News from latest appointment

On December 8, Dad had his monthly appointment at Cleveland Clinic. Always tense waiting for results. But results are good! The tumor is stable! No signs of growth and in fact a diminished size in the area that they are following.

The docs explained that Dad's symptoms of slight confusion and speech/comprehension challenges are actually lingering affects of radiation, which killed both good and bad cells. So three months out from his last radiation treatment, he should not be getting any worse in those areas, and may get better. More good news!

Medication regime continues to be complicated, and docs are doing their best to make a chemical cocktail for Dad -- his anti-swelling meds, anti-seizure meds, etc. -- that is therapeutic yet doesn't adversely affect him. He's been experiencing mood swings and muscle pain. And he lapses in and out of a good realm of communication. Some days he speaks so clearly and understands everything you say. Sometimes his speech is garbled and he can barely have a conversation. It's so tough to know why this is happening. Docs are trying to wean him off the steroid (Decadron) because that definitely has long-term negative affects. But decreasing that dosage has given him a variety of problems. It's a constant struggle.

Docs also gave him additional PT, OT and speech therapy. This is more good news! Dad thrives when he's working to improve himself. It makes him feel good, and that alone is worth it. We've also hired a nurse -- Nurse Larry -- to stay with Dad three mornings a week and help him with various chores and errands. Dad was quite resistant to this at first -- no one likes to lose their independence -- but he's getting used to the idea and I think has enjoyed Larry's company.

So all of the above is a nice Christmas gift for us.

However, Dad was depressed after that appointment. It's been difficult to explain to him his prognosis, and we haven't really done so -- why would we? Nobody can know for sure where this will go. But on Tuesday, the doctors talked in detail to Dad about the fact that he still has a cancerous brain tumor that they cannot remove with surgery. Dad wasn't fully aware of this. He said to the doctors, "I know I have a grade 4 tumor, and isn't that bad?" They responded that yes, it's not the best scenario, but that Dad's responding so well to treatment -- better than they expected. Docs put the MRI scans on the computer to show Dad the 1-inch area that's affected in his brain. This is the first time he'd seen any scans. Linda said he was pretty shocked. Nothing like being hit in the head with the fact that you have the worst kind of brain cancer.

But I talked to him yesterday evening, and he seemed a bit better. Still talking about the dire situation, but was able to perk up when I told him that the girls and I would be spending a week with him after Christmas, then Heather and Charlotte will probably come out for a week in January.

At Thanksgiving, Heather and I dug out old slides from the 50s through 80s. Dad has hundreds of them. What a tremendous gift it was to sit with Dad and see so many images of our happy life together. Skiing, boating, vacations, all our old pets, school days, work days, extended family, building a house, making a home together. Dad expressed over and over how happy he was to see those slides. So I brought the whole load of them back to Madison, bought a slide scanner and am going to put them all in digital form for him. Hope to have a bunch printed out and in a photo book for Christmas. Heather is doing the same thing with old pictures. I think we really feel a great need to tell Dad just how much he means to us.