'I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way'
Grinds My Gears
Scott Reyburn
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Opinion
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He has passed the five-year survival rate with flying colors.
I'm speaking about the five-year survival rate for cancer, that is.
In 2001 around Mother's Day, my grandpa, at 73, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, likely caused from smoking for approximately 50 years.
Born in Philadelphia and part of a family with five other siblings, he moved to San Jose when he was 5 years old.
Fast forward to 2001, residing in Reno, just before his diagnosis, my grandma noticed him choking a lot and having difficulty swallowing food - common symptoms of esophageal cancer. So my mom, one of his two daughters, and Grandma took him to a gastroenterologist. After the doctor performed an endoscopy, the doctor found a tumor, biopsied it and discovered it was malignant.
When he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, he stopped smoking, cold turkey. Not an easy feat.
During the summer of 2001, he went through chemotherapy and radiation therapy to prevent the cancer from spreading, which made the surgery, down the road, easier to perform.
The chemotherapy took a toll on him. It took hours to perform each treatment and had nasty side effects.
He lost weight, his hair, his appetite. He felt nauseated, he spit saliva all the time, and his skin would dry and peel.
A nightmare, I'm sure, not only for him to live through but to observe as well.
At one point, he got dehydrated from all the treatments, so he had to get an intravenous catheter to return the necessary fluids to his body.
Along with chemotherapy he received radiation therapy.
With the use of high-energy rays, radiation therapy kills cancer cells.
Although radiation therapy took only a few minutes to perform, it also dealt its share of pain to my grandpa.
He couldn't swallow because his throat burned from the radiation, so instead of solid foods he had to use a straw to drink power shakes mixed together by my mom and grandma.
Happily married for more than 50 years to my grandpa, my grandma was freaking out from the beginning and couldn't handle taking care of him.
It was just too emotional for her.
So, my mom had to step in. My mom and grandma pretty much did all the caretaking for him. Working in education has its perks, mainly having the summer off. Thus my mom had the time.
She was able to fly back and forth between our home in San Jose and Reno, sometimes staying a week at a time.
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