Welcome to our CaringBridge site. We've created it to keep friends and family updated. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement during this time when it matters most.
Rock and Jill planned a fun adventure up in Grand Marais over Memorial Weekend. They got a much less fun adventure instead. Rock had a cough for about two months. On Friday, he was having shortness of breath and weakness in his legs. So, Jill took him to the clinic and then the ER. He was admitted to Fairview Ridges that night and transferred to Fairview Southdale the next afternoon.
The initial tests found fluid in his lungs, a mass by his right lung, and fluid around his heart. We all hoped the fluid in his lungs was pneumonia, the mass was an abscess, and the fluid around his heart could be easily resolved. Rock had a really rough weekend of high heart rates, super low blood pressures, \ trouble breathing because of the fluid in his lungs and pressure on his lungs from the mass, and irregular heart rhythm from the irritation to his heart caused by the fluid and procedures.
The fluid around his heart was removed, but the procedure irritated his heart. He developed sepsis over the early part of the weekend that caused a hit to his kidneys and liver. He's been receiving dialysis to help with the work his kidneys haven't been able to do in removing toxins and fluid from his body. We're hoping that given time his kidneys and liver can rebound, but until then, dialysis.
On Thursday, we received news no one ever wants. They had tested the fluid that was removed from around Rock's heart and it had cancer. They told us that fluid around his heart and in his lungs was being caused by inoperable lung cancer. The mass by his right lung reaches across to his heart and up to his lymph nodes. We've been told it is stage four lung cancer.
So, now we hope for time. Time to spend together. Time to say the things people never seem to say enough, like I love you, thank you for being you, and I'm here for you no matter what. Time for Jill and Rock to prepare for the next stage of their journey, which is coming much too soon. Time for Mike and Tom be with Rock and still to be Daddy's little boys and his beautiful grown men.
While we hope for time, we also pray for peace and comfort. We may not know what is around the corner, but we still have each other so we can manage. We'll look for the joy in each moment and the beauty that can be found even in the saddest moments. Rock is here now, and we are here with him.
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