About a month and a half ago I posted a CEPT (request for prayers) for a friend. At the time I wasn't at liberty to talk about the circumstances.
For those of you who care, I can do so now.
Sometime in August my father started to have trouble walking. He attributed it to a pulled groin muscle. After several weeks, it failed to get better--in fact, it got worse. In mid-October, he was unable to stand and was taken to the hospital. The discovered that he had actually broken his hip. He had a hip replacement and started to get better right away (the day after the surgery he pissed off the medical staff by refusing to lay around like an invalid--he got up and walked around).
In mid-November, however, something else was discovered based on tests of the replaced hip.
My father has cancer. It's considered to be terminal. It's in his hip and in his lungs. As of the time of diagnosis, the doctors have given him 6 months to live. Now... in all fairness to reality, given my father's health and disposition--he's a stubborn old man with the constitution of an ox--it's more likely that he'll live another 10 years. It does, however, bring the concepts of life and death very real.
I've had a lot of time to come to terms with the situation, and my personal views on life and death mean that I'm better able to deal with the consequences. Still, it's my father. It will never be easy.
I'm not asking for sympathy or help or anything other than understanding. I just felt that those of you who read this are entitled to an explanation for the previous post.
