My dad's Pancreatic Cancer

TR88

Hello,

 

MY father, 58, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer with mets to the liver in the beginning of August this year. He has had signs of symptoms since April/May of this year. We started treatment at UM Slyvester in Miami, he was given the lowest dose of chemo. SO far he has only had 3 sessions, why? his oncologist kept telling us he was too weak to get treatment, he was anemic, and his bilirubins were too high. Fine, did the onco suggest to us what to do? no, my stepmom called an ambulance for my dad due to shortness of breathe during the last days of August. Off to the ER at Mt. Sinai in Miami Beach, we found out he had blood clots in his lungs. Ok, how do we fix that? Immediately they gave him a transfusion to help with his anemia and they prescribed him blood thinners. His clots are gone. Great, back to UM, we received the results of his CT Scan, the onco told us the cancer has progressed, and there is nothing he can do, tells us about hospice. Nope, were are not there yet, mentally or physically. We are not giving up. The onco, not even recommended a second opinion. Pretty much he gave up on my dad long ago. During the onco visits, my dad had all these little problems, anemia, clots, muscle cramps, abdominal discomfort, but never any pain. Not once did the onco suggest how we can fix these little problems. So this was our last visit to UM all together, my PCP who also NOW happens to be my father's PCP in Mt. Sinai ( he is very good) recommended a onco in Mt. Sinai for a second opinion. But that is not until the 23rd, we are trying to get in sooner. Oh, and the onco at UM said on the way out "See you in 4 weeks"...For what? Right now, my father is getting better, even though the chemo did nothing. His jaundice has gone down, hes no longer has anemia, his clots are gone, hes eating more, hes actually gaining weight, overall mentally hes better than where he was 2 months ago. We have hope, and we will continue to fight for him. Also, in 2008 he had heart, and kidney failure which was brought on from pneumonia, hes also had to 2 stints put in. His survival rate was only 10%, his kidneys, and heart are back to normal now, so hes a fighter.Thanks for hearing me out.