Finally, I have something good to tell you all.

Dad had his CT scans on Friday, basically to see if his treatment is working. If it wasn't working, they would expect to see some cancer growth into the other lung. Well... ALL CLEAR! I'm finding it difficult to believe, but I do feel like I've taken my first breath in months.

Dad was anemic again at his last blood test, so they had to give him a transfusion. They told us not to expect that he would be able to take his last chemo treatment today, because they didn't expect his blood levels to be high enough even after the transfusion. Well, once again, they underestimated my dad. He did the transfusion and then was well enough to start the chemo treatment. Unfortunately, there weren't enough hours in the day to finish all of it, so I take him back tomorrow for the rest of it. That will be his last chemo treatment for 3 weeks. After that he will go back for 2 more treatments and then he's done. He does his last radiation treatment tomorrow too.

Overall, he's doing great. His only side effect from the chemo that I have noticed (other than the anemia, of course) is a slight loss of hearing. That may be temporary, it may be permanent. Either way, I can live with that. I haven't even told Dad that he has it, and he doesn't really notice, so I'll just let it be.

The radiation has been his toughest treatment. His esophogus is so burned that he can't reall swallow anything without being in pain. He's been living on puddings and such for a few weeks. The doc says the symptoms should start to subside in about 3 more weeks. Yay!

So, that's where we are. I'm pretty much on cloud 9 today with this news. Apparently he does have a fistula in his lung (probably from the surgery), and I will talk to the doc about it tomorrow, but for now, the words, "Cancer Free" are just bouncing around in my happy little head.

Stephanie