Lloyd Petrie
January 19, 1935 - November 26, 2012
January 19, 1935 - November 26, 2012
Lloyd's story, in the words of his wife and my Grandma, Betty Petrie:
Grandpa was having back problems so we went to the neurosurgeon who did his back surgeries. He took a MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and said he saw spots on the scans so we should go to an oncologist. The oncologist took a CT (computed tomography) scan and PET (positron emission tomography) scan and on August 8, 2012, he told us Grandpa had lymph node cancer. He told us it was the easiest to treat and had the highest success rate.
Grandpa started chemo treatments and had them every six weeks. At the third treatment, his blood pressure was too low and they couldn't finish the treatment. He was also very weak. The oncologist said the cancer was in check and he should just work on getting stronger and come back for a maintenance treatment on December 20, 2012.
Despite his strong will, he kept getting weaker and starting having a hard time swallowing. He hardly ate anything, but he drank Ensure at least three times a day and walked as much as possible to get his strength back.
Then the doctor decided his esophagus needed to be stretched and that was why he couldn't eat. We took him to the hospital on a Monday for that procedure. It was supposed to be done out-patient, but we asked if he could be admitted to the hospital to get an IV and help him get stronger. He was admitted, and more tests were done and it was determined that the cancer had taken over his whole body. A decision had to be made whether to take him home or move him to hospice, but Grandpa made up his own mind and decided it was time. One week from the day he was admitted, our Lord took him home!
My Grandma added, "If all our love helps you get to the finish line, you'll finish easily cause we love you lots!"
Grandpa will represent Mile 20 in honor of my grandparent's anniversary, October 20.
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