Dad goes into surgery tomorrow. Actually, it'll probably be "today" by the time I finish writing this. In fact, it's already "today" according to E2, since it goes by Universal time. Oh well. Semantics.
I don't know if I've daylogged about this. I don't think so. You see, about two months ago, my father was diagnosed with
prostate cancer. It's taken this long for them to do anything about it for two reasons: first, because it turns out Dad can't have
microsurgery done due to his weight; and secondly, due to further testing to see whether the cancer has spread (it doesn't seem like it has). Still, he's somewhat frightened that it may have, though he seems to harbor more trepidation about the
anesthesia. I can't really blame him, though as I've pointed out to him several times, the number of people who die from the anesthesia itself is statistically insignificant. I'm worried for him too, but - much as I hate to admit it - most of my reasons are rather selfish. The cold reality of the situation is that I don't really
feel anything about it. That's pretty normal for me, though.
Thankfully, Dad's been pretty diligent about attending work over the years, and he's accrued over a year's worth of "annual" (The
USPS' name for paid leave) and sick leave. He's going to need it; recovery time from this surgery is two to three months.
We've been having a run of bad luck all around. My brother has to move to
Las Vegas (where he'll be studying at
UNLV this fall) earlier than he originally planned. He works at Michael's (an
arts and crafts chain in the
U.S. and
Canada), and the store which he's transferring to told him that if he's not available by the end of this month, they won't hold the position for him. Since my Dad won't be able to move anything for several months after tomorrow, they had to take all his stuff up to the
condo last weekend. (Again, despite the problems that this caused, there was a bit of luck; if Adam was staying in a
dorm, there'd be a bigger problem, since they don't open this early.)
In addition, my mother was fired from her job last week (managing a mini-storage facility). The given reason was that she didn't have enough units rented (as if that's in any way her fault), but my parents believe Dad's inability to work for the next few months plays in. (The managerial job is technically for two people, and Dad was on the payroll, but Mom did 90% of the work, mostly because Dad still works for the post office.) Since this was a live-in position, they had much of their personal effects there, all of which had to be moved out by Friday. The house is now extremely messy and disorganized, not only from the sheer act of moving, but because in many cases - from
silverware to the
furniture to the
big screen TV - my parents simply bought new stuff rather than moving it from the house.
So...yeah. It's been an interesting month.