Events so far

In June Dad occasionally felt unwell, but didn't think enough of it to tell us. Then in early July he started to feel regularly nauseous. This became daily and he was occasionally productive, although he ate very little and had started to develop increasingly nasty headaches. A routine scan (he has had regular scans since his original diagnosis) found a new metastasis in his left armpit, but no explanation was given for the nausea or headaches. Four weeks later, in early August, Dad was very confused and had symptoms of CNS damage. He needed coaxing out of bed and help doing basic things like shaving and shoelaces. At this stage he was unrecognisable from his old self and although he was physically in the room with us, the real him was miles away. We were all very alarmed and scared, but tried to keep as normal as possible for Dad. Then on the 17th August Dad had a scan of his head. This confirmed that his melanoma (originally on his back, at his original diagnosis three years ago) had metastasised again, this time to his brain. Looking at the scan it was clear the metastases and the edema surrounding them took up over half of the space normally available to his brain. Dad was prescribed steroids and advised that once the steroids had reduced the pressure in his brain and it was safe to proceed, he would have a course of radiotherapy. The steroids had an amazing effect. Within days we saw clear improvements in Dad, some of his symptoms vanished completely and the nausea went away while his headaches gradually became less frequent and less severe. Basically, we got him back. He has now completed the radiotherapy and other than having lost some of his hair since treatment seems well. In himself, he is very positive and cheerful. I think he's amazing.