Thinking of you, Grandpa Dave. *Updated*

Today my Grandfather has surgery to remove a handful of tumors that have kind of spider-webbed themselves to his abdomen and organs. They will also remove his right kidney and two lymph nodes. The biggest concern is his Liver at this point. Hopefully they won't have to remove any portion of the Liver, but right now, we just don't know. After the 7 hour (if all goes well) surgery, we will wait to hear more of his condition and what to expect for his recovery. The cancer is advanced, but if you know my family at all, you know that we aren't going to take any crap from anyone, especially Grandpa Dave. He's a tough one and I'm sure he'll be just as ornery as ever real soon.

I've always had a real close relationship with Grandma and Grandpa Robertson. Growing up, Grandpa affectionately referred to me and Becky as his "Little Shit-Asses". As a life long truck driver, and the sweetest old man I've ever known, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I often give Grandpa a hard time- we can tease each other all day long like nobody's business.. but at the end of they day I love him more than anything and appreciate and treasure our relationship more than he probably realizes.

Anyway, if I could ask- say a prayer for him?

Thanks.

Mom just called me. The doctors were very aggressive with the removal of the tumors- they also were able to take out his right kidney and the two lymph nodes that were infected. They also had to take 2 little portions of his liver. In addition to all of that, they also realized that the cancer had spread into his diaphragm. They had to take a portion of that too and wrapped the rest with a wire mesh to try to hold it all together. The surgery was just under 7 hours, so that was good news- but when the dr came out to talk to my mom, grandma, aunt and uncle, he said that with the surgery Grandpa had today, he has about 12 months to live. I wasn't able to talk to mom about it for very long- obviously she has a lot of people to call and she's dealing with her own emotions as well. She did say that the type of cancer Grandpa has is Renal cell carcinoma. Thanks for the sweet comments- and even the private emails I've received. They mean so much.