Like all daughters ( or most!!) my Dad is my superhero so needless to say this came as a total shock to us.
There are no words to convey just how awful it feels .
I have some blog entries I made on another site that I will copy and paste here , I suppose to show the harsh effect its had so far.
Dad was a joiner by trade at 18 and contracted the mesothelioma from the asbestos they worked with at the time, for a number of years now he has been aware that he could fall into that group who develop this illness.
All his lfe he's been a strong capable man , moving from one thing to another , joinery , farming etc . Whatever he's done its usually been manual and we have only ever had to look to him for help with domestic issues . He's always known what to do and he's always stepped up to the plate where us kids have been concerned.
Another awful thing is age , he's only 55 , seems so harsh especially . I don't think any of us ever feel ready to stop being someone's child. We always need our parents no matter what.
November - start of was roughly when we were made aware something was wrong. A few years ago he had pneumonia , now we know that was the start of the mesothelioma starting to show itself. Mum came up that day and was obviously distressed telling myself and my sis, my brother at that time having heard already that they knew there was something there , it had shown on an xray as a shadow. Cue plenty of appts and MRI etc .
We found out it was cancer , they thought it may have been one of two - mesothelioma or adenocarcinoma ( it apparently mimics other cancers) we then discovered just before christmas 09 that it was the mesothelioma so the next step was the surgery which he had just over 2 weeks ago.
The surgeon found more inside than he expected - the scan only showed one tumour but it was 2 he removed plus the pleural lining and three parts of the diaphragm .
At the moment we are waiting to hear from Oncology as they want to start radiotherapy first and fast then it will be chemo.Everything else we have to wait and see .
So fingers crossed he responds well and we can learn to live it and that he can continue for the most part as normal. At the moment he is out walking every day to help his lung recover ( yes yes he is , he's a fit man!) and though he's tiring easily thats likely because he's still recovering from the operation.
I'll try and keep this updated as we go. I hope that it can help others in the same situation.
Em
