My Dad's Story

by Cathy Weeks

My Journal

Creating this journal and the EC Cafe' as a whole was a form of therapy for me. I was upset and frightened, and doing this was an outlet. However I haven't devoted as much time to the pages as I should, now that Dad's out of danger, and I'm not as frightened. This is my first major addition to the Cafe' in a long time.

I wrote this rather long journal in two chunks. The first four parts were written in April of 1996, and the last four seven months later, in November of 1996. I was driven to finish it, by the fear that I might actually forget the experience, now that I am more hopeful about Dad's situation. I know that I will never actually forget what happened, but I was afraid to lose the details.

There are parts I left out, things that my family and I consider too personal to share, but I feel that despite the ommissions, these pages reflect a fairly accurate description of the experience. And I've either left out, changed or abbreviated all names to protect everyone's privacy.

Entry 1: My background. This is about the person I was before the story begins.

Entry 2: The Odyssey Begins: The diagnosis and how I found out about it.
Alternate title: The Amazing Story.

Entry 3: The Interim Before Treatment.

Entry 4: The Treatment: Chemotherapy and Radiation.

Entry 5: The Second Interim (Post Chemo/Radiation, Pre-surgery).

Entry 6: The Treatment: Surgery.

Entry 7: The Recovery.

Entry 8: The Story Continues: The Waiting Game.

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