I didn't know whether to share this or not. It is a very hard subject to bring up and talk about, let alone put it out there in writing. I feel like a lot of friends and family keep up with our family on here so I wanted to let them know what has been going on with my Dad over the past 6 months.
About the time that Dominic was born, the doctor's confirmed what we were afraid of - my Dad had been diagnosed with cancer. Cancer of the throat. Now after smoking for almost 50 years and complaining of a sore throat in recent weeks I think we all had a feeling that it might be cancer - it was just very hard to actually hear them confirm it.
They decided to go an aggressive route of chemotherapy and radiation to attack it. The oncologist had a 97% success rate with this type of cancer and they were going to go after it full force. The plan was 1 week of chemo, 1 week of antibiotics (because it tears down your body so much) and 1 week of rest. Repeating this 3 times. After the first treatment everything was going good but a few days into the recovery week he pretty much stopped eating. Food tasted bad, his throat was killing him, he was losing his fingernails, hair and weight. It got so bad that he had to be hospitalized for an entire week with severe dehydration almost to the point of kidney failure. Even though we haven't ever really talked about it - it pretty much almost killed him. The oncologist scaled back with the intensity of the chemo and they started back up after he gained some strength back. Those few weeks were very hard on him (and all of us). It is so hard to see someone get so frail so quickly right before your eyes. Finally, a couple weeks after the last round he was starting to recover from the chemo and felt like himself more - he was even on the floor playing with the kiddos again!
Of course, they had to continue with the treatment and it was on to radiation next. This is 15 minutes, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. We were warned that this was the worst part of the treatment. That chemo paled in comparison to how hard the radiation would be on him and his throat. Great. In fact, they believed that it would be so hard on him that they wanted to proactively go in and put a feeding tube in him to eat, in case his throat hurt too much to even eat later. The radiation started up about a week or two before we left for Texas - this past month or two has literally been a blur! He had been responding ok to it and not had any major problems. Thank goodness.
We got back from Texas on December 3rd and my parents were planning on coming over and visiting us. Robert had to leave for a work trip for a couple of days right when we got back so we were excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. At about noon my Mom called and said that they weren't coming up, they were heading to the hospital instead because Dad couldn't move his left arm. In the ER they confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. He had lost all motion in his left arm and his left leg was extremely weak. Luckily it did not effect any cognitive functions. He had to stay in the hospital for about a week and then they moved him out to a rehabilitation hospital to get started with physical therapy. His spirits were definitely crushed those first few days. It was a blessing in disguise that the feeding tube was already in him because he had just lost all taste and the motivation to eat. Thank goodness it was there and extra calories were able to get to him quickly so that didn't have to be as big of a concern as it could have been. I tried to take the kids to see him and cheer him up as much as possible but he was having a very hard time dealing with this new reality of not being able to use his left arm. I can't imagine what he has gone through and had to deal with inside of himself through all this. I will never forget when I was visiting and the rehab therapists came in to do some exercises with him and I realized just how difficult everyday things had become for him. I had to leave the room, the tears wouldn't stop flowing and that is when the reality of the stroke set in for me. It has been a slow process in dealing with all of this for our entire family but thankfully Dad is making tremendous strides with his physical therapy. We were told he would be at the rehab hospital until the new year but he did so well he was able to go home the weekend before Christmas - yay!!
He has been gaining strength in his leg and is almost walking completely without his walker. He has some movement in his arm too and with the way that he is improving they truly believe that he is going to be able to regain control of it too! Praise the lord! It is still going to be a long haul but that gives him and us lots of hope.
As far as what caused the stroke, the believed that his carotid artery was blocked and it caused a blood clot to be thrown up to his brain. They decided that surgery to scrape some of the plaque out that was clogging it would be the best chance for decreasing the likelihood that it would happen again. And that is where we are today. Tuesday he had the surgery for the artery and he came through just fine. The doctor was amazed that he hadn't had previous problems before with how blocked it was with plaque! Thank goodness he was able to clear it out and decrease the risk for another stroke.
Now it is time for continued rehab and strength building until he is stronger and then they will finish up the radiation on his throat. It has been a long, emotional and hard 6 months but things seem to be going as well as they could considering all that he has been through. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he continues this long fight. Thank you.
Of course, they had to continue with the treatment and it was on to radiation next. This is 15 minutes, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. We were warned that this was the worst part of the treatment. That chemo paled in comparison to how hard the radiation would be on him and his throat. Great. In fact, they believed that it would be so hard on him that they wanted to proactively go in and put a feeding tube in him to eat, in case his throat hurt too much to even eat later. The radiation started up about a week or two before we left for Texas - this past month or two has literally been a blur! He had been responding ok to it and not had any major problems. Thank goodness.
We got back from Texas on December 3rd and my parents were planning on coming over and visiting us. Robert had to leave for a work trip for a couple of days right when we got back so we were excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. At about noon my Mom called and said that they weren't coming up, they were heading to the hospital instead because Dad couldn't move his left arm. In the ER they confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. He had lost all motion in his left arm and his left leg was extremely weak. Luckily it did not effect any cognitive functions. He had to stay in the hospital for about a week and then they moved him out to a rehabilitation hospital to get started with physical therapy. His spirits were definitely crushed those first few days. It was a blessing in disguise that the feeding tube was already in him because he had just lost all taste and the motivation to eat. Thank goodness it was there and extra calories were able to get to him quickly so that didn't have to be as big of a concern as it could have been. I tried to take the kids to see him and cheer him up as much as possible but he was having a very hard time dealing with this new reality of not being able to use his left arm. I can't imagine what he has gone through and had to deal with inside of himself through all this. I will never forget when I was visiting and the rehab therapists came in to do some exercises with him and I realized just how difficult everyday things had become for him. I had to leave the room, the tears wouldn't stop flowing and that is when the reality of the stroke set in for me. It has been a slow process in dealing with all of this for our entire family but thankfully Dad is making tremendous strides with his physical therapy. We were told he would be at the rehab hospital until the new year but he did so well he was able to go home the weekend before Christmas - yay!!
He has been gaining strength in his leg and is almost walking completely without his walker. He has some movement in his arm too and with the way that he is improving they truly believe that he is going to be able to regain control of it too! Praise the lord! It is still going to be a long haul but that gives him and us lots of hope.
As far as what caused the stroke, the believed that his carotid artery was blocked and it caused a blood clot to be thrown up to his brain. They decided that surgery to scrape some of the plaque out that was clogging it would be the best chance for decreasing the likelihood that it would happen again. And that is where we are today. Tuesday he had the surgery for the artery and he came through just fine. The doctor was amazed that he hadn't had previous problems before with how blocked it was with plaque! Thank goodness he was able to clear it out and decrease the risk for another stroke.
Now it is time for continued rehab and strength building until he is stronger and then they will finish up the radiation on his throat. It has been a long, emotional and hard 6 months but things seem to be going as well as they could considering all that he has been through. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he continues this long fight. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would love to hear from you!!