December 6th, 2008

After the surgery had been completed, the doctors told us that he still needed to have more therapy done. My father would have to go through both chemotherapy and radiation. This would help give my father a little more time and relieve him of his pain. I knew that I had to research other treatments so that I knew exactly what he was going through.

I started with Radiation Therapy. There are two different forms of Radiation, Internal and External. Both methods use high energy doses of x-ray to break up and kill the cancer cells. External however, is done from outside your body and destroys the cancerous cells, but also may kill some of the good ones too. Internal treatment is done inside your body and is much more accurate killing only the cancerous cells. I also wanted to know the side effects and this is where I started to get even more nervous about these treatments. Radiation therapy to the brain has side effects such as memory loss, lower sexual desire, poor tolerance for cold weather, nausea, unsteadiness, and changes in vision.

I moved on to Chemotherapy next and found out there are three different ways to receive this treatment; pill, injection into a body cavity or administered through a vein. Chemotherapy kills all of the fast growing cancer cells, however it does not know the difference between fast-growing cancer cells and fast-growing good cells such as hair and nails. This therapy has side effects of; low white blood cell count, low red blood cell count, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, fatigue, and mood changes. None of these were sounding very pleasant to me.

The next one I learned about was Biological Response Modifiers, this is a therapy that boosts your immune system to help it fight cancer and other infections and it also can help the body heal after other cancer treatments. The most common side effect is flu- like symptoms, along with anemia, diarrhea and decreased white blood cell count.

The fourth treatment I researched for was Photodynamic Therapy.This is another treatment that uses a light to destroy the cells, the difference is that this is both an internal and external process. A drug is given to the patient through vein and then absorbed by all of the cells. However, cancer cells hold on to this drug longer than healthy cells. After a few days of the injection, the light is used on the area of the cancer. The light kills the cells that still have the drug in them, and those are the only cells that will really react to the light source. The problem with this is that the tumor has to be in a place that the light can reach, close to the skin. The side effects are skin and eye sensitivity to sun, burns, swelling, pain, and scarring, coughing, trouble swallowing, stomach pain, painful breathing, or shortness of breath. These symptoms are usually temporary however.

The final treatment for cancer is Gene Therapy, this is when scientists alter your genes. However, this is not FDA approved and may not work, you have to go into it as a clinical trial. The side effects from this are higher sensitivity to Radiation and Chemotherapy.

Shortly after reading all of this, I learned that my dad was having both radiation and Chemo. He would have radiation done about once a week. After this, he did have troubles with his vision just like the book said he would. He also took a pill once a day for Chemotherapy. This did not seem to be as harsh on his body like it can be for others. My father does not vomit often but he has had a loss of appetite. Mobility is also a problem now. He is always tired but remains strong.