Richard Bryant Richard Bryant

A few weeks ago Richard said he had been having abdominal pain.  He thought possibly he had an ulcer.  On Thursday,  July 7th, he started feeling pain around his belly button area.  As some of you may know, Richard is a tad bit stubborn. So, it was Sunday, July 10th that I suggested we go visit a nearby Urgent Care center.  The wonderful Physicians Assistant that we saw there checked out everything he could and said that he felt Richard should go to the Emergency Room.  Richard, being Richard, asked if he could wait until Wednesday  (his day off) to go to the ER.  The PA said, "if you were my Dad I would tell you to go to the ER right now".  So off we went.
We went to the Emergency Room at Banner UMC. After CAT scans, x-rays and lots of poking and prodding around they felt Richard was having gallbladder problems and an Incarcerated Hernia.  They felt it best to do surgery that night.  They said his surgery would be a "2fer" - meaning gallbladder removal and hernia repair.  Richard kept saying he was glad it wasn't a "3fer".  Unfortunately his surgery turned into at least a "3fer".  When they went in they discovered a tumor in the area of his gallbladder and stomach.  This led to the removal of part of his stomach, some of his intestine, part of his pancreas and the gallbladder.  Even though this was in the middle of the night, a pathologist was called in to do a quick examination of the tumor.  The pathologist determined that this was a cancerous tumor.  At this point we are waiting until Friday (hopefully ) to determine the type of cancer and if this was the primary tumor or has this been spread from somewhere else.  It seems that a lot of the plan will be formulated after these results come back.  Richard has a feeding tube and will not be eating food for at least 4 - 6 weeks.  
Richard was very happy that Victoria quickly got on a plane to travel from Georgia to Arizona.  He is in great spirits and feels compelled to keep on top of all things related to his Oroweat bread route.  I think his stubbornness,  drive and hard work ethic will certainly benefit him during this process.  We appreciate all the prayers you can send up for us.