the journey

2 minute read time.

my amazing dad has been battling cancer for nearly 2 years now(wish i had found this site then)i thought i would write a diary /blog of how his treatment is going. it all began back in april 2009 when a urine infection showed up a tumour on his right kidney.he was whisked in to hospital to have the kidney removed within a week and the op was a success.he felt great after the op and back to normal within days so it came as a great shock to us all at his 3 month check up that the cancer had returned.they found small nodules on his lungs and tumours in the bone(hip and bottom of back) by the start of october dad had been given the cancer drug sutent.the side effects he felt made him lose weight all his hair went snowy white,had no taste for food and nausea. the nausea was controlled with different drugs.one of the good things about this treatment was you got a 2 week break in each cycle so on his 2 weeks off his appetite returned and he started to feel better. the sutent meds kept him ticking away for 14 months.we got the news end of nov begining of dec 2010 that a tumour in the spine had grown from 7cm to 18cm so the sutent was not keeping the cancer at bay so he was removed from it. this came as a huge blow to mum,dad myself and brother as who knew what the next step would be. he suffered with pains in his legs and a scan showed a non malignant tumour compressing the spine making the legs painful so he had 2 lots of radiotherapy which def helped and shrunk the tumour.dad was told of a new drug that they wanted him to trial.sadly he was not suitable for the trial due to blood counts etc but was told there was a fairly new cancer drug called everolimus(afinitor) they wanted him to try. this however would need funding.the price was very high but like the sutent(which needed funding we were optomistic.the news back 2 weeks later was no PCT had turned us down but dads consultant had applied to another company and they said yes.dad has been on the new treatment 10 days now.the main side effect of this is such a sore swollen mouth with ulcers which stops his ability to eat and drink.he does seem quite out of it at the moment so we are contacting mcmillan nurses and his cancer nurse.

7th march 2011

dad has been admitted to hospital.for the last 4 days or so he has been quite out of it.he is very dissorientated ,grabbing for things that are not there,hallucinations,sleeping 22 hours a day.we have spoken to a nurse and she seems to think it could be to do with his type 2 diabetes as he had a urine reading of 27.8(very high) we were told to take dad to his cancer ward at the hospital where it seems it is not the diabetes but a build up of morphine pain relief(mum did stop giving him this 2 days ago as pain was ok and because he seemed so out of it)they have kept dad in for at least overnite and the morphine has been stopped. they have also stopped the cancer drug for now as his poor mouth is so sore so they want to try an get him back to better health before restarting the drug again. i will update when i have more news.

Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    JUNE 11th 2011

    today i have been keeping myself busy.its countdown to the wedding now.only 6 days to go and went into town to pay for the flowers and sort a few things out.all tinged with sadness as dad is on my mind and that he wont be there.i got all my jobs done and thought i best get some food in as the fridge is bare as is the cupboards and the goody tin,

    i got all of this done and on the drive home i just started crying,so much so i had to pull over.im just so incredibly sad and miss my lovely dad so so much.after 5 mins or so i pulled myself together and carried on home and have just cooked a huge lasagne for when sean and charlie get here.now chilling for a little while watching a cheesy chick flick. me sean and charlie are off out to a friends birthday party tonight so am looking forward to that

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    JUNE 12th 2011

    last night was my friend karens 44th birthday party. also i should mention she has breast cancer having her left breast removed.undergone chemo and now has 2 more sessions of radio left. she has lost all her hair but boy does this woman know how to fight. she has an amazing husband and 2 beautiful young daughters. when she lost her hair i went to the house and being a hairdresser her husband wanted his shaved off as well.

    last night her party wasnt just for her birthday it was to raise money for the cancer unit at salisbury hospital. her husbands head shave raised well over £1000. all the profit proceeds of the bar at the party went to her chosen charity as did the money raised from the raffle last night. we won a bottle of wine and bottle of southern comfort...all for £4 so what a bargain. we then put a bid in on a bottle of whiskey which we ended up winning for £20. in total they raised a bloody good amount which was fab.

    then to begin the party.the music was great.karens 2 girls each got up in front of over 100 people and sang a song and did a dance for her. karen looked totally stunning and had a fab evening as did all of us

    today sean and i are off to finalise bits for the wedding..just a few more things needed.i think today will be nice and chilled and will cook a roast later.i was going to go to the cemetery today to see dad but its raining so hard here so as soon as we get a good day i will go. always in my thoughts dad and i love you so very very much and miss you so much it hurts x x

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Twizz,

    So sorry to read your blog. You are such a strong and inspiring family.

    I just wanted to comment on an earlier post. You mentioned the 2 white feathers that you found floating outside your and your Mum's door. I have heard (and do believe it myself) that finding a drifting white feather is a sign of an angel being present. I don't mean to upset you but when I read this, I knew I had to tell you.

    Thinking of you and you family,

    Tiggy

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    hi tiggy

    it wont upset me at all you telling me this. i strongly believe in all of this and it does bring huge comfort to me at such a sad time. i was in 2 minds as to if i should keep doing this blog as it was about my dad but as several people have pointed out it has given an insight into how families cope so i will carry on blogging.ive tried to be as honest as i can with my feelings etc and i do hope it wont upset people but i feel its something i have to do

    wendie x x