Heres hope.........

On Decemeber 26th 2011 (last year) my dad went to the emergency , after fighting with him for weeks that he wasnt acting right, doing strange things, not being able to make conversation etc.. etc.. hes a stubborn man, and has barely ever been sick in his life. So with saying this, he kept trying to tell myself , my mother & my older brother that he was just coming down with the flu... but myself.. being just as stubborn as he is, i kept fighting with him over it.. Eventually , boxing day.. i faught enough , he finally agreed to go to the hospital.( he knew himself , something wasnt right) My brother & mother drove him in, as I stayed home to attend our family supper..it was our year to do boxiny day supper at our house.
So at home I patiently waited , they left around 2:30pm... by 9pm I had recieved a phone call from my mom, stating that I should come to the hospital ASAP.. well my heart stopped, my stomach dropped.. I was speechless, I just knew it.. She wouldnt tell me any details , But I tell ya the drive from my house to the hospital (45 mins) seemed like 4 hrs..

I got into the emergency , seen my mother she filled me in on what they knew so far to be the problem. They did a CT scan, seen a 5 cm mass in my dads brain. Right away they called for the oncologist to do an emergency MRI, when the results came back they comfirmed as to what they beleived was GBM , not sure the grade of it at this point. They could tell what type it was by the look of it through the MRI scan. Right away they insisted emergency surgery.. That night they moved my dad up to a room, as we werent all sure what the extent of this was going to be. We were all really unsure how to react. The doctors would know more information after the surgery.
So the next morning he was due for surgery at 9am, he was out of surgery by 12pm. He was in the recovery room, we were in the family waiting room... the Doctor came in , released the news... they confirmed he had GBM GRADE 4, at this point we didnt know what to say or do.... all of us were speechless, Me being the stronger one out of the family ( just my personality) I had to keep it together for the rest of us. Only being 24 years old myself, it was taking on a lot. The doctor didnt want us to tell my father what the results were 100% , he wanted to relay the information himself once he came out of the ICU. I didnt feel this was right , because Im a lot like my father ... he knows when there is something wrong with me , even if he isnt in his right state of mind. Which he did, as soon as i walked in the recovery room, BAM... he knew, he kept asking me what was wrong .. and why i looked upset... The worst part is knowing the information that i knew and not being able to say anything.

Eventually they told us we had to leave the room, so he could get some rest.. I drove home, came back the next morning. My mother stayed the night sleeping sitting up in a chair. When I arrived the doctor had already been in and broke the news to him. At first he didnt know how to react, but then again really how do you react when one minute your healthy as can be, then the next they say you have 2 years to live ..if you take treatment and 3-6 months if you dont take treatment. Everything suddenly felt like it was crashing down for all of us. But yet again, I had to be strong for him , I had to show him that If i had no fear of it, then he shouldnt either.

Me showing him my strength allowed him to be even stronger, it allowed my mother to be stronger as well as my brother.. I mean if we all fell apart , who would be there to pick up the pieces... someone had to do it...
I sat down with my mother , discussed what would take place next... I would stay at home and be the primary caregiver for him throughout his treatments , etc... that way she could still go to work ( without work over a long period of time, she would lose her medical coverage) so she went back to work shortly after my dad was realeased from the hospital( 2 days after surgery)... I stayed home, kept the house up.. did the errands, drove my dad to his Radiation appointments, etc.. I made a food plan for him, made all his meals .. made sure he ate when he was suppose to etc. Being a cook , it worked in his advantage cause I knew what protiens , vegtables he shoulda been consuming to keep a healthy body.

My dad recieved 6 weeks of radiation and chemo(pill form) at the same time, they did this because his body was strong enough to handle both doses. He had very minimal sickness, While taking Chemo, he was taking HEMP pills... recieved from a homepathic doctor. Which helped with his sickness and kept his immune strong. He finished his radiation, had a month off .. then proceeded with chemo pills again for 5 days out of the month... After pushing him to get outside for walks(when your feeling down and depressed, you dont want to leave your bed) but I faught with him again, and made him walk.. explained the good of it, and that laying in bed thinking your going to die isnt going to help fight the battle.. He would see his doctor regularly.. which i cant thank enough for how good they have been to him & our family. He didnt lose any weight while taking chemo, radiation.. he only lost a bit of his hair, which is slowly growing back... Most people who see him now would never think he was even sick. Cause he looks that well. And with his hat on you wouldnt even realize he lost any hair.

He last seen his doctor October 2011, which he is now done his chemo, they only did it for 6 months.. he has had 3 CLEAN MRI scans. And hes due for another one in January 2012.

He has since (August2011) gone back to work a few shifts at his job, although Im very strict and wont allow him to over do it, its once you hit that point of not getting the required rest you need, and eating healthy regularly...thats when your immune system starts failing itself..and then problems occur.. so he goes down a few hrs out of the day, only 2-3 days a week..I deliever his lunch to him if hes not home for it before I , myself go to work at my own job. He has since then (August2011)been given his license back, they had taken it away while on treatments..But with clean MRI's they felt no need to suspend it any longer. He had lost some of his short term memory but even that seems to be improving which they said it was normal for him to have affects due to the surgery and location of the tumor. Which the doctor who did the surgery said they removed everything visable to the eye, but with that Grade of cancer..its impossible to get the little fingers that grow off of the tumor which is what causes it to spread. But so far so good, 3 clean MRI's and life is back to somewhat normal.

Oh ya, he also goes and plays cards with his buddies 2-3 times a week for an hr or so in the evening.. which allows him to get out and its good for his brain it helps keep it alert..any board games, card games.. things like that I feel play a big part in the brain, it allows it to excersise itself.. once you stop using things.. example.. if you use to run , then stop... its hard to start running again without feeling out of shape and your not as quick etc.. its how your brain is..you stop using the functions, its hard to get those functions back, specailly someone who has had brain trama...

all in all, after writing my story... hoping that in some way i will either help or inspire you to have hope and faith...also its to help people (family memebers)push people they know to get checked out by a doctor if something doesnt seem right.. Even if they try and tell you they are fine, if you see signs and symptoms yourself.. do whatever you can to make them have the test they need..over those weeks of fighting with my dad to go see someone, i threatened him a couple times with calling the cops and ambulance..ya gotta do whatever it takes..Even though my fathers doctor did reassure me that even if he would have went in when first showing his symptoms there still wouldnt of been anything they could have done.. because of the type it is.. And, its the most aggressive cancer of the brain, they told us it probably started growing maybe a month prior at the most.. so even if he would have had an MRI 2 months prior to boxing day.. nothing would have shown.. thats just how fast this cancer stuff grows.. its insane.

So if your suffering from this horrible monster, or if you know someone who is.. you make sure you never lose hope.. and never stop fighting, if you want something bad enough you will get it.. if you want to beat this monster , you cant be laying in bed with no faith or hope on getting better.. ya need to get up, get out and dont stop doing what you want to do... eat healthy, get the required rest you need, excersize...and enjoy your life to the fullest, and beleive that you will get better.. because you determine your own destination... and i beleive faithly that if my father would have just layed in bed and didnt have the strong support around him like he has, then he probably wouldnt be doing as good as what he is.. You need to look at it like this... " your not sick, you have been given something, i wouldnt say a gift.. but its a challenge.. god doesnt give people something if he didnt think they werent strong enough to either fight it or handle it..so take this oppurtunity and show just how strong you are.. even on your most down of days.. push yourself or help push someone to get out for a walk , sunshine has its own natural essences that helps keep a healthy body... GOOD LUCK TO ALL, will keep you updated.. if you have any questions.. i may be able to help.. as I have been doing non stop research on this specific topic...

PS...fight for what you want... you want life... FIGHT!!! once you give up, the battle is over..