Squamous Cell Tonsil Cancer

This has been the roughest week for my dad and our family.  On top of tonsil cancer he has also had diabetes, and that together seemed to just come to a crashing halt last weekend.  My dad was taken to the ER last Sunday due to an extremely elevated blood sugar level of over 800 (normal is in the 100's).  He is a type 2 diabetic and never had to do insullin.  His sodium was also elevated and he was so extremely dehydrated.  We were giving him 9 cans of feeding through the day, and the recommended amounts of water and yet his body just crashed. 

He was admitted to the ICU that night.  Through this past week we have delt with his platelets dropping to a low of 17 (normal is 150-ish), so he had a platelet transfusion, he also has pneumonia in his right lung as well as a staff infection.  They were able to get the blood sugar and sodium under control, by fluids and also insulin now for the diabetes.  They have really no idea what came first...the chicken or they egg, as they say.  One Dr. believes the pneumonia caused it all. 

He came home today.  He is exhausted, and is still fighting (with antibiotics) the pneumonia and staff infection.  After such a traumatic week, spirits are low and he has expressed to my step-mom that he may not consider the latter half of the cancer treatment.  I am heartbroken that he is so broken right now.  He is half way through and I just hope that he will continue.

We immediately all got to work on helping my step-mom set up a new care routine as there are now so many more medications and concerns.  We have a white board with a checklist, as well as a chart to keep a daily log of it all so to have as a reference for the doctors. 

I am so heartbroken to see my dad so scared.  I can see in his eyes that he is fearful and doubtful.  But we all keep pushing, keep going, keep making plans to get him better.  I keep pictures of my daughter at his bedside to remind him of what to fight for.  My dad is such a strong person, it is just aweful to watch this disease break someone down who is normally the rock of the family.  He has been so good about allowing us to help him, although I know it is hard. 

I pray with all I am that he gets through this.  It is comforting to hear others experiences and survival stories.  I am printing similar experiences to his thus far for him so that he knows he is not alone and can survive this, even through the pain.

Audrey

Audrey,

      I hope that your Dad bounces back after this past week's events. As you mentioned, he is a strong person. So, hopefully, he will pick himself off the canvas and continue the fight. He might have lost one round, but he can still win the fight.

       One thing that I noticed in your post, was that your giving him 9 cans of nutrition. He is either a big man or he is taking in more cans than needed.

        In order to maintain any current weight, we have to take that weight, lets say 200 pounds here and mulitply it by 12. That gives us the number of calories we need to take in each day to maintain that weight. In this example, it would be 2400 calories. 200 lbs X 12= 2400 calories.

         I was on Nutren 1.5, 8oz cans with 375 calories per can. I was told to take 8 cans a day which would have given me 3000 calories. I did 7 cans when I could and I weigh 215. I also would try to get some other fluids in me orally to keep hydrated. 215 lbs X 12 = 2580 cals.     7 cans X 375 cals. = 2625 calories

          My Best to You Both and Everyone Here

Audrey,

Keep up your efforts for your dad.  He's overwhelmed physically & emotionally.   Sounds like you & your family are closing in on the problems at hand...making new care plans,etc. are all positive steps to getting through the current crisis.  I can hear the heartache in your message and many of us on this board can identify with it. Hope the next few days bring improvement and I send you encouragement & hope for you, your family, and your dad.

Blessings,

DT

Just want to add another message of encouragement and support.........your family is going through a terrible time.  My prayers are with you......

Steph

Audrey, I am so sorry your family is going through this.  Please find comfort in reading these posts.  They helped me immensely.  My husband has really struggled - many of the same things as your father - very serious hospital stay during Christmas, 2009, he was half way through radiation and said that he didn't think he could do the remainder.  He finished, suffered much weakness, much time in bed, many tears - but we survived.  He still has the feeding tube because of swallowing issues but he is cancer free and right now he is laughing at an episode of "King of Queens".  : ) God Bless you and your family.  You will be in my prayers tonight.

Cheryl  Oklahoma City

On Oct 27, 2009 4:09 AM MEEMERZ wrote:

Audrey, I am so sorry your family is going through this.  Please find comfort in reading these posts.  They helped me immensely.  My husband has really struggled - many of the same things as your father - very serious hospital stay during Christmas, 2009, he was half way through radiation and said that he didn't think he could do the remainder.  He finished, suffered much weakness, much time in bed, many tears - but we survived.  He still has the feeding tube because of swallowing issues but he is cancer free and right now he is laughing at an episode of "King of Queens".  : ) God Bless you and your family.  You will be in my prayers tonight.

Cheryl  Oklahoma City

Thank you, Cheryl.  I am so happy your husband got through his treatment.  It is so encouraging.  My dad has 3 weeks left of treatments, with another visit to the ER last saturday due to the pneumonia coming back and is now on a break from treatments because of it (hopefully just a week break).  This has been so hard as the end is so near and yet for him it seems so far away with the pneumonia looming overhead.  We all just want for him to have his life back.

Thanks again for your encouraging words.

Audrey