Advice: Dad has cancer

[Jade19]

Found out my dad had testicular cancer almost a year ago, they chopped off 1 of his nuts, but it was caught to late and spread thru his body. They did an experimantal treatment and gave him 6 mos. worth of chemo?? (dont know how to spell it) in one week. It put him in partial remission for a few weeks and now is spreading thru his body in little tumors. They are just gonna give him maintenance chemo (?) they refuse to do radiation treatment because they are little and all over.

I want to know any info on treatments or on how to get doctors to do the radiation. Just any advice that could help at all please...........

He's my world and my families and i dont wanna lose him

 

[KIAN]

Hey Jade.

Sorry to hear about your dad's condition. Keep your chin up though as he is going to need your support.

I did some reading to make sure that I had the right information for you.

http://www.malecare.com/testicular_cancer_page_7.htm

Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy is given to destroy cancerous cells that may remain in the body after surgery. The use of anticancer drugs following surgery is known as adjuvant therapy. Chemotherapy may also be the initial treatment if the cancer is advanced; that is, if it has spread outside the testicle. Most anticancer drugs are given by injection into a vein (IV).

Chemotherapy is a systemic therapy, meaning that drugs travel through the bloodstream and affect normal as well as cancerous cells all over the body. The side effects depend largely on the specific drugs and the dose. Common side effects may include nausea, loss of hair, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, chills, coughing/shortness of breath, mouth sores, or skin rash. Other common side effects are dizziness, numbness, loss of reflexes, or difficulty hearing. Some anticancer drugs interfere with sperm production. Although the reduction in sperm count is permanent for some patients, many others recover their fertility.

Some men with advanced or recurrent testicular cancer may have a bone marrow transplant, which allows for high doses of chemotherapy. These high doses of chemotherapy destroy the bone marrow, which makes and stores blood cells. In a transplant, however, bone marrow or peripheral stem cells are removed from the patient before chemotherapy. The cells are frozen. The patient is given high doses of chemotherapy. The cells are then thawed and returned to the patient through a needle.

It is usual to go through surgery, radiation therapy to the localised area and then chemotherapy to make sure it hasn't spread to other areas. In your dad's case, I am assuming that it was at a later stage and forced the doctors to begin chemotherapy sooner. You can see from the information I quoted above that chemo is the normal course of action. It is only increased in advanced cases and followed up with a bone marrow transplant. Radiation therapy is confined to localised areas only and would not be of benefit to your dad's condition. Regardless, have a talk with your dad's physician and be upfront with him/her about your concerns and see what the next course of action will be. It sounds like your dad is in either Stage 2 or the early part of Stage 3 of his cancer, so the survival rate is still very high.

Just make sure that you always ask your dad what he wants to do. In many cases where people are diagnosed with cancer, they seem to get cut out of the decision making process. Give him hugs and big, sloppy wet kisses to keep a smile on his face too and never give up.

 

[Gymgurl]

Hang in there.... (((HUGS)))

 

[dahamn]

Found out my dad had testicular cancer almost a year ago, they chopped off 1 of his nuts, but it was caught to late and spread thru his body. They did an experimantal treatment and gave him 6 mos. worth of chemo?? (dont know how to spell it) in one week. It put him in partial remission for a few weeks and now is spreading thru his body in little tumors. They are just gonna give him maintenance chemo (?) they refuse to do radiation treatment because they are little and all over.

I want to know any info on treatments or on how to get doctors to do the radiation. Just any advice that could help at all please...........

He's my world and my families and i dont wanna lose him

http://curezone.com/diseases/cancer/

 

[BUBBLES]

Sorry to hear about your dad. I wish him a speedy recovery ...

 

[Jade19]

They already did radiation on his brain, which was successful (he had 4 small tumors). He also got a bone marrow transplant during the experimental chemo treatment. Its sad because the doctors told my mom if the experimental thing didnt work that he would probably die. Nice thought huh? I just want everything to work out, hes only 48. My mom is only 40 and they've been together since she was 16 or 17.

Even tho the tumors are small and spread out (around his stomach) do you think there is a possibility to get the doctors to do radiation? They didn't think the radiation would work on his brain, but it did. Can't let him go out w/o trying EVERYTHING. Thanks for the info and support!

Any more info/advice send it my way

 

[The Angry Mule]

I wish him and your family the best of luck and sincerely hope he pulls through this ok.

 

[Growth&Courage]

He's my world and my families and i dont wanna lose him

Of course nobody likes loosing their loved ones; merely the idea of hearing one naturally evokes many kinds of sad emotions within us already.
However, what's best for you right now is to have a realistic sense of the time & space that's happening in relation to your father, cancer; the possibility of curabability being remote through to a conscious awareness of post implications such as the left over reality: you & your mother.
What you're going through right now may indeed just be the beginning.

I'm sorry I couldn't really help with the technicality of treatment options like KIAN did. I am much more concern of the mental aspects of this issue, you in particular.
G&C

 

[buffer1]

sorry to hear that,keep your chin up

 

[H_T_]

i'm so sorry for you, i lost my Dad 9 years ago to cancer. keep close to him, be there for him. my Dad gave up in the end, they called it "lack of will to thrive".