Thanks forr all the Prayers and Kind Words!
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:34 am
Hello Folks!
Thanks very much from our entire Family for all the kind words and Prayers for Dad.
We have had a very trying Fall.
Dad had elected to go with the “Lupron” Female hormone treatment protocol for his Prostate Cancer 3 years ago.
His Dr., who is only a Urologist and while a nice man, is old (68) and not as up on Treatments as maybe he should be. He told Dad that @ his age (78 at the time), that the more invasive or aggressive Treatments for Prostate Cancer were not in Dads best interest.
He told Dad quote “You are too old for surgery and will die from something other than this Cancer anyway. We will just slow its growth with these shots.”
Well he neglected to tell Dad of the horrendous side effects of this treatment.
Initially loss of Energy was the major problem, this got even worse as time progressed.
Loss of memory (something we all deal with) became worse over time.
Decreased mental cognitive function and incontinence became more and more of a problem.
When asked for testing to see how the Cancer was progressing, this Dr. convinced Dad that this was unnecessary as the “PSA” test was enough!
Folks if any of you have a Family Member or Friend facing this disease….PLEASE do your research and find the BEST DR.S who treat Cancer as a specialty and use a Holistic approach (not quackery, but treating the whole body. Find a Dr. who will make the patient and his support group aware of the potential side effects of the protocol to be used )
All this Dr. told Dad was that the drug would be chemically castrating him, so the Sex would be over….Dad said that @ 78, Mother Nature and Father Time had already fixed this.
The Dr. did not tell of other side effects that should have been mentioned or of the WORST one which showed up this summer….Alzheimer’s Syndrome. This disease is terrible for the victim and its family. Dad started being unreasonable and aggressive. This became worse and worse as the summer turned into fall. Also a thought would enter his mind and suddenly become fact, and there was no reasoning with him about the whether the thought was real or imagined.
The aggressiveness was accelerating, Dad decided that he did not need anyone to take him hunting….he did not need anyone to take care of him….he was able to do anything he wanted. This made it very tough on my Mom and My Family!
I was forced to leave and go Deer Hunting for a couple of months to let things play out. Once Dad realized that he could not do things for himself, then he went into a depressed funk and started giving Hounds away. He had decided that he was going to die!
Mother and a GOOD Friend, a fellow Cat Hunter stayed after him and we got Dad to agree to see another Dr. This fellow took Dad off the Lupron and put him on an anti-anxiety med. He also told him that it would take several months for his body to expel the Chemicals, that then he would begin to regain his energy. However he warned that the diminished mental function would be slower to go away if it ever did. (Damn the Dr. who did not advise of this).
By Christmas things had gotten better and we went back to hunting on a limited basis. Physically Dad is better and much better adjusted to his condition and the lifestyle which the remainder of his life will see. We will be reviewing his Cancer treatment in the Spring.
We are now in Florida and back to Hunting on a more normal schedule. Dad can get out and in the Truck, were all he has to do is listen to his Hounds work!
Again Thanks to all who have called, sent e-mails, PM’s and expressed their concern on the forum!
And a very special THANKS to the fellow Bobcat Hunters from here on BGH who have become the BEST kind of Friends! You fellows truly kept me from going completely Insane! “Never try to make sense out of nonsense” is a jewel that I will use the rest of my life!
Good Running to all!
C. John Clay
Still his “Dads dogboy”
PS I will Post an update on our Hunt so far, with Pics & Vids if anyone is interested.
Thanks very much from our entire Family for all the kind words and Prayers for Dad.
We have had a very trying Fall.
Dad had elected to go with the “Lupron” Female hormone treatment protocol for his Prostate Cancer 3 years ago.
His Dr., who is only a Urologist and while a nice man, is old (68) and not as up on Treatments as maybe he should be. He told Dad that @ his age (78 at the time), that the more invasive or aggressive Treatments for Prostate Cancer were not in Dads best interest.
He told Dad quote “You are too old for surgery and will die from something other than this Cancer anyway. We will just slow its growth with these shots.”
Well he neglected to tell Dad of the horrendous side effects of this treatment.
Initially loss of Energy was the major problem, this got even worse as time progressed.
Loss of memory (something we all deal with) became worse over time.
Decreased mental cognitive function and incontinence became more and more of a problem.
When asked for testing to see how the Cancer was progressing, this Dr. convinced Dad that this was unnecessary as the “PSA” test was enough!
Folks if any of you have a Family Member or Friend facing this disease….PLEASE do your research and find the BEST DR.S who treat Cancer as a specialty and use a Holistic approach (not quackery, but treating the whole body. Find a Dr. who will make the patient and his support group aware of the potential side effects of the protocol to be used )
All this Dr. told Dad was that the drug would be chemically castrating him, so the Sex would be over….Dad said that @ 78, Mother Nature and Father Time had already fixed this.
The Dr. did not tell of other side effects that should have been mentioned or of the WORST one which showed up this summer….Alzheimer’s Syndrome. This disease is terrible for the victim and its family. Dad started being unreasonable and aggressive. This became worse and worse as the summer turned into fall. Also a thought would enter his mind and suddenly become fact, and there was no reasoning with him about the whether the thought was real or imagined.
The aggressiveness was accelerating, Dad decided that he did not need anyone to take him hunting….he did not need anyone to take care of him….he was able to do anything he wanted. This made it very tough on my Mom and My Family!
I was forced to leave and go Deer Hunting for a couple of months to let things play out. Once Dad realized that he could not do things for himself, then he went into a depressed funk and started giving Hounds away. He had decided that he was going to die!
Mother and a GOOD Friend, a fellow Cat Hunter stayed after him and we got Dad to agree to see another Dr. This fellow took Dad off the Lupron and put him on an anti-anxiety med. He also told him that it would take several months for his body to expel the Chemicals, that then he would begin to regain his energy. However he warned that the diminished mental function would be slower to go away if it ever did. (Damn the Dr. who did not advise of this).
By Christmas things had gotten better and we went back to hunting on a limited basis. Physically Dad is better and much better adjusted to his condition and the lifestyle which the remainder of his life will see. We will be reviewing his Cancer treatment in the Spring.
We are now in Florida and back to Hunting on a more normal schedule. Dad can get out and in the Truck, were all he has to do is listen to his Hounds work!
Again Thanks to all who have called, sent e-mails, PM’s and expressed their concern on the forum!
And a very special THANKS to the fellow Bobcat Hunters from here on BGH who have become the BEST kind of Friends! You fellows truly kept me from going completely Insane! “Never try to make sense out of nonsense” is a jewel that I will use the rest of my life!
Good Running to all!
C. John Clay
Still his “Dads dogboy”
PS I will Post an update on our Hunt so far, with Pics & Vids if anyone is interested.