Big scare when Ann brought Tony to hospital on Sunday April 20th. Sandra and Julie were flying back to New York and Toronto but with heavy hearts. Tony was admitted in the morning at the recommendation of the oncologist on call at the Cancer Clinic. Tests showed his blood sugar seriously spiked (normal is around 4 to 8 and Tony was at 23.7).
There were also serious concerns with his blood in general. Turns out there is a bad infection in the blood and therefore his body is suffering as a consequence. After a million tests they finally narrowed his infection to a specific kind and he is now on a special antibiotic for the past five days.
Tony had a very rough Wednesday April 23rd - so bad that Tony asked for us (the girls) to come home. We freaked out and flew home straight away. Julie arrived on Thursday from Toronto and Sandra arrived on Friday from NYC.
Since Wednesday April 23 things have been like a bad roller coaster ride: he's had really great and fabulous moments like laughing and making jokes with the health care staff to scaring us to death with how close he is pushing the line.
I've come to understand a few things about Dad's illness and I'll sum it up here: It's complicated. He's battling two cancers (Merkel Cell Carcinoma -
MCC- and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia-
CLL) , each attacking different parts of his immune system. Every time the doctors treat one thing, it makes him vulnerable to the other cancer or infection. The scars of his fight are extremely disturbing and he is quite tired and I daresay, exhausted.
Now, that being all said, something in my gut tells me he's still got some fight left in him. The war going on in his body is really straining and taxing his mind. I think that is the hardest part for me to watch. He really wants to give in to the battle sometimes. However, his body seems to be responding positively to various treatments, bit by bit. Even though they are small gains, I reckon that's a lot in this game. And doubly so for dad. And though he may seem like he's really down for the count on this one, that hand of his keeps rising up. It's unbelievable how he just keeps going -- but that is the essence of our Tony, isn't it?