Earlier this year Dad was diagnosed with leukaemia. It was a shock for all of us, and sad also because Dad had kept it to himself for a while, he hadn’t wanted to burden Mum with the news. She found out quite by accident and thank goodness that she did, because I think Dad might otherwise have buried his head in the sand about it – something we can all sympathise with.
Mum and Dad don’t like driving in the city, so in early May I volunteered to take Dad into the city hospital where his blood test results were reviewed by an oncology specialist. The specialist explained he had to go for more tests in three months so the results could be compared, to determine the severity of the condition and its best treatment.
In the meantime, the double whammy struck and Dad was also diagnosed with prostate cancer. In most cases treatment would immediately be considered to remove the growth and prevent its spread, however the leukaemia complicated this – it was not known how advanced the leukaemia was, or how it might affect recovery.
Well we’ve just had a small bit of good news. On Tuesday we went back to the hospital for Dad’s second meeting with the specialist. She told him to return again in another three months for follow up, but at this stage the leukaemia is stable, which means a green light for the prostate surgery. Dad is hoping to have this out of the way in about a month, he’s been told the recovery time is 12 months so he will be forced to take things easy for a while.