Dad went in yesterday for his CT follow up from the radiation treatment. Not good news he starts chemo again Monday. Life sucks right now.
Dad finished the second round of chemo and he went for the CT scan yesterday and the *&#@* tumor had grown. Now they want to do another round of radiation. He is hesitant.
Sorry to hear this Alan.. Having a good friend who has been battling various forms of cancer for the last 5 years, I will just say that they don't know everything, that's for sure.. After the first round, of chemo and surgury, they gave him a clean bill of health, only to tell him a year later that he now had lung cancer, and had 6 months to live without treatment.. so.. 2 years ago they gave him 2 years to live, with regular chemo.. Now they say,as long as the drugs keep working, he will too.. Just saw him a month or so ago, and he looked good.. says he feels good, as long as he is off the chemo. That Chemo and radiation is nasty stuff, one wonders if the cure is worst than the disease.. in the short term it sure is. Best wishes for your dad and your family.. JW
Alan, I'm a cancer survivor myself with undergoing chemo and radiation treatments. And, from personal experience the greatest hardship was trying to have the people so close be so upset over something I couldn't conquer on my own. Family and friend support for me was the most important and over time I accepted and understood the consequences of not making it. But, supporting your father and letting him know that his illness won't be fought by himself, will make a great difference. Back in the day, I remember when a nurse my mother knew at the hospital wished me good luck, and it was one of the most hurtful things someone said with the knowing she had doubt in me beating cancer.
We are now 10 rounds of radiation into the 25 rounds suggested. They did CT scan this morning and now it looks like it has moved into the bones of his rib cage. The radiation oncologist and the chemo oncologist are working to come up with a new plan of action for tomorrows meeting.
Today was the last last day of the second round of radiation treatments. The radiation started to make Dad sick this last week. Today when Dad asked the doctor for a prognosis the doctor said he didn't have one. Dr Scar went on to say " you are abnormal, we didn't expect you to live this long, you are the exception to the rule". Dad said something about the "Corps" being his abnormality in other words God would rather leave him on earth than have another Marine in heaven to deal with. At least for now. I later told Dad that he would be in the New England Journal of Medicine some where down the line. He laughed. Other than the fact that Dad is dying from lung cancer he is in unremarkable good health. We have an appointment to go see the oncologist in a couple of weeks to see what he has to say. All of our travel plans for the GSCA Nationals and the BPG Nationals are on hold. The wife and I still hope to bring the 70 Stage1 to the BPG Nats in August but we will have to wait and see.
