Huge Update

This is by far the hardest update I've had to write. I meant to update earlier today, but it took a lot more mental preparation for me to write than I thought it would. (And maybe some wine.)

Dad had another MRI this past Monday and had an appointment with Dr. A on Wednesday. The original tumor and necrosis appear to be stable compared to the last MRI that was 3-4 weeks ago. However, the third tumor has grown slightly in just a short amount of time. This change was not enough for the doctors to change any part of his treatment. We also heard back from an independent research company that had requested a portion of Dad's original tumor to run some more tests on it and see if there was any mutations to it that could potentially respond to medications. Unfortunately, there are no drug-able mutations and at this point we have exhausted all possible courses of treatment. The swelling that caused problems shortly after Thanksgiving seems to have stabilized and we are decreasing the amount of steroids he's on. We'll go back and see Dr. A in about 4 weeks.

Dad also came to the decision this week that he is going to stop receiving chemotherapy. This was not an easy decision by any means, but as a family, we are supporting Dad's decision while he's healthy enough to make that decision for himself. It was discussed with his team of doctors who basically said there is no right or wrong option when it comes to stopping or continuing treatment. Sometimes it is better to stop treatment sooner, rather than later, so you can really enjoy what time you have left. Chemotherapy is poison going into your body and if you wait too long before stopping, you can be too sick to enjoy the rest of your life. There is no predicting how fast or how slow the cancer will progress. The third tumor will more than likely continue to affect his eyesight.

Dad is going to remain at home for as long as possible, and as long as we are able to properly care for him. We are continuing with our holiday plans as usual and do not plan on making or discussing any end of life decisions until after the holidays.

On a different note, I never shared our family photo from Thanksgiving on here! We went to my aunt's house (as a family of 6!) and one of my lovely cousins took our photo.