Mar 03, 2006 - Two posts

Friday, March 03, 2006
Update...

I've just got off the phone with my mum. At last we've had some news which isn't bad.

I got a text earlier saying that my Dad has been readmitted to Queen Elizabeth's Hospital after the appointment he had this morning. This *freaked* me out. I had to ring my Mum this evening (I couldn't go round as Janet is out this evening) to find out the news.

Apparently - and this is the best chunk of news we've had for what seems like ages - Dad has a rare form of stomach cancer known as a "small cell carcinoma" which is very sensitive chemotherapy. The chemo in this case acts very rapidly and shrinks the tumor well and in some can produce remission!

Now, there's a long road ahead. Dad is still very weak and the chemo will give him a bad time BUT (and it's capital-letter-type-but) there is a chance, however small, that we could get remission.

Before this news we had no weapons to fight with. Now we have a weapon. Lets hope (and pray) that this weapon is sharp, cuts cleanly and kills the damn cancer....

...onward flies the bird...

Paul




posted by Parkylondon at 9:15 PM | 3 comments links to this post
Dad...

Dad continues to weaken and gets increasingly poorly. He spends more and more time asleep, energy levels continue to drop and he's starting to lose his short term memory. Mum thinks this latter issue may well be because of metastases (the secondary cancer cells) starting to get into his brain. God, I hope not. I'd rather pray for a quick end than for him to lose all self respect by becoming a shell.

He had an appointment to kick off his radiotherapy yesterday so Mum got him up, fed and dressed (a huge task in itself) ready for the transport to St. Thomas' in London. The transport was due to pick him up at midday ready for a two o'clock appointment. The transport didn't show up.

Dad has been promised radiotherapy for five weeks now and he hasn't even been assessed yet. It wouldn't surprise me if he was deemed too weak for it now. This will really get to me as I've been pressing for it for some time. The specialist dad has been seeing went completely tonto when he realised that members of his (new) team had dropped the ball so comprehensively. Now he's an outpatient (Dad's fault, he should have stayed in but that's another issue) I'm not convinced that he's going to get the treatment he needs like this.

When Mum rang St. Thomas' yesterday they said they'd been having problems with their "taxi" service - TAXI? What do they think they're doing? My dad can barely walk, let alone get into a car....

Upshot is that he's been given an appointment today at Queen Elizabeths Hospital in Greenwich with the same specialist he was due to see yesterday. I don't suppose he'll get everything done at this session but it's better than nothing.

I'll see how this goes and then get in touch with the Consultant next week.

On a connected note, it looks like Dad's sister is going to fly in from Australia in the not too distant future. When that happens I'll let you know but I hope Dad holds out for her. She's coming in with her son, David, my cousin and I think they'll be staying for a couple of weeks. I think it's best that she comes in before the end rather than comes in for the funeral. Hopefully she won't be around for that.

I think it's starting to hit home now. Dad is going to die and I don't think it'll be too long if things carry on as they are.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you don't consider the possibility of your parents being anything other than immortal. My Dad was a six foot two, strong as an ox, 30 year British bobby - his beat was the River Thames. Before that he did nine years in the Royal Navy. To see him as he now cuts me up....