update on dad

I haven’t written much about my Dad lately and how he is doing with his battle against cancer. I can’t believe that we have passed the 6 month mark as to when we found out.

As I write this it’s important to note that these are my thoughts and feelings and while I’m part of Dad’s support system, I’m not the one who is physically fighting the beast that starts with a ‘C.’

Dad has completed his first round of treatment. His first round included radiation treatment as well as chemotherapy. At roughly the 2/3 mark of his treatment, he took a break from the treatment and had a repeat CAT scan (CAT #2.) End result was that that tumor was shrinking and there was strong evidence that the BIG C was responding to the treatments. He completed his radiation treatments (about 10 more after the first break) and chemo (3 more after break) and took another break and a CAT scan was
repeated. The second scan showed some additional reduction, specifically in the lymph nodes but not much change in the tumor from the last scan. Are you with me so far? Dad will have a PET scan on 8/8 which will tell the DRs how much of the tumor is active cancer. At this point, Dad has exhausted his radiation options. In terms of next steps, from an oncology perspective we are waiting on that PET scan.

I feel positive about the progress that dad has made in the last 6 months. I have to be honest though, after the last appointments (after the 3rd cat scan) we were hoping to have more information and left feeling slightly discouraged.  His oncologist believes he is in a partial remission, but couldn’t commit to that until we see the results of
the pet scan.

Every day my dad truly amazes me. He is still the primary caregiver for my niece and nephew. He continues to take care of his household doing the grocery shopping, bill paying and he was released to go back to work part time. I’ve never seen him complain or be negative. 

So we anxiously and prayerfully wait…his next dr appt is 8/16 when we will get the results of the PET scan.  Hopefully I get the best birthday present ever…