Thread: Cancer is still a mofo

Hey all,

So as some of you remember my father was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma (a form of lung cancer directly linked to smoking) several years ago... I want to say around 2007. He had radiation and chemo followed by surgery where most of one lung was removed. A few years later it recurred in the same spot. He had another round of radiation and chemo followed by surgery and was again clinically cancer-free.

Well it is back again, and his body cannot undergo more radiation and surgery is not an option. The cancer is attached to his pericardium: A membrane surrounding the heart and adjacent to the lung. So this time he is doing a different chemo regimen. The hope is to prevent it from metastisizing (spreading) and possibly shrink the tumor. While a remission is always possible, most of us know those odds without consulting medical journals.

It is tough, I have lost several family members to cancer in the last decade. But we were ready for them to pass as they had aged. He is 72 now and we are looking forward to a family vacation and his birthday this August. Hopefully we can squeeze a couple more out of him beyond that. he is a tough old bird, drafted into Vietnam, came home to become a prison warden (not enough action as an English professor after 'Nam). He grew up with the rough kids on the mean streets in Pennsylvania, fought for our country in a war that he knew from the get go was wrong, married four times and has in general overcome a lot of adversity. We are hopeful his crazy-old-man-toughness will see him through. But being the scientist I am, I am well aware of the statistics.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

Joshua