When does it end?

mydeardad

I took my dad to see the oncologist last week Friday. Even though his Thermosphere’s were implanted on 9/10/12, they have agreed to do a CT this week to check on the large tumor in his portal vein.

Their suspicions are that the radiation beads did put the cancer in check. However it may has also put his liver over the edge. Due to the size of the tumors, number of tumors and the fact that one has invaded the portal vein he is no longer a candidate for transplant.

He needs 24/7 care. He can hardly stand by himself let alone walk. Most of the time he doesn't know where he is or who any of us are (my mom, my brothers or me). He gets extremely nasty and threating. He is very restless and hardly sleeps.

He is adamant that a little boy died in their house and this boy keeps pushing him down the stairs and hitting him. Just last night, he wanted to lie on the floor and take a nap. When he woke up 20 minutes later he had no idea how he got on the floor and blamed it on the little boy again.

Him losing his mind due to the H/E is the hardest thing to watch. He takes lactulose but that seems to have lost the effect at this point. The doctors put him on Ativan to help calm him and get some rest.

Our family has had the year from hell. My father in law died from renal cancer on 5/7/11, my paternal grandfather from esophageal cancer on 11/28/11, my aunt from bone cancer on 1/5/12, my husband’s maternal grandmother from a rare form of leukemia on 3/28/12, my husband’s paternal grandfather from a bowel obstruction on 4/15/12 and my paternal grandfathers wife from lung cancer on 6/3/12.

We go back to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester this Friday to see the oncologist again for the CT scans and blood work results. They will tell us based on the results if it is time to call Hospice.

I am not sure how much more of this one family can take before we are all commited.