Had a really hard day yesterday, dad was in distress with his bowel again over night so I rang the specialist nurse who arranged for dad to see the bowel consultant later than day. Probably one of the worst appointments we've had. I know i've said before that we have an understand with the oncologist that he doesn't tell us anything we don't need to know, his aim is to keep dad positive. We cannot control what other consultants/doctors say. So the first thing he says was 'you know we cannot cure you'. Well actually no we didn't know that, we know his lung cancer is incurable, but that's it.
The consultant said they cannot do the stent for another 2 weeks and he won't make it that long, the pressure in the bowel and risk of perforation is now too great so full surgery. Oh you are going to remove the cancer? No. That is major surgery with a long recovery, lots of risks that we cannot take. Chances are dad may never leave hospital and would never return to chemo. Lovely thanks.
So they're going to do a bowel bypass and create a stoma. Dad looks confused, and he said a bag. Dad is shocked and said ok, can they can be reversed though? I'm sorry but we will never get to a position where it can be reversed.
So dad is going in at 10am today for surgery tomorrow. Chemo will be delayed for a further 2-3 weeks, but I don't mind the break in chemo if something is happening to improve dad's quality of life. We've already lost 3 weeks and he's endured a week in hospital for now what appears to be nothing, why they couldn't do this surgery then I don't understand, but I suspect they wanted to avoid surgery as much as possible.
So a horrible day, dad is as deflated as a burst rubber ring and I feel totally blown away and really worried now. Pants xx
