In April 2021 dad went to his GP as he was urinating blood. An ultrasound determined the presence of bladder lesions and he was immediately referred to a urologist. A biopsy in June 2021 confirmed dad had bladder cancer that penetrated the muscle. A very aggressive small cell carcinoma. The urologist consulted an oncologist who stated that the best course of action would be to have a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. Bladder removal was out of the question.
Dad completed his treatments in November 2021 and a further scan revealed lesions on his liver. The cancer was spreading and dad was booked for more scans soon after. Dad could not go through with it as he started to have severe back pain and could not lie down for the scan and strong pain killers and muscle relaxants did not ease his pain.
On 21 March 2022 dad was admitted in to palliative care due to his rapid deterioration. He slept in a sitting position for several weeks. Dad was becoming confused and the oncologist suspected that the cancer had spread to his brain but due to the pain he refused scans. On 8 April 2022 dad finally had a lumbar CT (in complete agony), but he could not sit through further tests, revealing the cancer had spread to his spine that caused several fractures causing his pain. Dad became unresponsive from 9 April 2022 and sadly, he passed away on 17 April 2022. Dad was 78.
Chiko
So very sad your poor Dad. Cancer is such an awful disease. Condolences to you.
Thankyou for sharing your story Chiko. Very chilling to hear of the fractures from the cancer…your dad must have been in a lot of pain. Take care.