August 12

Hello all Matt here again.

Yesterday my dad went to the hospital with a lot of belly pain and some nausea. Unfortunately, he was found to have a small bowel obstruction. He was admitted and will stay in hospital for probably at least 10 days minimum.  We know my dad has advanced cancer and he has little tiny tumours that have spread and are speckled all over his bowels.  With respect to what's going on, however, we do not have a clear answer at this point. Basically there are 2 differing opinions.

Medical oncology (cancer docs) feel that my dad's most recent CT scan has not changed that significantly from his previous scan, indicating that maybe the chemo is keeping the cancer at bay for the time being. It hasn't shrunk, but it hasn't gotten horrendously worse according to them.  Their thinking is that the chemo my dad has been receiving may be working to a certain extent, and as a byproduct of the toxic nature of the drugs, it has made his bowels unhappy and sluggish.  Their goal is to give him medications to decrease inflammation, and remove secretions his bowels are producing via a suction tube going from his nose to his stomach. The hope is that his bowels pick up again on their own in time. If this turns out to be true, this would be the best case scenario and my dad could eventually go on with more chemo once his bowels recover.

General surgery on the other hand does think my dad's most recent CT scan is worse than prior, indicating his cancer is progressing.  Because he has so many tiny tumours spread all across his bowels, surgery is not an option.  They think the obstruction in his bowel right now may be due to the tumours and that it's causing the intestines to kink and narrow/twist.  If this is the case, my dad may need a more permanent tube inserted from outside his belly into his stomach and into his intestines to intermittently remove the gas and fluids backing up from his blocked intestine.  More importantly, however, if this scenario is true my dad will no longer be able to eat or obtain adequate nutrition and sadly, he will likely deteriorate quite rapidly.

It was another tough and emotional day for our family, especially receiving two different stories and prognoses with respect to my dad's condition.  Bottom line is there is no certainty in medicine sometimes. But regardless of which scenario is actually true in this case, the management remains the same.  Thus, we just have to wait and see how my dad does and if he starts having bowel movements/no nausea/decreased pain that will be a good sign.  At the end of the day all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Everyone is doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances. My dad is hanging tough no matter what is thrown his way.  As always, we feel the love from all of you and we appreciate all your support.  I will update as more information becomes available.