Hi all,
A very breif introduction and then I'll get into my father's story.. We live in a small country town in South East Queensland. Dad's 57 this year with no prior health issues, and he's my absolute best mate.
At the beginning of December 2018 dad went to his local GP after he started coughing up very small amounts of blood. His GP initially diagnosed it as a chest infection from the flu and sent him for a precautionary x-ray. My dad and I are both avid motorcyclists and he was about to head off on another one of his rides down to the Blue Mountains for a few weeks. He got two hours down the road and receivced a phone call from his GP telling him to come back - it couldn't wait two weeks. As it turns out, it was a chest infection from the flu, but the x-ray also showed 'something' in his lung. A CT scan followed - the results of which were "emphysema, a 3cm tumour on this right lung, and a 9cm tumour which was restricting his windpipe."
A week before Christmas dad went in for a PET scan, and this is where sh*t hit the fan. Aside from the 3cm primary tumour, and the 9cm tumour that is growing on his windpipe, the Dr's also found a few 'minute' tumours in his left lung. Dad was upgraded to a Stage 4 and given approximately 3-6 months life expectancy without Chemo, and possibly another 2 to 4 months added with Chemo. We were told that due to the positioning of the tumours and the amount of them, they are not able to operate or do radiotherapy. His PD-L1 was also only at 30% so immunotherapy was not an option.
I had lost 3 grandparents in the 2018 year, and dad had seen many more people go through Chemotherapy as well outside of the family. While everyone is different, he has decided that he doesn't want to risk being sick for the 'rest of his life', especially if it will only add a very short amount of time. Dad decided to look into any alternative therapies he could find, seeing as he has already decided against traditional treatment. He did the 'Breuss Diet' for 6 weeks, which ended up putting him in Hospital and nearly killing him with no vitamins or minerals left in his body, and a weight loss of 27kg. While it did not shrink the cancer at all which is what we were hoping for, it did stop any growth - something which actually amazed the Dr's.
It has now been 10 weeks since his initial 'stage 4' diagnosis and dad is actually doing really well at the moment. His breathing is very good, his coughing is a lot less than what it used to be, and.. he is still riding motorcycles!
Are there any others out there with a fairly similar story? We are trying to do everything we can now, and make so many memories, because I am terrified that he will go downhill very quickly once he does start 'getting sick'.
I never imagined losing dad when I am only 25, and also with a younger brother and a 10 year old sister.. He has always been my rock and I'm struggling with the thought of what is to come over the next few months.
Cheers guys for reading my rambling piece.
