A family's experiences caregiving for a parent dying of brain cancer
One of my greatest sources of stress after my father’s initial brain cancer diagnosis was not knowing what to expect of him over the forthcoming days, weeks, and months. Doctors had been clear about the timeline for medical procedures but not on the speed or severity with which the cancer would affect his functions. I [...]
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His reactions are difficult to understand. To my wife, he can’t be in the same room with her. To the home health aide, he often gets angry and utters obscenities. To me, he is always kind and understanding, or at the very least, silent about his disapprovals. To the children, my father is lovely. For [...]
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Prior to confronting a life-threatening health event, all the information we are societally provided is engineered towards the best possible medical outcome, so it is a shock when a medical outcome is just one of several matters that must be considered when the cancer bombshell is dropped. For example, in the American medical “system” inadequate [...]
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Humor seems so simple. If what was happening to father wasn’t so terrible, the changes in his thought process as a result of the brain cancer would be fascinating. Most recently we noticed he is not able to comprehend humorous circumstances like he used to. The impact on his brain certainly furthered the minor paranoia [...]
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As I write these entries, I won’t be generalizing. The problems I mention are really very specific to my father’s situation. As far as I know, brain cancer can affect any region of the brain. Because our brain has compartmentalized tasks and brain cancer, at least initially, affects a tiny area, the impact on the [...]
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Nearly five months out from the original indication that something was wrong, my father feels cold all the time, his sense of proportion is lost, his sight and hearing wanes, the short term memory fails, and sometimes basic or routine functions seem unfamiliar to him. It’s not fair. It might have made more sense to [...]
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