Maybe I should have put this under a different message board but I am trying to find some answers for myself and my father.
My father is 83 yrs old. He has always been a healthy, strong willed, active man. He farmed all his life and then worked for 20 yrs. (until he was 80) at a window factory. His only main health issue was his bad back. He also got lymes disease 2 yrs ago. About 5 yrs ago he started to have problems with his legs swelling up for no reason, the Dr. passed it off as artheritis. He would have a few unexpected fevers and his hands always seemed to itch. One other thing that seemed strange was that when it got cold out and he was outside his hands and nose would turn an extreme purple, almost black.
Last yr. all of this changed for him. We thought he had phnemonia (sp?), so did his Dr. but they also did x-rays and found he had something on his left lung. At the time they thought he might have lung cancer, my father has never smoked a day in his life or been around anyone who smokes. To get right to the point....after a very long stay in a large hospital and with a team of doctors they found out that my father needed heart surgery. His one main heart valve needed to be replaced. They then informed us that he had lymphoma. His chest was full of it when they opened him up on his lungs. They said they could not operate or take any off because it was to dangerous but they had been there for many yrs. They also said that when he gets cold his blood clots way to much, so that is why he turns purple. This had been going on as well for many yrs and they called it cold gluton. So when doing his heart surgery they had to do a completely different procedure for slowing down his heart. Later at several check-ups which I did not go to (my mother only understood part of the conversation and my father is almost deaf so he didn't hear any of it), they told my dad that he had leukemia and Hodgkin's disease.
I don't quite understand, is all of this related to one thing? Or are they ALL different and separate cancers he has? Does the cold gluton go with any of these, such as the leukemia? And does this mean the leukemia is separate from the Hodgkins?
My father's one main Dr. at Regions in MN said that he didn't think my father should do chemo or radiation, it would just wear him out at his age. He has had it for many yrs. this Dr. said and he has done well health wise. He talked instead about a type of medicine for my father that would help him as he did get worse. He did say that he would probably only give him 3 yrs left. Since we don't go all the way back to Regions and we never went into detail on this "medicine" we have no idea what specifically it is. I wish we would have found all of this out and am wondering how now to do so.
If anyone could answer my questions I would be so appreciative. I am trying to deal with this and get by. My mother was just diagnosed yesterday with colon cancer, which came as a shock to all of us. We thought she would be fine when having her colonascopy, after all it runs on my dad's side rampid and we thought he would end up with it but hasn't as of yet. This has been a very difficult yr. since last March till now.
Roxy