2 Weeks

Since my dad and I completed our triathlon over the Father’s Day weekend a lot has happened.

My dad, Larry Davis, flew back to Florida from Raleigh, NC and then up to Baltimore, Maryland. While in Baltimore he met with his peritoneal Mesothelioma doc, Dr H Richard Alexander at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The 2 spent a day completing pre-op tests. Directly after that he took a train to Washington D.C. to meet up with the Mesothelioma family at the 2011 International Symposium.

On Thursday June 23rd my dad went to Capitol Hill to lobby Congress men and women to help in the fight to end asbestos use which would ultimately put an end to Mesothelioma (well, that is once we clean up all the asbestos already in use!). While on the Hill he met with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL 18th District. According to Wikipedia she is the senior-most woman in the U.S. House of Representatives. And according to my father she was very receptive to listening and possibly even acting in favor of a ban on asbestos or at least learning more about finding ways to cure Mesothelioma.

Friday night my dad was honored as the 2011 Volunteer of the Year. That means twice in 2 weeks he goes home with an award he can hold close to his heart. Yes, the VOTY, is WAY better than the pig trophy he got at the triathlon, because the outcome of the 1st benefits every patient, doctor and supporter, but the 2nd (the pig) was something we shared one father’s day weekend. As VOTY my dad was recognized for raising $50,000 for research as well as raising unlimited knowledge of this deadly disease through local and national media outlets, organizing multiple events including the South Florida Miles For Meso, and hundreds of emails to anyone who will listen (and some who won’t). It was a fantastic achievement & honor!

On Saturday he said his goodbyes to the Meso family for another year and headed back up to Baltimore with his wife Carol to prepare for surgery. From what I heard, they enjoyed an Orioles game at Camden and a race Sunday morning.

And on Monday he met Dr Alexander for surgery.

Around 10:30 the 2 and a team of doctors spent more than 7 hours in the operating room removing Mesothelioma tumors from my father’s abdomen.  Apparently some of the cancer was not visible on the pre-op scans. It seems as though there was a lot more than originally indicated. I apologize for not knowing more and for giving you all a lay-person’s view of this major procedure, but I’m better with small words and I only truly understand a portion of this. What I do know is that this damn cancer was growing on his liver, his kidneys and around his intestines. Dr. A was able to remove a good deal of it. I don’t percentages and I don’t know if there is another surgery in the near future to do more. I can only imagine that every care was giving to my dad in hopes of continuing his life.

So … 2 days later, he’s doing really well. He’s actively reducing his pain medication in hopes of helping his body get back to normal. He’s also sitting up and doing shorts walks around his hospital wing with his physical therapist. He looks good. He’s being monitored. And he’s pushing through this so he can go home. I’m so proud of him. And we truly appreciate the support we’ve gotten from our family, both blood & extended. Thank you. ~Courtney Davis