Yes, I understand that every life must end...As we sit alone, I know someday we must go...

SPOILER ALERT:  Eric's Post-Surgical Report, a Thank you, and a Sad Farewell.

Yesterdays surgery went beautifully. Surgery last a little over 1.5 hours. Dr. Solomon was able to ablate all visible disease in the left lung. There was one point where they were concerned his lung was collapsing, but more time, oxygen, and meds ensured this did not happen. But more then that, I think at that near that exact moment, an Angel was watching over him, you will read about that below.... Eric had to have 3 post surgical xrays and stay in the PACU until 4pm. Surgery started at 8am. It was a long day but he did awesome. his body responded so well to the surgery that Solomon ok'd him to have the second surgery on the right lung in a mere 3 days. The right lung is a little more concerning, as he has had fluid in that lung very recently.

So back we go again to NYC for an appointment Monday and surgery on Tuesday. I think to save some time and stress, we are just going to send Monday night in the city.

                               Eric Right before being wheeled back to surgery...
          I told him the hair net reminded me of the opening of Laverne & Shirley



Also, I would like to say thank you to those who attended the last min benefit at Maggies on Thursday. Eric had a fantastic time, and was really surprised and happy to see so many friends there to support him. It was just what he needed to gear up for surgery the next day. I want to share with you a message he put about the night on his Facebook page. Please ignore the spelling errors and grammatical errors, Eric wrote this last night when he couldn't go to sleep.

Eric F Dial
8 hours ago via mobile

Ugh can't sleep again. But anyway had giving me good time to think. About how to put into words about lastnight at maggies. Sorry for the late responds. The last 24hrs have been very crazy. For those of u that know me I'm not big on speeches and I'm a shy guy. But here goes. I would like to thank Maggies john Nagele and I'm not sure of the others that put lastnight benefit thing together. I greatly appreciate it. But you didn't have to do that for me, I'm sure there is more deserving people people out there more then me. I can't out into.words how i feel. With the love and support everything has giving me and my family. Its was a great surprise coming and seeing all.the support of good friends and people i didn't even know. It was really heart warming. Especially since i had no clue what was happening. And glad i was able to.attend. but anyway don't want to bore anyone with along message. Just wanted to.say THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart. Love u all. And may god bless each and every one of u like he has blessed me. ♥ ...u know what this cancer is the best thing that could if happen to me in a sick way. It was a reality check to me. To not take things fir granted. And appreciate the things in life u have. And it actually made me a,better person then i was. I take every day in stride one day at a time and live life to the complete fullest. And i think the world be a,better place if everyone did the same.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to pay my respects to another Cancer Warrior who lost her battle with Breast Cancer yesterday. I never had the opportunity to meet Linda Furlong Hill personally. She was a coworker/friend of my friend Jenn. Her husband is a Philly police officer too, so Jenn thought we would have a pretty good connection. Linda was a nurse at Arias Torresdale who found out she had breast cancer while pregnant with her now 2 year old son. Jenn suggested I "friend" Linda, and I am so very glad I did. She became a DAILY inspiration to me. Her spirit and determination to live left me in awe. After her diagnosis 2 years ago, surgery and treatment, she enjoyed several months of remission before cancer reared its ugly head and spread to every part of his body. Even when it hit her brain she STILL WOULD NOT GIVE UP!!! Linda didn't lay in bed and feel sorry for herself, she pushed herself to make the most of what time she might have left.

She wrote the following on her Facebook about me section, and I think it pretty much gives you an idea of what an amazing person Linda was:

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I am a wife and mother of 3 beautiful children. I lost my Dad to colon cancer in 2004..I myself was diagnosed with Stage III Triple Negative Breast Cancer this year. It was found during my pregnancy in my left breast. I also had a benign mass in my right breast...that also had a 25% chance of turning into cancer so on top of having a radical mastectomy with 7/14 nodes positive removed I also opted to have myright breast removed as well...to be proactive in my treatment. Plus my breasts were so large I would have been very lopsided. My double mastectomy was exactly one week and a day after having my son, due to the aggressive form it was. And I was allowed 4 weeks to heal prior to starting my chemo. 8 rounds...4 with Adriamycin and Cytoxan...and the next 4 with Taxol. So far 5 rounds complete and 3 to go.I also tested + for the BRAC 1 gene..so the removal of my ovaries are also in my future due to the high risk of Ovarian Cancer. And my fear is that my children now have a 50% chance of having the mutated gene. But the GREAT Part is...is that they are now 10 STEPS ahead of cancer and now they can prevent it. Due to the POWER of Knowledge!!! I no longer look at Cancer as something all bad...cause as I see it...it may have attacked me...but it will NEVER take my children or their children...ALL because the POWER of knowledge. My Breast Cancer has SAVED my legacy!! I had my head shaved by my hubby after the 2nd round. Had fun wig shopping....but for the most part I rock my bald head at home and pretty nice hats out in public....and the wig sometimes. It has been a whirlwind of emotions in the short time since I was diagnosed on June 17 2010. The Life Events I have experienced in this short time...I know most people don't in a Lifetime. But I know that is what makes me a strong person and soon to be a survivor. I know the war will never be over but I expect to win the battle over and over again. I try not to think of the "what if's" anymore because I have no control over them....but I do try to just live my life and do me. I have alot to LIVE for...and I refuse to let cancer take that from me. Afterall I am one Tough Bitch....

Linda T. Furlong Hill

3/12/77- 7/20/12

"Fuck Cancer"

Linda, you fought long and hard, and now you are free. Cancer can no longer hurt you...

How the hell did this happen?

When Eric was first diagnosed, I didn't wonder how or why he got cancer. I just went into battle mode. I think I have said that a million times before. But over the past few months his cancer development has haunted me. I mean for christsake, how can one have NO SYMPTOMS for years...how can it be stage IV....when the hell did this start??


Eric has no family members that have had colon cancer, or any precancerous afflictions. No Crohns, no polyps, no issues. He never had blood in his stool, or irregular bowls really. I mean he poo'd when he needed to poo, didn't suffer from constipation, lose weight, or have difficulty with his intestines, yet when they finally discovered he had cancer, he was like 90% blocked in his colon. Forealzies, he could have died of sepsis before they ever found this.

No joke Eric had no symptoms until 12 hours before he went to the ER. Yes you heard that right 12 HOURS!!! He had been suffering from a sinus infection, so he took off Monday and went to the doctors. He was given meds and decided to take off Tues as well. Wednesday morning he woke up in the morning with me with, I believe ran some errands or something, then fell asleep because he just felt tired (not uncommon for a police officer who works shifts). He set is alarm clock so he would be awake for Logan when he came off the bus. Around 2:30-3 he started texting me telling me he was in a ton of pain. I called him. Convinced him to just go get himself to the doctors, and I would have someone get Logan. I had just started my job as an SBIS and as at school. It was the end of September. He went to the doc's office and they immediately saw he was in distress. They can a few tests and told him to get himself to the hospital. They weren't sure if it was a PE, his appendix, Pneumonia or what. De describe his pain like someone was stabbing him in the side and twisting the knife. I met him at Abington's ER.

He got so many tests that night. First the xray, then the CT- Scan, Then the MRI...they knew something was in the liver. They saw a thickening in the colon. But they didn't tell us a damn thing, they just admitted him and had him scheduled for a liver biopsy the following day, Thursday. The whole time I know they knew. They never gave us any information, made us sweat it out the whole weekend. Scheduled him for a colonoscopy that Monday. it was torture. Then of all people, a fucking 1st year med student told us Eric had cancer. She thought we had already been told and asked us if we wanted more info about his cancer. It was a nightmare. My poor Eric. He just cried and cried silently, and I just held him. I didn't cry, nor did I utter many words. But man did I pray. I screamed inside. I prayed so hard to God while I was holding him. I prayed for Eric to be well, I prayed for it all to be a big mistake even though I knew it wasn't. I prayed to grandfather Jim. I prayed with all of my being for him to give me strength. But I never, not once, asked "Why?".

By the grace of God my Aunt Eileen and my Mom Mom were there. Eileen knew the doctor, so she was able to remember the things I couldn't. I truly think my Pop Pop sent them. He wouldn't have wanted me to be alone. He made sure others were there so that I didn't fall apart. That was Monday. By Wednesday they were removing a part of his colon. Saturday he was discharged, and less then 2 weeks later we were meeting with Dr. D'Angelica up at Sloan. We raged on.

But this fall, after 16 surgeries/procedures, and months of chemo, 2 bouts of MRSA (one where I almost lost him), 6 months of being "cancer free", and the heartbreaking news that the cancer was back, I started to question. And I mean like really question. how the hell did this happen to him? Was it something he was born with, was he genetically flawed, did something else cause this?? How long had he had cancer? Could we have prevented this? Was there something we missed?
I had always been worried about colon cancer for myself. My paternal grandmother died of it. I knew the signs, he hadn't shown anything! And Eric was relatively HEALTHY! He was a strong, and active Police Officer. his only health issues were asthma, allergies, and skin problems. He wasn't sickly. So what the fuck made this happen?

It was then, I started to piece things together. After researching online, and looking at the normal progression of poylps to full cancer, i estimated that Eric was around mid to late 20's when his cancer began to develop. During that time he was in his best shape and most active. It was during that time that he was a narcotics officer. It was during that time, that he was headquartered at the former Frankford Arsenal, which ironically was located right next to Rohm and Haas Plant, and the Sunoco Chemical plant. I started to remember stories he told me about being told they could not drink the water, and that certain buildings/areas were considered hazards. I recalled one story he told me about the cops going out to there cars after a shift and there were million of dead bugs everywhere, like a light dusting of snow on the cars and the ground. He had also told me stories of warnings that had come from the plants when something had happened. I never recalled the specifics to those stories though. But the one thing I finally remembered, because he had mentioned it on several occasions, was the asbestos in the buildings. There were times when things broke (tiles, walls and such, whee they were wet down and covered before it could be moved. But contractors did what they want, and the buildings were so old they were forever falling apart. He was working so many hours that he practically lived there. And day after day he was being exposed to god knows what.

See the asbestos thing didn't jump out at me at first. I thought that led to mesothelioma and lung cancer. But I was CONVINCED that working at the arsenal had something to do with Eric developing cancer. I started researching environmental factors related to colon cancer. And there I found it, studies showing links between asbestos exposure and colon cancer. What.the.fuck.

We go up to NYC tomorrow for treatment, but we won't be seeing Dr. Kemeny again until March. But this is eating at me, and has been for quite some time. I finally shared my thoughts with Eric this weekend. I didn't want to scare him or overwhelm him, and I didnt want him to dwell on the negative, but it was irking the shit out of me. People still work there, hell my stepson goes to high school in the arsenal. i want to try and talk to someone about this. In my amateur research I saw that the arsenal was cited by the EPA in 2010 for not following protocol when disposing of Asbestos. I am sure that was going on for years, they just finally got caught. I also found that the arsenal is on a "hot list" of workplaces with extremely high likelihood of asbestos exposure. As crazy as it sounds, it all sort of makes sense. I need to talk to his doctors and find out if these is plausible. No one should have to go through this hell. I would feel terrible if I might have found a reason and didn't help prevent others from it.

2 VERY special Events

Hello all! I will be sending out an update soon about our amazing respite. But in the mean time, I wanted you to all mark your calendars for 2 upcoming events that are very important to us, and that we will be participating in, the "Get Your Rear in Gear" and "For Pete's Sake, Walk". We have created teams for both, and below I will give you more information.



Philadelphia Get Your Rear in Gear-
5K and 10K Run, 2 Mile Walk and Kids Fun Run
Sunday March 18, 2012

This is our 2nd year participating in this event, which benefits the colon cancer coalition. The event is held at the Art Museum. Non runners can easily participate. Last year we had a nice turnout for our team and raised over $1000.

you can register for this event here:
http://www.getyourrearingear.com/events/list/2012/philadelphia-pa-2012/

click on "JOIN A TEAM" we are DIAL'S POOPER TROOPERS



THIS IS AN AWESOME FAMILY EVENT!!!!! AND THE KIDS WILL LOVE BEING ABLE TO GET ACCESS TO THE PLAYING FIELD AT CBP (AND ADULTS TOO)

Enjoy VIP access to Citizens Bank Park - without the lines! For Pete's Sake, Walk! is a 3 mile fun walk. Following the 3 mile route, walkers will be allowed to round the bases and take a photo in the dugout!

You can walk as an individual, register your family, join an existing team of walkers or form a team of your own!

You can register the entire family here:
http://takeabreakfromcancer.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=997534&lis=1&kntae997534=BA5CB0666D674FB0BBA9F3B7643E3756

and please join our team: Phightin' for Officer Dial

FPS has a very special place in our hearts and we would really love for all of our friends and family to join us for this very special event. FPS sent us on our amazing respite to Florida last week. We would love to help other families be able to enjoy this amazing experience.