Dad has lymphoma, some questions for you

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Registered: 05-31-2004
Dad has lymphoma, some questions for you
5
Tue, 03-25-2008 - 4:05pm
Hi all. Just found this board and thought I would check in. My Dad was diagnosed late last fall and started chemo in December. He is older, just has his 82nd birthday, and is on his 5th round. This past one has been really hard on him, and has my family a little scared. He was quite disoriented a lot of the time, and VERY hard to wake up, as well as breathing quite heavily. He is just now starting to pull out of it, on day 16, much later than usual. I know chemo gets more difficult as you go, are the things he is going through the typical pattern? I know he is a bit depressed and having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It doesn't help that they got news yesterday that a lady they know,(my sister's MIL) about the same age and married for the same length of time passed away from pancreatic cancer. Dad is scheduled for a CT scan on Thursday to see how the cancer is responding. I am really hoping for some good news on that front, seems like they have had a lot of bad news lately. Any encouragement is greatly appreciated.

Michelle


Loving Mom to three rambuctious boys and one gentle girl, loving wife to a wonderful man for over 20 yrs!

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Michelle


Loving Mom to three rambunctious 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2007
Tue, 03-25-2008 - 9:28pm

Welcome to the board, Michelle.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-31-2004
Thu, 03-27-2008 - 3:40am

Thanks for responding. I am a long way away, and so all I know is what I can get from Mum. I should probably talk to my sister and get more info too, as she has met with the doctor and knows a lot more about the whole situation. All I know about the lymphoma is that it is non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Mum told me the chemo drugs, but I can't remember right now.

Dad's health in general is fairly good, but he has been a paraplegic for 29 years which takes its toll. He is weaker and more frail than he would be without the paraplegia. His oncologist did say that he was amazed at how well Dad was handling the treatment, and that he was getting the dose for a 60 yr old. The treatments do not affect him at all at the time they are given, he usually hits his worst time about 7 to 10 days after the treatment. The first session was just with two moderate chemicals and it went extremely well. The second included 1/2 of a stronger chemical as well, and since that went well they increased it to a full dose the next two times. However, that fourth round he did not get his strength back as he had the other times, and it turned out his hemoglobin was low so they gave him a transfusion and delayed the next round. This last round was the two moderate chemicals and just a 1/2 of the stronger one, but it really wiped him out. He is going down tomorrow, oh, I guess it is today now, for bloodwork, CT scan and oncologist appointment. I guess we will know then how well it is responding to treatment and what they will do from here on. I don't think he is on any pain meds at all, he isn't really in any pain, at least none related to the cancer. The only other meds he gets in relation to the cancer is one to help boost his immune system, given for about 5 days starting just before he gets to the low point.

You are certainly right in that treatments vary and responses vary, even when dealing with the same kind of cancer. It is tough to see him go through all this, but he is a strong willed man and that is what has kept him going this long in the first place. I really hope he makes it through all of this, we currently live 6 hours away from them, and are just settling some paperwork to move and only be about 1 hour and 20 minutes away. We are excited about it, but it worries me that it may be too late.

Michelle


Loving Mom to three

Michelle


Loving Mom to three rambunctious 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2007
Thu, 03-27-2008 - 4:22pm

Michelle, I am so sorry.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-31-2004
Fri, 03-28-2008 - 2:54am
Thanks. It looks like Dad is done with chemo now. He had a CT scan and it did not show up any lymph glands so that is wonderful. However, he needs another transfusion because his blood is too low again and he is just too weak. He doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive, so I am not surprised. He only had 5 rounds, and usually they give 6 to 8, which would have given him a 50-50 chance of beating it. So now we go o n with life, and just hope and pray that the 5 rounds were enough. In the meantime, provided the financing goes through as it looks like it should, we will be moving to be only about an hour and twenty minutes away instead of 6 hours. I just wish things had come together sooner, we have been looking at it for a few years but things are only now coming together for us.

Michelle


Loving Mom to three

Michelle


Loving Mom to three rambunctious 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2007
Fri, 03-28-2008 - 11:58pm
That is great news, Michelle.

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