[McheleM]

I am so tired of everyone I love and care about having to deal with this disease!!

My dad stepped off a curb 2 weeks ago and hurt his knee. It didn't get any better so he went for an xray. They noticed a suspicious spot on the thigh and sent him for an MRI. Turns out he had a cyst/tumor that had eaten through the muscle into the bone. They referred him to a bone specialist and an oncologist. Before he could get in to see either of the referral doctors, Monday morning he stood up and broke the femur. They did a whole slew of tests, and did a biopsy and surgery today and told us he has multiple myeloma. This is a form of blood cancer, and although it's treatable, it's not curable. His 5 year survival rate is less than 35% for his age.

What I'm going to say next is going to sound tacky and horrible, but I am just disgusted with my stepmom and her whole attitude towards this. She is a very firm believer, and that's fine, but because she has this faith and belief that god is going to heal my dad, she refuses to ask questions of the doctors, or anyone else regarding my dad's care. And her sister told me that I just needed to let her (my stepmom) talk to the doctors-she's his wife and she'll make the decisions. She just wants him "to not be in pain and to be better". She will ask for pain medicine for him even if he doesn't seem to be in pain-he could be sleeping but she'll request the pain meds anyway. And today, she didn't think the drs should wake him or rouse him after surgery, they should have just let him sleep...I couldn't make her understand that they have protocols and they follow them to keep patients healthy. Having anesthesia in your system for too long isn't healthy. Her and my step sister actually said this is good news when we found out. Why? Because having multiple myeloma means it's not bone sarcoma, and they won't have to amputate his leg. Yes, that's great, but he has cancer. And she has her head in the clouds and doesn't want to realize that this is serious. This means chemo and radiation and possible stem cell transplants, but she doesn't want to hear about any of it, because god is going to heal him.
I tried to talk to her about his short term disability and she said "he'll be fine". I guess she isn't understanding that he's going to have 6-8 weeks of rehab for his leg, which now has a rod from hip to knee, and several screws. And 2 weeks into rehab, he'll be doing whatever course of treatment they decide he needs. She doesn't work, and he's already been off 3 weeks, how is she expecting to pay the bills? They have no savings, and live on his paychecks, week to week.

UgH!!!!! I'm so frustrated.