Where we stand

Glenn and his late mother, Rosemary

For anyone who might be new to what’s been going on, this all started with a few hospital visits and tests over the past couple of months as we tried to figure out what was causing some of Dad’s symptoms. What we initially thought might be something minor led to more imaging and, eventually, some answers.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve gotten more clarity. Dad has been diagnosed with bladder cancer that has grown into the muscle, and the PET scan showed it has spread to his bones, with a couple of other areas they’re continuing to watch.

He just retired in February, so this has all been a bit of a whirlwind—and definitely not what any of us pictured this chapter looking like for him.

The good news is his surgery went extremely well last week, and he’s recovering from that now. He’s been at the University of Iowa (Go Hawks!) working with an incredible team, and we’re really grateful for the care he’s receiving. We do have a treatment plan that will involve chemo and immunotherapy, and we’ll be heading to Iowa City next week to meet with Dr. Maciel and his oncology team to walk through everything.

We’re hoping to do treatments locally to make things easier on him, while still having Dr. Maciel and the team at U of I oversee everything—so he gets the best of both without all the extra travel.

We’re trying to stay focused on the next step in front of us instead of getting too far ahead. The goal right now is simple: getting him back to feeling like himself again and rebuilding his strength.

It won’t be long before the whole town of Gilbertville finds out, but we’re trying to keep things a little contained out of respect for him. He’s not big on talking about how he’s feeling or having this take over everything, so we appreciate everyone being mindful of that.

Thank you all so much for the support, messages, and kindness—it truly means a lot. ❤️