Round 3...1 day down, 4 more to go...

So dad had an okay night last night.  He got a bit sick on his stomach and thought he was grabbing his zophran, but he was grabbing his ativan.  Bless his heart...he finally turned on the light, realized what he was doing, and finally got some rest.
 

Round 3

Round 3 of Chemo starts tomorrow night.  THis is how we get his prescription of Temodar.  It comes pre-packaged out into 5 days.  Next month his dose is going up from 550 to 570.

Dad read somewhere that Lemonade/Lemon Candy helps with the Chemo so we went and bought all kinds of lemon stuff.  Dr. Aganost was also so nice to provide us with Zophran too!!

He is already losing his hair from this last round of radiation and he feels that his leg has gotten worse.  I feel so bad...I wish I could take it from him.  We go back to Dr. Nichols this week to talk about what's next.  Dr. Aganost wants a PET scan in 4 weeks to see if the cancer is in other parts of his body...dad is dreading that...he really doesn't want to know.  He said what he doesn't know..then he doesn't have to worry about.  Dad is getting tired...he breaks down at times and says this isn't how he thought things would be at 58.  In a given week, he takes over 200 pils. 



Dad's Extra Steriods - he has a total of 4 a day!



Dad's Weekly Meds

Memories...

Dad wanted me to write tonight and let everyone know that his short term memory is shot.  He has times when he doesn't remember what type of cancer he has, different peoples names, or common everyday things.  He does miss talking to everyone on Facebook but radiation has taken a toll on him.   They told him today that he would probably start losing his hair next week, but as you can see from his pictures, we are keeping it short anyway. 

Dad's New Rides

Dad's "new" ride!  He needs a lot of practice though before he can get his license...he is dangerous!!! lol

It's her world, we just live in it.  She thinks now whatever her granddaddy has, is hers.

Little Bit of Good News...

So I called Biologics yesterday about the bill they had sent.  I told them I was really worried because we had never received anything saying dad had a copay.  The lady on the phone said "Oh, he has CancerCare, he shouldn't have gotten a bill, just disreguard that"...what a relief!!

Too good to be true...

1st off...we were under the impression that Biologics was going to pay for dad's Chemo for a year.  They sent us a letter, said we were approved, and never mentioned a copay.  Well we got a bill this past Saturday and they want dad to pay over $1000.00 for his copay.  I'm not sure what we are going to do...I am going to have to call them tomorrow and see what is going on,

2nd...dad had been 2 weeks without any seizures...we just knew his medication and steriod were working, but last night he had a seizure.  It was a mild one, but it is still scary for dad.  His doctor has ssaid to give him ativan when he is having them, but he is unable to take the medicine, drink, and have a seizure at the same time.

3rd...We were hoping dad was only going to have 5 sessions of radiation...bless his heart, dad used to be the cooker in the house, the one who did all the things in the kitchen, and this past weekend, he had to ask me how many scoops it took to make lemonade.  This wouldn't be so bad, but he was the one that taught us how many scoops it too.  So he found out today that he is going to have 5 more doses, totaling 10 doses of whole brain radiation. 

UGH....

I think I am ready to share...

So we went to the doctor's last Tuesday and I have been trying to figure out if I could even update dad's blog...I've cried, gotten angry, and cried some more...but I keep that from dad, I don't want him to see me upset.  Billy had class in Charlotte last Tuesday through Saturday so I called in for help and my wonderful stepmom came to help.  She took such good care of my dad...we hated to see her go home yesterday. 

Tuesday we went to Dr. Nichol's, one of dad's oncologist, and got the results from his latest MRI.  The 4 original spots in dad's brain have not stopped growing.  Since Melanoma is one of the only cancer's that doesn't take to radiation and chemo, the treatments seem to just piss off the cancer and the cancer grows.  He also has a new spot on the "balance" part of his brain...which really makes since with all his falling. 

They started "Whole Brain" radiation last Wednesday.  Dr. Nichol's says that this is a much "softer" dose of radiation than dad has had before.  We have been told that it will not help any of the spots that are already there, it may even kill some of the parts that have already been radiated, but the hope is that it will keep any new spots from growing.  Dad is having 5 days of radiation, but that could change to 10 days depending on what the doctor decides.  His headaches are coming back, but with the help of Tylenol, they are being contained. and the tiredness is also coming back.  These are too be expected with the radiation. 

They have raised dad's steriod from 2 times a day to 4 times a day.  This is to help the swelling in his brain.  I told the doctor I was doing good to get 2 in him a day but dad has done a great job making sure he takes the other 2...plus Billy told him he would put Gracie's, our dogs, shock collar on him if he didn't...lol.  We have to make jokes and laugh are we would cry all the time. 

Please keep dad in your thoughts and prayers...