Tuesday, Oct. 25: Doctors

This morning we saw the radiation oncologist and the medical oncologist. It was a rainy day, but Birchwood was able to transport my dad from place to place, which made my job much easier. (That wheelchair lift thingy on those special vans -- awesome!) We got my dad fitted for a mask, which I guess helps with targeting the radiation. My sister, Rosalyn, met me at the hospital. (Have I already mentioned that she and my mom flew in from Denver on Sunday?)

When we got into the room where they were going to take measurements or something for the mask, my dad had to be transferred from the wheelchair to this bed/table. The man who was doing the measurements asked how I normally transfer my dad from the wheelchair to another place, and I said that I normally sort of heave him up and, holding him in a bear hug, just pivot and ease him down where he needs to be. The measurement man then said he'd see if he could get some physical therapists or something to help him. When two guys entered and the three of them, plus some sort of strap, got my dad settled, Rosalyn turned to me and said, "Um, I don't think you should be doing that alone anymore." I started to argue, but then realized she was right.

It took my dad a while to rest on the table enough to take the measurements. His body is very stiff and there's a knot of sorts at the base of his neck, so that when he lies down on a bed, his head remains lifted at something like a 30 degree angle. We had to wait several minutes for his neck and shoulders to relax enough for the measurement man to gently push my dad's shoulders back on the table so that his head could rest on the table. Eventually it happened, and that's good.

After the appointment with the measurement man in radiology, we went directly to the appointment with the medical oncologist. This was actually our FIRST appointment with a medical oncologist, believe it or not. I don't understand this medical system well at all, and I suppose I should be more pushy or something, but unfortunately with my dad as my dad and an Asian as my mom, I wasn't really raised to be pushy.

At any rate, the medical oncologist rated my dad at 40% functionality, and he said that rules him out of any clinical trials. He also said the 12-18 month prognosis is only the case for someone who is able to have total surgical removal of the tumor. Because he doesn't recommend surgery for my dad, he said the prognosis will probably be more like 2-6 months, and he made it sound like 6 months is most likely optimistic. I think my dad was sleeping by this point, so I'm not sure if he has really absorbed this information or not. The medical oncologist said that he recommends that we pursue just radiation but not chemo. He doesn't think chemo will really benefit my dad and it'll be pretty harsh on him. We're still going to go with radiation because when I had asked my dad about it during his lucid day last week, he said he wanted to try treatment.

The medical oncologist also asked why my dad was off steroids (he'd been on them in the hospital to reduce the swelling in his brain), but I had no idea...so the oncologist said we'll put him back on steroids. I think they really helped his mobility and energy levels when we were in the hospital, so I'm optimistic that this will help make him more "present" with us.