Explanation

My Dad(70yrs)- had EC and was operated on in January of this year. His operation lasted 11.5hrs, and the doctor was please witht the results, taking out 8 lymph glands as a precaution. 4 of these proved to be diseased.

Dad had a tough time recovering from the operation, but did make a recovery - and 5 months after the operation, for his 70th birthday he drove a ferrari round a race track.

In October he started to find it difficult to eat, and started losing weight. Towards the end of October he started to find it difficult to drink and became dehydrated.

During his bloods - the doctors found an irregular liver function, but did not appear concerned. He was however admitted for the dehydration. Dad was given IV fluids on the Thursday he was taken into hospital and he also had a CAT scan.

Dad got progessively worse as the weekend approached. At one stage not even recognising his family. On monday morning the CAT scan results were in - the news was not good.

Dad had liver and lung cancer and was given 24hrs to live. this was never mentioned before this. Dad died on Tuesday 14th of Nov.

Can anyone explain the rapid decline?

Hi,

I have no explanation but just wanted to tell you how sad I am for you. What my dad went through is very similar to yours. He was dx the begining of the year with prostrate cancer. We already knew that he had CLL but that is a cancer that is mostly "wait and see". All of a sudden he started to have problems with his lymph nodes and lost a lot of weight. We found out that his CLL was very bad and they put him on chemo the begining of August. I had just finished chemo in July for colon cancer so we thought "we can do this together". I started trying to help him get through the chemo. He started feeling so weak and sick. I tried to help him but he felt like he shouldn't complain. He then started getting short of breath and a trip to the hospital found out that he had emphezema probably brought on by the chemo. He only had 2 treatments and was having so many problems with constipation and pain. He kept saying he just wanted to die. Unfortunately Sept 8th he was having so much trouble breathing that we rushed him to the hospital. They had to incubate him with a breathing tube since he was not breathing at all when he got to the hospital. He died the next morning. He was always such a vigorous person even at 69. He worked out and took care of my mom who has diabetis very bad. He turned 70 in July. I wish we had done some things different but I just think his body was not up to fighting the cancer even if he was trying to fight it with his spirit. I wanted to send this to you because there is never a good enough explanation when someone is taken from you suddenly. I'm sending warm thoughts and prayers to you and your family.

Lisa

thank you so much for you thoughts - and I am sorry that you had to go through this also - but I strangely take comfort in knowing we are not the only family to have to go through this. Take care and thanks