Not the News We Wanted

Well, there is good news and some not so good news. Good news is that the cancer has not spread to dad's brain. Now for all the other news. Chemo is not working. The CAT scan showed that there has been no change in the cancer in dad's liver and spleen. It also showed that the cancer in his lungs has actually grown quite a bit despite the chemo treatments. Mom and dad were given two options:

Option 1: Stop all treatment and start utilizing Hospice and dad's life expectancy is 3 - 6 months.
Option 2: Change treatment which is 3 weeks on, 1 week off. This will make dad extremely ill and very weak. Traveling for short periods of times (like for the weekend) will not be possible. Dad's life expectancy would be maybe 1 year.

Dad has chosen option 2. When I talked to him this afternoon it was the first time I have heard him cry since he was diagnosed in January. I told him to not give up and he said he wouldn't. This is all a bit hard to hear and accept. Please keep our family in your prayers. I can't write anymore, too many tears.

Melody

Good Visit

Just got back from spending the weekend with mom and dad and Uncle Rick and Paula. The 4 of them drove to the Oregon coast on Friday and had a really good time. Uncle Rick took the puppies out on the beach and let them play around for awhile. They spent some time at a casino and dad didn't want to leave, not because he was winning, but because he was getting to be "normal". They didn't get home until 10:00 pm. Saturday and Sunday have been "recoup" days. He has been very tired and in a lot of pain. When I got there Saturday around 11:00 he was up and moving around and talking but by the early evening he was sleeping and his speech was more mumbly and incoherent. He was up 3 or 4 times in the night (I know because I was sleeping on the couch), 1 time was to get more pain medication. He was pretty much asking for it all weekend long. He is letting mom monitor those medications more. She thinks he was using them too much and that lead to some of his confusion. This morning, he was worse than yesterday. He was very cold and tired and in a lot of pain. He rested all day and Uncle Rick stayed with him while mom, Paula and I went to Washington Square which is a mall close by that mom has wanted to go to for quite awhile. I had to leave around 2:00 because it had snowed about 4 inches in the mountain pass I go through to get home (it is WAY, WAY to early for snow in my opinion). I called when I got home about 4:30 and mom, Uncle Rick and Paula had done some sight seeing and were on the way back home to get dad to go to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Hopefully that means he was doing a bit better that he could go out for dinner. I think that if dad is feeling up do it, they are going to an airplane museum tomorrow.

Paula just recently retired from social services work in Michigan and she believes that there are some services that could be beneficial (and no cost) to mom and dad. She is going to looking into a bit and work with me to see what we can get for mom and dad in terms of additional help. It has been very good for dad to spend time with one of his brothers. It would be nice if we could get him out to Michigan to see the rest of his family. It has been many, many years since he has seen them.

The only medical thing going this week is an appt on Oct 7th to meet with the doctor to get the result of all of the CAT scans. Aunt Charlene is going to go with him to be mom's ears and ask questions if need be. As always, I really appreciate all that Aunt Charlene and Chuck have done for mom and dad. Mom also told me her sister Cathy has offered to do grocery shopping for mom and dad every couple of weeks. I hope mom will let her do that. I know it is hard for both mom and dad to allow others to help but they need to let them.

When I hear something on Wednesday, I will pass it on. Keep the prayers and good thoughts acomin'. With gratitude....

Melody