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Results Came in Positive for Cancer
I am a little at a loss right now, and I am reaching out in hopes I can find someone who has been in a similar situation.
During the fall, my mother's COPD took a turn for the worse, and she spent the majority of September to November in the hospital, at some points in the Intensive Care Unit near death. This was enough of a shock for the family as it was, but near the end of her stay in the hospital, my father noticed a lump in his neck that worried him. Upon my mother's release to supervised aftercare, my father decided to get this lump checked out.
The first test - what I believe was a CAT scan - came back as appearing non-cancerous, but the doctors were still concerned, so they put him on medicine and requested he return for a follow up visit at the beginning of January. After the medicine did not clear the supposed "infection" up, they decided to do a biopsy. We received word today that his results came back as cancerous. Furthermore, the following statement was made: "Epithelial neoplastic proliferation highly suspicious for malignancy."
I am scared to death. My father is my mother's support, so it is likely that should something happen to him, she will not recover from it. I have been on autopilot since receiving the information, and at this point, I am trying to find someone who has experience with this type of situation who can help guide me in the right areas of information, among other things. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be more than grateful to hear them.
Re: Results Came in Positive for Cancer
I'm sorry that you're going through this. I know what it's like to go through this with a family member. We just got word last night that my grandfather has been given 2 week from pancreatic cancer.
My best advice is to stay positive, as hard as that sounds. Just take it one day at a time, and set little goals. Like last night, my goal was to call the friends I needed to tell. Today, my goal is just to get through work without to much drama (I know for a fact I will cray when I try to tell my boss). Also, find things to distract you. Dive into a project so that it gets your mind off. Have a friend over to just chit-chat about mindless things.
You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I'm sorry that you're going through this.
I am so sorry!
When one of my best friends was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, I found a Yahoo group online that was for colon cancer patients or their loved ones. The group had TONS of information but also lots and lots of support and love and humor.
You might want to look for a group similar to that. These people knew so much (laypeople though, of course) about their treatments and had such great advice and caring for each other. It was helpful.
It doesn't replace the medical personnel, certainly. But I knew my friend had all of that in place. It was more just helpful for me to understand what was going on for her and what all of these terms and tests meant.
I'm sorry that you're going through this as well.
I'm so sorry for the recent news. Stay strong, and as pp said, do some things in the meantime to keep your mind active on something else. Be supportive and just keep hope.
I'm a cancer survivor myself and while it is hard some days, others are good. Don't let your mind wander to the "what ifs" until you have some more answers. Sending hugs your way.
Best wishes for your father's recovery and your family.