Good thoughts please (Update, pg 7)

 Just an update....

The GOOD NEWS:  The chemo stopped several weeks ago.  He had his scan and it showed that 20% of the cancer remained, but dormant - REMISSION.

The less good news...  Probably due to the chemotherapy he now has an enlarged liver.  He has been sick lately, in a lot of pain this weekend, bed bound on morphine. 

He saw a herbalist last week (we have all been urging him to do this for months) and this guy told him (amongst other things) NO DAIRY.  It may be, in part, due to him stopping dairy products which is causing the sickness. 

We have been trying to reassure him that his body has had a rough year and been thru a lot!  So to give himself a chance to rest and recuperate and adjust to the changes in his diet etc.  But he is grey with pain and worry and has stopped taking the herbal stuff in the worry that it is making him worse... altho in my opinion he was worse without it. 

So we've had a rough couple of days... And I do have the niggling worry that a) with his body weakened the cancer will begin to grow again and b) that he is missing out on the support the herbal treatments could be offering him.

Good thoughts, as always, appreciated.

 I was wondering about your dad the other day.  Remission is good news.  I hope he can get everything else under control.  Good vibes going out to you and your family.

It does sometimes seem that the measures it takes to treat cancer will take someone pretty darn close to death's door. I'm sorry your dad has been suffering but it sounds like he's made it thru the worst and now just needs to start regaining his strength and start feeling better. I'd agree that the herbals might be helpful but I can also imagine his concerns. I'm sure your love and support are going a long ways towards helping him thru this. I hope he feels better real soon.

Oh Chuffy....the remission is SUCH a good thing.

Darn I hate that feeling where you think something is making you sick, or worse, as your dad is doing with the herbs...... it might be helping. But in his mind if it is making him worry...that is not good. So maybe he needs to do this for now. Perhaps in a short time if he starts feeling a bit better you can convince him to do the herbs again.

You sure have my good thoughts and prayers!

I'm happy for you!! I know this is a life changing situation that affects all the family and friends. Is so good you father has you to support him.

Remission is one pretty amazing word and state ((hugs)) + good vibes for him!

Sending good thoughts and support your way, and healing vibes to your father. I am very glad to hear he is in remission! 

 Thank you to everyone for taking the time to post.  Your kind words are MUCH appreciated.

Dad is doing OK today, pain free and no drugs at the moment.  His colour is good; he is not flushed or jaundiced, or grey like he was at the weekend.... he just looks "normal", though tired and drawn.

I think he is going to start the herbal treatments again in a few days; he is just taking a break at the moment.  Partly because herbal treatments need to be rotated or rested to keep working well and partly because many of the herbs he is on are supportive of the liver and the herbalist has suggested perhpas his liver is OVER stimulated.  He might go back on the Essiac tea at first and then after a few weeks take a break and take milk thistle for a week or so, then back to the Essiac.  We'll see.

It shocked me to my bones when I learned that he was staying in bed all day and on morphine for pain... this, from a man who never complains, who has barely had a day's illness in twenty five years and who (just an example) once cut a chunk out of his finger on a rotary saw but insisted he was "fine" and refused to go to hospital... he closed the wound himself, kept it clean and jolly well went out there and kept working.  The image of  him propped up on pillows, drained and weak, was what I was most frightened of when first learning he had cancer.... far more so than the thought of him dying.  To be honest, he pretty much sailed thru the chemo, barely stopping his "normal" life at all.  It's almost like just when we think he is oevr the worst, his body cashes the cheque that chemo wrote out for him....

My cousin has been sending him Reiki over the weekend... which Dad doesn't pronounce properly (he calls it Iraqi - he has never been PC).  And my sister has taken him some home made carrot and sweet potato soup, which he managed to keep down.  Keep it all crossed for him, please?

All good thoughts are going out to you and your dad!

Chuffy

Keep it all crossed for him, please?

Absolutely!

I'm glad to hear he came through chemo well and is in REMISSON!!  Woohoo!  It must be so scary seeing him so differently then you are used to.  Sending plenty of good thoughts that w/ some more rest and what ever the dr orders, will get him feeling better.