home again

my parents made their way back home saturday afternoon. they'd bene gone for about
three weeks. that is the longest my dad or mom has left the ranch or been out of south texas. they were both getting cabin fever, since they couldn't do much even though they were in houston.

the docs are optimistic about dad, which is great. they did the portal vein embolization, where the blood supply to the right side of his liver is significantly slowed down. more blood going to his left side. they want that side grown back again.
he's supposed to do a lot of walking and eating to gain weight back. he's not to do any more chemo or take any type of pill for the colon cancer. that will be nice.

he sounded great today, too. i gather it's both that he's back home and that it has rained significantly and everything is green and the ground soaked. he joked about them being away when all the rain has come down. and i said he ought to plan extended vacations to houston and maybe it'll rain more often.

nopw we wait for the end of august. he's scheduled for major surgery then, removing 75 to 80 percent of his liver. it's supposed to be a six to eight hour surgery. i wish we could be there for that one, since we were able to make it last summer when he had part of his colon removed. that was serious surgery. but i think this one in august will be even more critical. there is no way we can go down there. no vacation adn no moolah. and it's in houston, so that means we wouldn't make it all the way down to south texas; we'd have to spend a few days in houston and return. there will be lots of thoughts and prayers that day, then, to make up for not being there.