FathersStory's Blog

            My son and I went to the hospital the next day for the PET scan.  Again, this test would take a closer look at the suspicious areas outside the groin area where the cancer may have spread.

            There wasn’t much to the test.  My son was in and out in about 15-20 minutes.  But as we walked out, we saw another neighbor also walking out of the same area… one who did not know of our situation.

 

            We said hello, and he asked what we were doing there.  I just said our son needed to have a test done.  He said that was the same reason he was there.  We both left it at that, but we again felt awkward keeping this from people.

 

            My son went back to school, and we were told we could find out the results of the test the next day.  One problem:  our doctor, Dr. Grad, was out of town.  Now this is a Thursday, and the hope was to start chemo the following Monday.

 

            We called his office on Friday and talked to another doctor.  Understandably, he was cautious in what he said, since this wasn’t his patient.  But he did tell me that the PET scan registered a positive hit on the lung nodule, and another on one of the lymph nodes.  So that convinced me that we should go ahead with chemo.

 

            My son called me at work to find out the results.  When I told him, he said “Fantastic,” in his inimitable way.  You could call it a bit sarcastic, but I know he was steeling himself to get chemo started just so it could get over with.

 

            The weekend came, and my wife and I were involved at the kids’ high school, working concessions for a speech tournament in which our daughter was participating.  By this time, a lot of our son’s friends knew what was happening, and the parents who were helping us out at the school all expressed their concern and support, which was very much appreciated.

           

We needed some kids to help with concessions as well, and our son was among those who showed up.  I give him a lot of credit. He’s not wallowing in self pity, and although he wasn’t thrilled about helping out, he did show up.  It was better for him once he came and saw some of his friends.  So he’s been living pretty much of a normal life so far, save for doctors’ visits.

 

Monday morning came, and we hadn’t heard anything about chemo starting.  That was starting to worry me, because this first week would be a 5-day session, with the following two weeks interrupted by Christmas and New Year’s.  I called the doctor’s office about 8:30, and was told to call back about 9:15.  But this was the answering service, and not the doctor’s office.  While I was on the phone with them, I was getting a call.  It was the doctor’s office calling… asking if we could be there within the hour.  I called my son at school and told him I would pick him up.

 

Next, chemo begins.