My Dad's Appointment

It has been confirmed that my dad's cancer is back. I guess it is safe to say, it never really went away. They just temporarily derailed it. The main tumor is in his abdomen, where his kidney once was. A month ago on the catscan it was 3 mm, now it is 20 mm. It is a very fast, agressive cancer. He also has another spot by his spleen which has grow, and one in his lung. I guess it is very common for kidney cancer to mestestatize to the lung.

There are 2 different types of chemo he can go on. The first one (which has the best results, so now I am praying that he can be on this one) is an oral chemo that he will take in pill form. With this chemo, all of his levels need to be perfect, his calcium, iron, and other levels. If those levels are all good, he would start it next week. He would be on the chemo for 4 weeks, then off for 2, then they would do another catscan, and repeat the process. Also with this drug, they have to monitor all his levels very closely, so he would have 3 -4 doctor appointments a week.

The second kind of drug (less successful) is the IV chemo drugs. The thing that really sucks about kidney cancer is that chemotherapy is really not an effective treatment. So there are only a few drugs they can try. Radiation usually does not help either. So we are helpless, and dependant on these 2 drugs right now, and just PRAY that one of them works.

I feel a little bit better knowing the cancer is not into his liver, but scared at the rapid growth, and the chance of it speading to other places very fast. It is going to be a long, long, few months ahead of us, please pray for strength for our family.

My dad is still in so much pain that he cannot function. The tumor that is causing him the most pain is the one where his kidney was. They said there is nothing they can do surgically. He has to wait for the tumor to hopefully shrink before he will have some relief from pain. They put him on morphine yesterday. It is safe to say that my dad is done working. He will be going on full disability, and applying for social security. Which is best - both for his health and mentally. I know if I was told I had cancer, the last thing I would want to do every day is go to a job.

Amazingly, I am doing okay. I think I am a little at peace now, knowing what we face. I think the diagnosis is the hardest part. Once we get past that, we can tackle the thing head on. My dad has the most amazing attitude ever. He is constantly laughing, and yesterday was making jokes and laughing yet. Laughter is the best medicine, and I am hoping that his positive attitude makes him a miracle.