The cancer diagnosis brought with it a whole slew of things that needed to be considered, talked about, and decisions to be made. It was also the start of a seemingly never ending string of doctor appointments. There is the primary family doctor, the primary oncologist, the radiation oncologist, the pulmonary specialist and various other doctors like the ones in the hospital. Oh there is also all the lab work and various types of scans to add to the list. It was soon apparent that it would be a scheduling nightmare, but my mother had a plan. She put together a binder, with tabs and all, to help keep track of all the appointments, phone numbers, prescriptions and bills. She was anxious to get him started on treatment, but there were a couple things in the way of getting treatment started. First off, they still didn’t have a plan for what the treatment would be. My father needed to meet with the primary oncologist to determine what treatment options were available.
While all this was going on my mother was concentrating on my dad’s situation and my dad was concentrating on the cruise they had booked earlier in the year. My mother was wondering if they should forego the cruise and instead focus on taking care of the cancer, but after talking with the doctors and family, we convinced her it would be best if they took the cruise. I am sure that decision made my father happy. He would have really regretted not taking that cruise (especially given how things have played out since then). The cruise was a 28 day pacific island cruise and they have a wonderful time, as usual. The cruise lasted from the middle of October to the middle of November. I am so glad they got to have that final cruise!
Before they could go on that cruise, they needed to get a few medical things squared away so that when they got back they could jump right into treatments. One of the things they needed to get done was a PET scan so the doctors could see if the cancer has spread to any other parts of the body, which fortunately was not the case so prognosis was looking good. The oncologist told him that the course of treatment he would work up would likely put him into remission for around 5 years. My parents also needed to share the news with family and close friends.
Finally it was cruise time and they set sail for a month long cruise where they could enjoy each other’s company and not worry about what was next.