Dad's surgical procedure to have a permanent access portal has been postponed AGAIN due to a low blood platelet count. Since our trip to the Dominican Republic, Dad has been experiencing more severe pain and has been eating less. Dad says he cannot hear at all in his left ear, so his internist has referred him to an ear specialist (might be nerve damage) -- one more doctor to add to Dad's star list.Recently my mom asked me to talk to Dad's oncologist about new clinical trials on ABIRATERONE for patients living with advanced prostate cancer and which had been highlighted on ABC News. At first, I was hesitant to ask the doctor about these trials because ever since the doctor has provided us with a prognosis, I have had to resolve within myself to accept the inevitable. But my mom made the request. When the doctor responded to my question, I felt that she didn't want to completely shoot my mom down and so she provided a soft answer -- "These medications haven't been approved."
Since the day I spoke directly to Dad's oncologist about Dad's prognosis (a summer afternoon, & I was on my cell phone outside Bayonne Hospital during Dad's hospitalization in mid-June), his doctor shared with me that she had already explored a number of clinical trials which my dad was not eligible for due to the aggression of his cancer and co-morbidities (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney failure). But she doesn't have the heart to keep telling my mom that . . . my mom who grasps at any hopeful treatment.
Any chance I can make a request to postpone death for a while?
