Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Making Memories with Dad

This post is a bit of a release about my Dad's current health situation, and the memories I'm trying to make with him while I still can.

In April of 2008 my Dad was diagnosed with Bowl & Liver cancer. The tumor's in his liver were large and in too difficult a spot to operate, so the doctors decided that the best course of action was to treat him with Chemotherapy first to shrink them down and then attack them with surgery after they had shrunk.

Initially the Chemotherapy treatment was working and all the tumors (there were several in his bowl & liver) were shrinking and a few of them had disappeared completely. However, after 12 months the treatment stopped working and the doctors decided on a new plan of attack. A different kind of Chemotherapy was started in June 2009 to try and shrink the tumors. Although, we were also told at this point that the tumors would never be gone completely and that he would be on chemo until it no longer worked and then it was all just a time game. Well after a brief stint on the new treatment, he was told on Friday the 28th August that the latest dosage of chemo wasn't working, in fact, the tumors have all come back, nearly tripled in size, and had become far more aggressive. The news was pretty heart breaking, but by this point I've become pretty numb to the bad news and have started to expect it.
We haven't been given a time frame for Dad, but we're hoping the new trial drug he starts on in a few weeks will give him some more time. He seems fine to the average everyday person, but it's the pain that's started coming more often that knocks him about. His spirits are still pretty good, but when he's at home in his chair, I can tell he's just not right. He's not quite as social as he used to be, but he manages to put on his brave face around his mates and show them he's fine. I know he's not.

I spent all of last Sunday, the 30th, with him and Mum at their house in Emerald. The day was meant to be for Mum & I to work on our quilt, which we did, but turned in to a lovely day of relaxing with Dad and watching the footy too. After dinner that night, Dad was quite restless and suddenly proclaimed he was making Date Scones. We headed into the kitchen and the cooking began. Dad's never been much of a cook, but he could always do a good BBQ, so this was something a little different from the usual steak on the barbie!

Watching Dad make date scones, sounds like something very boring and mundane to most people, but for some reason on this particular Sunday night, it dawned on me that there aren't going to be a lot of chances to see this kind of thing happen, so I took a few pics and decided to post them here and make some memories. Watching Dad eat his date scones brought a massive smile to my face..... I'm sure many other things will too.

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