I am overwhelmed by all of your support. It means so much and it helps. My thoughts are with everyone (so many) who is/ has dealt with cancer. I can't help but keep asking why. My husband has absolutely no risk factors. No one in his family has had cancer, he never smoke, and he is never around second hand smoke because of all my allergies. When I was younger only people who smoked seem to get lung cancer. I think I read that around 20% of all new cases are non/never smokers. Why? Don't get me wrong, no one should get cancer regardless of what they do or their family history, but I believe that if we paid more attention to the why then it may be easier to treat/ stop.
My husband's name is Mike, and I will refer to him by name from now on. Easier than typing "my husband". We have 3 kids. My 20 year-old son if currently at a local university but is transferring to one in Victoria in September to major in physics. My 17 year-old daughter is in grade 11 in a learn at home style program. The curriculum is online and she goes to "school" to write tests and to do art. My 9 year-old daughter is home-schooled. She is the one I am most worried about. I can't tell if she doesn't quite grasp what is happening or if she is just in denial.
I am the one who is in charge of all banking, paperwork, etc.. It is kind of a reversal in gender roles. Mike shops and I handle the business end of things! We have discussed getting me a power of attorney so that I can handle anything that comes up. Both cars are in his name because of his job. I am self-employed so it is hard to get bank loans, etc. I think that he is ready to have all the difficult conversations now.
Yesterday was a disaster. Mike had to have a follow-up chest x-ray after having 2 liters of fluid drained last week. Seeing as how there is no doctor interaction involved (usually) I asked my son to take him. 2 hours later Mike called from the emergency department at hospital! The x-ray tech had sent them there after the x-ray showed an extreme amount of fluid on his left side. You couldn't make out any organs as it was all white, which is bad. They eventually got around to draining another 2 liters, which is as much as they like to do at a time. Then they x-rayed him again and saw a small air-pocket above his lung. They were a bit concerned and said that he should spend the night and they could drain more fluid. So he stayed and they drained another 1.5 liters. So they drained a total of 3.5 liters one week after they drained 2 liters! The oncologist had said that his tumor is "weeping" and that is where the fluid is coming from. It also seems quite aggressive. This makes the oncologist believe that there is probably a mutation at work. So is that good or bad?? Aggressive probably means mutation which means better treatment but until it starts we are left with aggressive!
I just brought Mike home and he is now fast asleep on the sofa. Hopefully there will be no more surprises today. I didn't think I would have so much to update so soon. Hopefully the oncologist will phone today with the mutation test results. I really want to start treatment now. Thank you all so much again. This is my support group/ therapy session for now.
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