A little Background

The story...

November 2009, Dad was having problems with blood in the stool and was losing weight so he had made an appointment with his doctor to discuss. The doctor recommended that he go for a colonoscopy since he was due to have one anyway and to rule out any problems. So, we went to have the procedure done (I was his driver). The procedure itself only took about 30 minutes, and within 45 they had come to the door to ask me to come in. I went in and figured I was just going to sit with Dad until he was ready to be released, since they have to watch him a bit because of the anesthesia they give you.  Well, the doctor came in to go over the procedure and says "Well, we found some polyps that we did remove, but there's also some tumors and i'm 99% sure it's cancer". My heart stopped. WHAT? How can that be? This was supposed to be a regular maintenance type of thing. I just looked at my dad sitting there...helpless...just shaking his head. The man that I always knew to be the strong protector type, is lying in bed helpless and cancer is taking over his body. I cried, and cried...I tried to be strong for my dad, but the tears just wouldn't stop. We just sat there for a while and I held his leg, since I was sitting at the foot of his bed. Then the nurses came in and went over about a hundred things that we had to do next.

It's all a blur to me now, but we had to go for biopsies, and CAT scans and PET scans. We saw one surgeon and then had a second opinion at Fox Cancer Center. Dad decided that he wanted to have his procedures done local since Fox was too far of a drive. The diagnosis is Stage IV Colon Cancer. It has spread to the liver and his lymph nodes. So, he started his Chemotherapy in January 2010 and has been going just about every 2 weeks with doc visits and surgeon visits in between. He's had several CAT scans and blood tests and PET scans in between as well.

During the last year and a half, he has been a real trooper. So tough, and determined. He's done very well, with a couple of problems, including a hospital stay because of what they believe was the start of appendicitis. Luckily, they did a short procedure without having to remove the appendix and he has been fine since.  He has dropped about 40+ pounds since he started his chemo and has finally lost all of his hair, but he's still fighting.

It's funny how nobody wants or can give an answer on the life expectancy of a Stage IV Colon Cancer patient. His last surgeon appointment that was about a month or so ago was interesting. I don't even know what other word to use. The surgeon told Dad how he was impressed that Dad has taken to the chemo so well and is still fighting. He told Dad that the first day he saw him, he really thought to himself that Dad wouldn't have made it past 6 months. Now hearing this breaks my heart, but on the same note makes me happy and proud. Happy that he didn't tell my dad, because that could have been a deal breaker, and that dad is such a fighter that he outsmarted the surgeon AND his cancer  :) But the surgeon said that since Dad's doing so well, that we will just keep on with the chemo since it seems to be working.

Dad's tumor marker has gone up and down since he started the chemo, but lately the number has climbed, so they had changed his doses of Avastin that he receives (starves the tumor) and that hopefully will do the trick. Dad has an appointment next week for another CAT scan so please say a prayer, cross your fingers, or whatever it is you can do that the results are good.

It's hard to think that Dad's days can be numbered, or not. We are just living each day now to it's fullest and fighting along the way.

NOBODY FIGHTS ALONE