Stressful Week

This has been a really rough week for me and my family. We found out on Wednesday that my dad's cancer is back and that he will have to undergo some pretty extensive treatment including chemo in a few weeks. It was a hard thing to hear because we thought that his melanoma was in remission. I'm trying to keep as positive as possible, he has great doctors and full medical coverage because of his military service. The situation is about as good as it can be for this kind of news, our family is all here in town and the rest of the summer is pretty low key for me so I will be able to go to his treatments and help out when he and my mom need me and Jered. I don't think anyone is ever prepared to hear news like this and the past two days have been really rough, but I'm starting to feel a little better and am starting to look at the practical side of how to help my dad in the best way I can.

As if that weren't enough, last night at 5 pm Oscar started having seizures again. I thought it was just an isolated thing but then he had another at 10, one at midnight, one at 2 am and one at 4 am. He lost control of his bowels and couldn't seem to shake the seizures. We decided to give him his morning dose of pheno 3 hours early. Luckily he hasn't had a seizure since (knock on wood!). He had a scheduled bloodwork appointment today at 11 anyway so we talked to the vet and considered putting him to sleep. I even made the appointment for tomorrow. The other option is to up his medication to a really high level and see how it goes in the next 2 months. The vet bills have been extremely expensive so it almost seemed like we really didn't have a choice and euthansia was the only way to go. I talked it over with my parents, with Jered and with a few friends, made the appointment to have him put to sleep and thirty minutes later was in the car taking him to the York river for his favorite walk. I talked some more with my mom and then more with Jered and we realized that he is so happy when he isn't having seizures and he seems to be so comfortable and healthy other than the seizures. I called the vet and cancelled our appointment tomorrow. We are upping his dose and riding it out. We are hoping his cluster of seizures was related to the high emotional stress at home the past few days or something else that was a one time glitch. We are upping his dose and hoping for the best. We are not ready to give up on him!!!

So needless to say it was an emotional morning and an emotional couple of days. I am starting to feel much better, thanks to the support I've gotten from Jered and my family and friends. While the news this week hasn't been the best, it could be much worse, and we are a strong family with plenty of support and will pull through all of this. I am lucky to have such great people around me. My friend Liz is coming down to stay with us tomorrow for the weekend just to help us get our minds on something fun. We will probably head to Busch Gardens and relax.
I might even get some stress knitting done today!
Be thankful for the people and pets around you that are so easy to take for granted!