Adenocarcinoma - I hate that word...
Non-small cell carcinoma, stage 4, inoperable, all words that are on the list of words that I never want to hear again.
This past February my family heard all those words, and it sucked. My father was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer, and it was too late for him. There were options of chemotherapy, but it would only lengthen his life by the amount of time in treatment and
it would not be a quality time.
Non-small cell carcinoma, stage 4, inoperable, all words that are on the list of words that I never want to hear again.
This past February my family heard all those words, and it sucked. My father was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer, and it was too late for him. There were options of chemotherapy, but it would only lengthen his life by the amount of time in treatment and
it would not be a quality time.
This type of cancer is not easily detected. My father complained for a couple of years about a cough, fatigue, some tightness in his lungs, etc. However, because he was a diabetic, heart patient (who smoked most of his life), he was checked for tumors and "spots" on his lungs and his complaints were chalked up to his lifestyle and history and rightly so. He was told to lose weight, take his medicine, and quit smoking.
It was not until his lungs filled with fluid several times, (at first diagnosed as pneumonia) that he was finally tested for a reason for the massive fluid.
Drains were surgically implanted, fluid was tested and pain
meds were prescribed. When the tests came back, we heard snippets of a
diagnosis, "with this type of cancer", "symptoms match stage 4
cancer", "in a patient with lung cancer", etc.
All these terms were mentioned in passing and never fully
explained. Unfortunately my sister had already been down this road with her
mother 18 months ago, and she caught on to what was happening and called
hospice, set up camp in dad's house and prepared for the worst. When we finally
were able to see a cancer specialist, the news was confirmed and our options
were limited. We had questions. Why wasn't this caught sooner, given his
symptoms and complaints? The doctor was very nice, compassionate, and
realistic. He answered the questions we had, most of them I had downloaded from
the American Cancer Society's website.
The American Cancer Society funds research to prevent
cancer, to treat patients with cancer, and hopefully one day to cure cancer.
My father passed away about 6 weeks after diagnosis… the one thing that I can do is try to
prevent anyone else ever hearing those terrible words “you have cancer”.
Help me in my fight by visiting my website at www.cookingwithtrace.com and
clicking on the Relay for Life banner at the top of the page. Plus you will get
to see a picture of my father, sister, and some crazy fat red haired kid circa
1992… before I knew how to use hair products…
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