Challenges

This was another rough week for the Daniel family and in particular for my Dad. Monday's procedure started with another MRI, which surprisingly showed two more spots - and this time one of them appears to be in his brain. The other one is around his cheek area. It had only been two weeks since his last MRI, so we were stunned. It doesn't matter how many times we tell ourselves on an intellectual level, that we know that cancer is unpredictable, it still slams us hard when we hear more bad news.
The actual gamma knife procedure on Monday turned out to be much longer than the anticipated 4 hours as it took a long time for the planning of the procedure to be done after the MRI, and in the meantime an emergency patient was slipped in before my Dad. So, he was at the Radiosurgery Center from about 6:00 am until after
8 p.m. He wasn't able to eat all day and was feeling weak and worn out by the time they finally arrived home. However, he perked back up on Tuesday, and off they went for the fitting for his frame for the lung radiation procedure. On Thursday, he had his first radiation to the two spots on his right lung - we were happy to hear that they will be able to radiate both spots at the same time after all. Now, instead of six trips for the lung radiation, it will only be three.
In addition to all this, next week he will have another CT scan to check a suspicious spot on his left lung that they wanted to watch. Then sometime in the next few days, a plan of action on how to treat the two new spots will be made (probably more gamma knife) and some careful thought and decisions on the next course of overall treatment will also be considered. Please pray for my Dad's strength, and that we are headed in the right direction for determining the next steps. Honestly, it's been a bit discouraging that the cancer has been so aggressive lately, and its obviously time to consider some other treatment options. We appreciate everyone's care and concern for not only my Dad, but for the whole family as well. It's been a tough week...