Dad had a good meeting with the Oncologist this morning. He tested Dad’s arm and leg functions, and asked him questions about pain, and was pleased with the result.
The Dr. told us tumor removal and chemotherapy are still not an option, based upon unacceptable heart attack risk based on last weeks ultrasound, and the med-induced stress test.
He said there are two options a) do nothing (keep using the steroids), and b) radiation. The radiation options will be presented by another Dr. in nearby Plano who he will try to get an appointment with this week. I asked some specific questions about the radiation options based on some technologies I had heard about (Cyber-gamma-knife, and others), and he said the radiation people will be far better to speak to that.
I asked the Dr. why Dad was so lucid his last few days in the hospital, and quite a bit since he has returned home (moreso than since his 3 months with Karen in Kansas City), and he said it is the temporary shrinkage of the tumor caused by the steroids.
I asked again about the timetable, and he said on average, about 9 months, but he has seen up to 3 years. In the hospital they gave Dad 3 weeks to 3 months. The greatest difficulty in making any kind of prediction is the inability to get a tissue sample of the tumor.
