Setbacks

My Dad developed a cough after two or three rounds of treatment. It was fall, he was in and out of doctor's offices, it didn't seem so surprising. Taking cough medicine became a daily thing for him.

It was around this time when his Oncologist referred him to a surgeon to see if the tumor could be removed. Due to the size of the tumor, the invasiveness of the surgery, and the health of my Dad at this point, the surgeon said that he wasn't likely to survive the surgery. Had they caught this earlier and my Dad was stronger, they have been able to proceed.

I remember working in my office at home. I got a call from my Mom. It as late afternoon because it was already dark. She was crying and told me that my Dad had developed a lung condition as a side-effect of the immunotherapy. Had they not caught it or if we did not treat it, it would be even more life threatening than the cancer itself.

I can count on both hands the amount of times I've seen/heard my Mom cry. She told me how scared she was. I told her that I was too. This was my worst nightmare with the exception of my kids and my husband. I told her that we cannot give up. We have to have hope and give him the hope that he needs to fight.

Due to the lung condition side-effect, my Dad had to be put on steroids. He started off on a high dose, that would be gradually tapered down each week. He could not receive immunotherapy treatment while on steroids. Hope and faith were hard to come by, but there was no way I was giving up on my Dad.