but I never really had a reason to question him.
I do know that he really did serve because we spent many years travelling from AF base to AF base. And lets face it Base housing certainly isnt an exclusive neighborhood estate.

Someday I make look closer at his service record, but not today. I would rather believe he is my hero than have my dreams shattered right now. It certainly isn't all that important.

[Dragon Lady]

Update:

First of all thank you to each of you for your heartfelt prayers and well wishes.

As for Pops, well, yes he is experiencing congestive heart failure. but now he has other issues. He has pneumonia and "a dark mass" on his lung. Doc doesn't know if it is A) Tumor; B) TB; or C) Valley Fever. So they are doing a biopsy tomorrow (wed) morning. My sister called the VA and told the "kid" who answered the phone that she understands that Dr Whosie Whatsits doesn't work there anymore but she REALLY needed to speak with him and is there anyway she could get his contact info? The "kid" connects her directly to Dr. Whosie Whatsits direct line. Turns out he is one of the HeadDudeWhatsInCharge at the VA in Tucson. All she had to do was say, "hi its me". and he knew exactly who she was. (I Love My Sissy!) She told him about how dad and he told her to bring him in, that he would have a team of doctors waiting for them at the door. Guess what...they did! He is resting much more comfortably now that he is receiving treatment. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. He is a high risk for surgery. But he is pretty stubborn, hmm wonder where I get that from?
I wish I could go down but I'm fighting off a bad cold at the moment and I certainly don't want to pass that on with everything else the poor guy has. So I sit and browse the airlines for the best flights.

Thanks again everyone. Dont know what I would do if I didn't have your collective shoulders. I appreciate it, really I do.
DL

[Keith_Hixson]

I'm praying for YOU! and your Father.

Thinking about his PH. My guess is he got while on assignment in a combat Zone. 1968 = Vietnam. The telephone pole may be correct and the broken back correct but the location was probably Vietnam and something happened while under fire.

Anyway, praying for you father.

Keith

[Dragon Lady]

Well now that I've had a chance to catch my breath and wrap my head around this mess. I'm doing a bit better. Thanks again to everyone for putting up with my panic attack.

It turns out that Pops is in Stage III of "non-small cell lung cancer" and he is exhibiting three out of the seven classic symptoms. The docs at the VA in Tucson are well versed in the ways to treat this awful disease. His outlook is still rather ambiguous...life expectancy is anything from 6 weeks to 6 years. I swear they are taking pointers from the weather guy who calls for 2"-12" of snow!

They cannot operate on him because his lungs are so bad from the 50 years of smoking. So they are going to try other methods. Hopefully they can improve his quality of life. The tumor is causing him coughing fits and a great deal of anxiety. They are treating the coughing to quiet it down so he can at least sleep.

So, I'm planning on taking a little trip to the warm country. I wanted to say again,

THANK YOU!
DL

[DMZ-LT]

Angles on your 6 DL. Opa the orphin

[MORTARDUDE]

DL :

Please call me anytime at home 901.386.7244.

My mother is 80 years old. She takes 14 kinds of meds each day. She has severe COPD / emphysema ( is on oxygen 24/7 ) has cirroshis of the liver ( auto immune..not caused by alcohol ), gout, borderline diabetes caused by the meds she is taking for COPD, and some other ailments. She trusts in God and is one of the most holy people I know. As I stated many times, she prayed me out of Vietnam and Cambodia intact.
We joke that she has a direct line to God, and I believe it. Until a person gives up totally, there is always hope. She may live another 20+ years. My best friend from high school was told last February 2003 he had 3 - 6 months to live due to aggressive prostate cancer that had spread to his spine in only 3 months. he is a still alive over a year later and the cancer has STOPPED spreading. he is also very religious. God answers prayers. Just believe it. I would urge you to get a video camers and a tape recorder and start recoding everything you father has to say about his life. My greatest regret in my 55 years is that I did not have time to tell my father I loved and appreciated him when he died. I can still see his face as I waved at him in ICU the day before St. Patrick's Day in 1986. You and your family are in my prayers !!!

Larry

P.S. : My wife's uncle was a telephone lineman / electrician for the US Army in Vietnam in 1968. He contracted a rare form of spinal cancer 7 years ago, and he was supposed to only have 6 months to live and he is still alive and in good health....

[Dragon Lady]

Larry,
Thank you for your very kind words of encouragement. I think now that the shock of it all has worn off and we are starting to work on the issues at hand; it is getting a little easier to deal with.

I guess the hardest part of all is the fact that I work for one of the country's leading medicinal chemical research labs and I can't even cure my own father. Its not for a lack of trying. These guys are working 70+ hours per week on all sorts of stuff but it isn't easy. It takes so many years to take a compound from a few milligrams of raw material to an efficable product for human use.

In the meantime we can work with his doctor to come up with the best combo of treatments to make his life better. Anything has to be better than his continuous cough and gasping for air. Its so unnerving when he jumps up gasping like he's drowning. They are also treating him for anxiety which I now understand is common in COPD and lung cancer patients. I can't say that I blame him for that. If I couldnt breathe I would be rather anxious too.

God Bless you and your mother. I hope you have many more enjoyable years together.

Thanks again,
DL