The saddest of news

Things have been quiet on Location Led Learning for the past fortnight. On the Friday before we left Dubai my dad was dealt some devastating news. He has a butterfly Gioblast Multiforme in his frontal lobe. It is inoperable due to the complications removing the tumor would cause and the subsequent impact on quality of life.

It was the phone call you always dread. Seven missed calls in the middle of the night and tearful conversations with loved ones first thing on Saturday morning.

We flew to France in the early hours of Monday as planned, I passed the girls to Nick and his parents at Bordeaux airport, then settled in for a long wait for the first flight to Crete where Dad lives with his wife Caz on a boat in Agios Nikolas.

My brother had arrived on Sunday and met me from the airport taxi on Monday night.

Over the course of an emotional week we:

• saw Dads GP

• Took dad to A and E

• Had him admitted to the neurosurgery ward

• Registered him with the radiography department

• Had him fitted for his radiotherapy mask

• Learnt a lot about chemo and radio therapy effects, both positive and negative

• Helped sort a car and transport to and from the hospital for daily treatment 

• Caught up with each other and 

• Came to terms with Dads diagnosis

The GBM as it is known is the most aggressive form of brain tumor. Along with a tennis ball sized main tumor dad has multiple lesions all over his brain. With treatment, the beat we can hope for is 12 months. 

The Professor of radiography who is treating dad is highly acclaimed and published (see below)

So, it was with a heavy heart that I left Greece to return to France.

There is no such thing as ‘a good time’ for news like this. However, we are able to change our plans easily and are completely flexible in our location.

Plans are now afoot to get the car and caravan next week and drive to Crete over the coming weeks. We hope to arrive at the end of the holiday season, in time for dad finishing treatment and available to help with his palliative care.

7th September. Update on Dads health:

• He has tumors in his brain, lungs, liver and possibly bones
• He has completed 20 rounds of whole brain radiotherapy
• He has completed a month long course of oral chemotherapy
• He has had one 72 hour round of intravenous radiotherapy
• He has had a scan of his thorax
• He has had a. Ultrasound of his liver
• He has had an MRI if his brain
• Prognosis dire and he has been given a life expectancy of 6 months at best