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3. Some Tough News for TroutNut Family

Our good friend Mark "Softhackle" has been told by his doctors that he has colon cancer. He is preparing to beat this thing and could use some support. If you are a praying man it's time to get busy, if not you could send him a short positive note of support as a Private Message...He has a lot on his mind so keep that in mind...Lets keep our comments as short and as private as possible, ok?!

Mark has been a very giving person on this site and has always shared his angling knowledge with each and every one of us...He actually talked this ex-Teamster/hockey player in to entering JoAnn Fabic alone and on my own to purchase embroidery thread! No easy trick! :) I survived it somehow...

Spence



http://www.troutnut.com/profile/of-Softhackle

Thanks to all for kind PMs. please know that I cherish your friendships and that they are a great morale booster for my fight ahead. Hopefully I will be checking in through all this to keep the fire burning.

Mark

Yes, Mark, I don't know you personally but you have responded to many of my posts when I have ??? and what not. I have always found your input and responses to be respectful, insightful, and courteous and I wish you all the best. Good luck to you my friend and keep us informed.

Your friend,

Adirman

Mark, my father (now 78) went through a very serious operation last year to remove a tumor (fortunately benign!) the size of a baseball from on top of one of his adrenal glands. I was of course quite worried, there's always risks when you go under the knife, but he's a tough old bird and came through it just fine and is in fact healthier now than before and thoroughly enjoying life. Hell, he's reloading ammo for me to burn at the range!

So, here's wishing you the same luck with your situation!! We're all pulling for ya!

Jonathon

P.S. The night after the operation, at 1:15 a.m., he called me and wanted me to come get him at the hospital. "I feel fine, I wanna come home now! I'm done with this place!" "Dad, you just had an operation today! You need to stay there for a while!" "Naw, I feel just fine!" OK, it's the painkillers talking...but I just had to laugh and feel reassured that he was indeed going to be just fine. He also asked me to go upstairs to get his favorite pain pills and bring them to him. "Dad, it's quarter after one in the morning!" "I want my Ultram! They won't give me any!" His nurse and I had a pretty good laugh after he gave my Dad a little shot in his IV to put him back to sleep...he told me my Dad was trying to pull out the IV and monitoring wires and etc. and get out of bed! Yep, I knew right then he was going to make a full recovery...

P.P.S. Sorry Spence but I did want to share the story of my Dad as inspiration for Mark and I thought others here would get a kick out of it.

Good story. Thanks, Jonathan.

Mark