sorry to comment here. don't know your email address. i have some questions about your dad. i hope you don't mind. i know it's a painful topic but i'm so confused and i want help.
i know your dad had cancer and that's really all i know. i think it was lung cancer, but can't remember for sure. is it similar to my situation? (my dad's, that is)
my dad got diagnosed w/ emphysema 2 years ago. so his lungs are already bad. now he got diagnosed w/ lung cancer. first dr said it's inoperable. the second said they could operate. well, after further tests they realize they can't because it covers almost all of one lung. and his other lung is his bad one. so basically, the cancer is covering the good lung.
therefore, no surgery. so now he's doing chemo every tuesday for 7 weeks and radiation. and then after 7 weeks he's doing really intensive chemo.
i know chemo is killer on the body. and my dad is 71. other than that, i don't know what to expect.
did your dad do chemo? radiation? what was it like?
i wanna go there, but summer is in school til the end of may. i dont' think a weekend would be enough - i wanna spend at least a week with him. i have no clue at all what to expect, what he'll go through... how much help he'll need, or anything.
My dad had a different kind of cancer. His was Hodgkin's disease which is in the leukemia family.
He did have chemo, but he had heart disease that prevented him from being able to take the full course of the best chemo. He was in the 5% that die from Hodgkin's.
However, my oldest friend's dad died of lung cancer. May I forward this to her? She isn't online much but she was there caring for him for most of his final weeks.
Have they said if there's a chance for a cure? Chemo is horrible. After watching my dad suffer, the only way I'd go through it myself is if there was a chance for a cure.
There are some meds that help to counter the red and white blood cell die off the chemo causes. With Kaiser, we had to tell them we knew about the meds before they'd consider giving them to my dad.
I've got to scoot to the airport to pick Eric up right now. I'll check into those meds when I get back so you can know what to ask about.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
I haven't had any luck in tracking down the injected meds that helped my dad's blood counts during chemo. I'll ask my mom. She kept records of all that. I just didn't want to ask her if I could find it on my own.
I woke up this morning with an urge to tell you that cancer is unpredictable. Go to see your dad as soon as you can manage it for a short visit. Then you can see him as well as possible just in case his cancer suddenly attacks like my dad's did. Short visits as often as possible will give your dad, you and Summer the chance to say all those things people want to say before we lose them, settle all the old scores and such. If Summer can't handle seeing him so ill, arrange care for her while you go. It's important.
My dad and I settled things between us in the months before he died. We didn't have major issues but just settling the few we had helped us both cope. I'm so grateful we did that.
Go soon though. Things can change in the wink of an eye. One week we were planning a family trip to Hawaii and the next week we were trying desperately to get the hospice people out to get his morphine started. He died a few days before we were supposed to leave on the trip. I found it helped me emotionally to help provide hospice care for my dad. It breaks your heart but I think it would hurt much worse to not be there.
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timeasmymeasure
cancer
Date: 2004-05-05 01:41 pm (UTC)i know your dad had cancer and that's really all i know. i think it was lung cancer, but can't remember for sure. is it similar to my situation? (my dad's, that is)
my dad got diagnosed w/ emphysema 2 years ago. so his lungs are already bad. now he got diagnosed w/ lung cancer. first dr said it's inoperable. the second said they could operate. well, after further tests they realize they can't because it covers almost all of one lung. and his other lung is his bad one. so basically, the cancer is covering the good lung.
therefore, no surgery. so now he's doing chemo every tuesday for 7 weeks and radiation. and then after 7 weeks he's doing really intensive chemo.
i know chemo is killer on the body. and my dad is 71. other than that, i don't know what to expect.
did your dad do chemo? radiation? what was it like?
i wanna go there, but summer is in school til the end of may. i dont' think a weekend would be enough - i wanna spend at least a week with him. i have no clue at all what to expect, what he'll go through... how much help he'll need, or anything.
can you help me with any of this?
thanks linda. i really appreciate it.
richelle
Re: cancer
Date: 2004-05-05 09:20 pm (UTC)My dad had a different kind of cancer. His was Hodgkin's disease which is in the leukemia family.
He did have chemo, but he had heart disease that prevented him from being able to take the full course of the best chemo. He was in the 5% that die from Hodgkin's.
However, my oldest friend's dad died of lung cancer. May I forward this to her? She isn't online much but she was there caring for him for most of his final weeks.
Have they said if there's a chance for a cure? Chemo is horrible. After watching my dad suffer, the only way I'd go through it myself is if there was a chance for a cure.
There are some meds that help to counter the red and white blood cell die off the chemo causes. With Kaiser, we had to tell them we knew about the meds before they'd consider giving them to my dad.
I've got to scoot to the airport to pick Eric up right now. I'll check into those meds when I get back so you can know what to ask about.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
(((((((((comforting hugs)))))))))))
Re: cancer
Date: 2004-05-07 03:39 pm (UTC)I haven't had any luck in tracking down the injected meds that helped my dad's blood counts during chemo. I'll ask my mom. She kept records of all that. I just didn't want to ask her if I could find it on my own.
There were a few good sites with lots of information though,
http://www.lungcancer.org
http://www.lungcanceronline.org/
Here's the National site
http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancer_information/cancer_type/lung/
Hang in there sweetie!
((((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))
Re: cancer
Date: 2004-05-10 03:56 pm (UTC)How are you coping? I keep thinking about you.
I woke up this morning with an urge to tell you that cancer is unpredictable. Go to see your dad as soon as you can manage it for a short visit. Then you can see him as well as possible just in case his cancer suddenly attacks like my dad's did. Short visits as often as possible will give your dad, you and Summer the chance to say all those things people want to say before we lose them, settle all the old scores and such. If Summer can't handle seeing him so ill, arrange care for her while you go. It's important.
My dad and I settled things between us in the months before he died. We didn't have major issues but just settling the few we had helped us both cope. I'm so grateful we did that.
Go soon though. Things can change in the wink of an eye. One week we were planning a family trip to Hawaii and the next week we were trying desperately to get the hospice people out to get his morphine started. He died a few days before we were supposed to leave on the trip. I found it helped me emotionally to help provide hospice care for my dad. It breaks your heart but I think it would hurt much worse to not be there.
Love and comforting hugs, Linda
sugarplumkitty@yahoo.com