Hi Everyone. Mara here, currently reporting live from Sharp Rehab Hospital where my dad is continuing his recovery from his second hospital stay that began almost exactly 1 month ago. Luckily this post contains many good updates :)

- The plan is for my dad to come home mid-next week to be back in time for Thanksgiving! We are thrilled.

- Oncology appointment this past Tuesday (11/14) went MUCH better than the last one. MRI scan taken on 11/10 shows no progression whatsoever and a decrease in inflammation. This leads all of the doctors to believe there is no recurrence of cancer and in fact just a few clumps of dead cancer cells that caused the initial radiation necrosis. 

- Chemo continues starting this evening for 5 days followed by 1 more round next month to finish just in time for Christmas.

- He is still having a lot of weakness on his left side but continues to improve little by little each day driven by his passion to get back on the golf course and his fantastic therapists pushing him in PT and OT.

With my dad coming home next week, we are getting the house ready once more for his return. This includes the installation of additional hand rails, purchase of medical supplies not provided by insurance, scheduling and coordination of care takers to help given his increased deficit, and more. Another piece of the puzzle we are preparing for this time is home visits for PT, OT, and Speech Therapy as the consensus is that given his weakness, it will be safer to start with these therapies in the house as opposed to at UCSD as we were doing before.

WAYS TO HELP

- With all of the costs associated with the above out-of-pocket expenses, I have kept our GoFundMe up and running: https://gofund.me/9beb3b24

- As my dad always says, seeing the people he loves is the best medicine he could ever have. Please let myself (marabazzo@gmail.com) or my mom know if AND when you would like to come visit and/or share a meal with my dad. 

Thank you all so so much for your continued support through this crazy ride. We could not do it without you. Let's go #TeamDave !