Mr. Dawson, who had spent all his life in Maryland, had been suffering from fever and chest pain for some time now. He had lost a large amount of weight also. Then breathlessness set in and this was proving troublesome so he had gone in for a consultation. His physician, after taking his history, had reserved his initial diagnosis and had waited for the test results to come in.
As he suspected, it was bad news. He was suffering from cancer and his physician suspected that it was a form of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs called the pleura called Mesothelioma. Mr. Dawson would have to be put through a series of advanced tests to determine the extent of spread. Upon hearing that, he was very upset and got really scared. He only had a daughter with whom he barely communicated.
He had not been very supportive of her in her growing years and she had left home when she was 16. They barely stayed in touch and it would be too much to expect for her to come and look after him. He felt very lonely at that moment as there was no one around to comfort him. He had heard that dying form cancer was very painful and he was very, very scared. He had accepted his diagnosis but didn’t know what he was going to do. He was a silent man and usually kept to himself. He found expressing his emotions embarrassing but at this moment he felt he needed someone to talk to. He decided to contact his daughter.
The results of his MRI and PET scans came back announcing that his cancer has spread to the lymph nodes on the other side of his chest and in addition has also affected his bones and liver thus the diagnosis of stage four cancer. Patients with stage four cancer have at the most two years to live or maybe even less. His consultant has decided that it was surgically impossible to remove all the tumors but a section of the tumor in his pleura would be removed to relieve the pressure symptoms it is causing. In addition, he would have to undergo extensive radio and chemotherapy.
He has been briefed on the side effects of his medication. He would experience nausea and vomiting and a significant amount of hair loss due to his medications. He was also offered the services of a psychiatrist since he was experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Mr. Dawson seems to have made a good recovery. His chemo and radiotherapy appear to have worked. The cancer seems to have disappeared at least for now. He feels totally drained form all the medications. But the good thing to come out of all this has been that he has made up with his daughter. |
