Today I happen to be in a business meeting when my phone goes off. It is 2:16 pm CST. I know my father is at the medical oncologists office for his weekly appointment, labs, and preparation for his weekly infusion. It is my mother and her message reads: AT MEDICAL ONCOLOGISTS GIVING DAD AN IV TO HYDRATE, CALLING HOSPICE FOR BOWELS & ANXIETY. ALSO DOING URINE FOR INFECTION. My reply: SO HE DECIDED TO STOP TREATMENT? No response...
I got out of the shower in my process of getting ready to go over to see my father for his Birthday. I noticed my phone had gone off, so I checked it, and there was a text from my mother at 11:35 am, it read: DAD JUST TOOK A SHOWER & IT WORE HIM OUT. HE SAID NO COMPANY BUT I THINK HE NEEDS SOMETHING ELSE TO THINK ABOUT FOR AWHILE. HE SAID HE JUST...
It's Saturday October 26th and today I went to purchase my father a birthday card. As I am in the store looking at the cards, I begin to pick them up to read. There are the small cheap funny version, the large ornate versions, and then there are others that play music or have some saying in them. As I begin to read a few of the cards, it begins to sink in, this may be...
In the last fews weeks I have had the pleasure of participating in a few discussions and meeting a lot of different healthcare professionals and patients. A topic that has come been touched or mentioned a few time, is MDC, or multidisciplinary care. From an oncology perspective, this has traditionally always referred to tumor boards, or tumor conferences. This has been a forum for various physicians to come together to discuss difficult or interesting cancer diagnosis,...
Called my fathers phone Thursday evening to check in on him. My mother answered the phone and I asked her how he was doing, her response, your father is getting annoyed with me. I think he is doing fine. She turned the phone over to my father and he begins to explain, "Hey, your mother asked me what I wanted to eat and I told her an egg. She made me some toast and I didn't...
I stopped early at my parents home this morning to see my father prior to his port placement. When I arrived,the joke was on me, they were already gone. I called and asked my mother where they were, she informed me that the hospital asked them to be there 2 hours ahead of his port being placed. I spoke to my father and told him I loved him, and I would see him later. Around 3:00...
My phone goes of at 4:59 pm and I look to see who it is. It is my mother. Text message reads: PORT WILL BE PLACED TOMORROW @ 10 WITH CHEMO TO FOLLOW. INTERVENTIONALIST DOING IT. I respond: OKAY. HOW'S DAD DOING TODAY? Mother replies: ABOUT THE SAME JUST MADE HIM THE DRINK WITH PROTEIN YOU GAVE HIM AND BANANA. Me: ARE THEY GOING TO ADDRESS THE ASCITES? Mother: THAT IS A GOOD QUESTION. NAVIGATOR SAID WE WOULD SEE...
Today is Monday October 21st and my father had an appointment to see the Nephrologist. This was one of the first appointments I was not able to attend, but I know he is in good hands being that my mother is a nurse. Nephrologist was checking on my father's right kidney, due to having a stricture of the ureter, and what was the trigger to finding the lesion in the pancreas, and his eventual diagnosis. So...
Stopped in at my parents this evening after running some errands. As I walked into the living room my father sat there in his big recliner. His hair was all disheveled, thinning still, and when I leaned down to give him a hug and a kiss I noticed that his skin was damp from perspiration. I asked y father how he was feeling. His response was simple, "If I didn't have this pain in the front...
Spoke to my father today to get an update on his appointment. The healthcare system punted my fathers care back to his primary care physician. The appointment went pretty well. They physician told my father that his sweats are probably related to his cancer, the enormity of all the information he was just hit with, the amount of change his mind and body are going through, and the fact that he is just not eating and...