My dad's story...questions

Barb,

What a wonderful surprise for your dad. My husband is a old car buff as well, he has an 1983 Ford pick up and he and our son play around with it all the time. Of course now it has a huge engine in it that makes it fly rather than creep down the road. You are a gift to your dad. take care and see after tax time...Ginger

Kat -

My heart goes out to you and your dad. Congratulations on registering on this forum...it has been a true blessing to me personally and has made this year much easier...or as easy as it could be...
My dad was diagnosed on January 23. His urologist was very aggressive and removed his bladder on January 31. He thought that by removing the bladder, he would remove all of the cancer; however, the lymphendectomy showed 29 of 39 positive lymph nodes - so then the urologist said that chemo needed to be done. When we saw the oncologist, he told us that they have seen better results if chemo is done before the bladder removal...but there is no hard and fast rule. I feel good about the decisions that my dad's doctors made...they were just being as aggressive as possible...chemo treatments are not readily available in the small town that my dad lives in...that is why he is living with me in Omaha, NE to do his chemo. This was the best of all scenarios possible for my dad's situation. If you have any questions or need any help, please know that I am here for you. This all happened so fast for me...so I can relate to how you are feeling. Please send a personal message because I get an e-mail notification of that and then I will know to come check the forum (thanks to Susan for checking in with me!)

I apologize for taking so long to respond to your post...I am a CPA and it is crunch time...between taking dad to chemo and working, I have not had much time to be on the computer and had not checked the forum for awhile. I will be on more after April 15th, but until then I will not be checking it much - so FYI to all of my other new friends too...dad is doing very well, he is one session away from being 1/2 way done with all of his chemo. His blood counts have been really good. He is just starting to lose his hair this week after 2 sessions of cisplatin/gemzar and 1 session of just gemzar. We do his second session of just gemzar this Tuesday(April 1.)

Also - just a little more of an update...I believe my dad is going to do great this week...he is a real truck lover and loves the oldies...well, my husband and I were able to purchase a '56 Ford F-100 on ebay last night for him. My dad is in hog heaven!! It just happened to be sold by a person in the Omaha area, so we were able to go pick it up today...my dad brought it home and washed it right away. This truck is going to give dad something to look forward to and something to tinker around with while he is in Omaha...talk about a shot of happiness. I am praying that this will really give dad something to look forward to and one more thing to live for. He has been smiling all day, I don't think he is physically able to stop smiling. My dad is not a material person...he doesn't have the nicest house, he doesn't have the nicest vehicles, he didn't graduate high school, he has had to work hard all of his life for every penny and has not ever had the money to even think about purchasing an oldie "gem"...what a wonderful gift we were able to give to him. There are blessings in everything, if it was not for the bladder cancer diagnosis, we would not have even thought about doing something like this for my dad, but because of what he is going through, we did not have to think too hard about the decision to spend the money...now I know that my dad will die a happy man - whether that is next month, next year, five years, ten years, 20 years...whenever God decides to call him home...he will be ready. I hope all of you are able to find such happiness in living every day! I am still trying to figure out what that would be for myself...makes me really glad that my dad is not too hard to please:)

Again - please be patient with me...I will be back on after April 15th and until then, assume all is good unless you hear otherwise...

With much gratitude and love for my dad,
Barb Heenan

Hi Barb,

After reading the messages on this forum, I realized that everyone seems very helpful and listens to what the members have to say. So I decided to regiser and become a member. It really helps to talk to others who are going through or have gone through similar times.
My father was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer last month and in reading your messages, it sounds like I'm going to be going through the same thing you are going through with your dad. I am also very close to my father as you are with yours and I've accompanied him at all of his doctors' appts. My father will need to have his bladder removed but the urologist and medical oncologist are recommending chemotherapy before surgery. Did your dad receive chemo after his surgery? Did they talk about doing it before the surgery at all?
How long ago was your dad diagnosed with bladder cancer?

I appreciate your feedback.

Kat

Barb,
Gene drinks at least 64 ounces of water a day, sometimes less, but he he doesn't get in the amount required the urine will have an odor that is noticeable when emptying. Then the mucous can build up as well, so I'd say if he misses some on a particular day its not a biggy but needs to get back to it the next day.
Hope this helps,,,Ginger

Barb, my Dad uses Byram and has had nothing but good things to say about them. Their service is very fast (sometimes next day). He used Edgepark first but had several problems with them. So far, Byram is great.

Barb here's a fact sheet on Cisplatin...might be useful to you
www.chemocare.com/bio/cisplatin.asp

Pat