My dad, Dennis, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage 3 back in the fall when they spotted something odd when going in to remove his gall bladder for a planned surgery. He chose to do naturopathic treatments after the surgical removal of the cancer and then went back and forth with the idea of doing chemo for months, finally doing a 3 month trial of chemo starting at the new year. His most recent scans came back clear of cancer and he has decided to stop chemo and continue with a modified naturopathic treatment for some time. He gets scanned again in 3 months.
In the meantime, my mom, a diabetic we thought would have never made it this far had a serious period of low blood sugar in which my father did not act in her best interest, and she ended up in the hospital with stroke like symptoms (aphasia) but nothing indicating a stroke on the brain scans. Within a week her speech had return to normal.
It has been kind of crazy. Partially because I am not there to help out given the distance. Partially because, communication is not one of the strengths of my family, and partially because it is hard to determine how to enter the role of child as caregiver without worsening circumstances or relationships. It's a new era but not sure how to navigate it.
I feel it would be best to have plans A, B, and C depending on which parent dies or becomes totally dependent first but they would also have to agree with said plans as they are able to make their own decisions right now. Hmmm. Been thinking. Not sure where to go next.
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