picI apologize in advance; this is not going to be a happy post....
2 Days ago my Dad was admitted again to Oncology. His cancer has returned....
I guess I will start off with a little history..
He was diagnosed back in 1998 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I was honestly too young to remember what actually was going on. I just remember visiting him in the hospital because he was sick, but since the hospital was about 2 hours away I didn’t go there often. He received chemo twice because the lymphoma came back a few years later. He then had a stem cell transplant and was cancer free for 14 years.
Jump forward to this past December... I remember coming down with a really bad cold that just wouldn't go away. Soon after my mom and then dad both caught the flu too..coughing, stuffy nose, chills, common flu symptoms.. Finally, my mom and I got better but my Dads cold just kept lingering on, especially with a bad cough, chills, and fatigue... He thought that he just needed more rest and hopefully he would get better..but it just didn't. He grew so weak that he could hardly walk from one room to another. I begged him to finally go to the Doctors and he did. They took a blood sample and then told him it must just be allergies and sent him home with Allegra. The next morning we got a call from the doctors to take him immediately to the ER because they noticed he had a very low red blood cell count and high white. This means his body was on overload trying to fight off something. After what it seemed like hours the ER doctor came in and said it looks like his cancer has returned.
He then got rushed down to another hospital with a cancer center 45 mins away..
It wasn't until the next morning that he called my mom from the hospital telling her the doctor said it was Leukemia (AML). We rushed down there and they explained that it was most likely caused from the chemotherapy he’s received in the past..
How could this be? How could curing one cancer lead to another? It just isn't fair.
Fast forwarding a little... He received his 7 day chemo regimen and then came down with a bad case of pneumonia which landed him in the ICU for a little more than a week. Seeing him in there with a breathing tube and on so much medicine he couldn’t even open his eyes horrified me. At this point I was at my lowest point I have ever been in my whole life. I remember when I would try and fall asleep at night I could feel darkness closing in around me. I would literally wake up and feel so much pressure pushing on my head and shoulders I thought this was going to last forever…All I wanted was my Dad to come home and everything be back to normal..
After a very long 32 days we took him home…(I was at the hospital as much as I could every day except 2 days because of snow storms)
The first few nights home were very scary..he was so weak I would lay awake to make sure he was sleeping and jump up at every sound. He had lost so much weight and was in bed for so long he couldn’t even stand to walk to the bathroom and I was afraid he might fall…
Each day got better and better…in a few weeks he was outside gardening and doing his everyday things. Weeks went by and we were waiting to hear from Dana Farber which who would be doing the bone marrow transplant. We learned that there were no complete matches for him but his brother was half. We went to Boston thinking we were going to discuss and start the transplant but soon found out from a blood test the disease had returned. This was a huge shock because he has been doing sooo good and got back to his normal active self.
Sooo now we are back to square one, looking to get this leukemia back into remission. This round of chemo he is stronger and not sick to begin with. We are crossing our fingers that there will be no complications and he will only be in the hospital for a week or so....
Wellll... that's that...It helps to write this out and kinda get it off my chest..Thank you whoever is reading..
For anyone who is battling cancer....Stay Strong and just keep swimming...
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