Thank you everyone for the advice and for sharing your stories. Sorry about your losses.

-----

My dad does have a GP, but she's on mat leave so there's an interim right now. I'll probably take Tuesday off this week and push him to go with me and my brother to ask for a referral. He gets quite agitated whenever we talk about his health and remind him to go for regular health checks. I think he's quite scared of finding out things are wrong with him, so he ignores it (which obviously doesn't make the problem go away).

The reason that I started to think that he might have pancreatic cancer was because I noticed earlier tonight that the whites of his eyes were quite yellow. I started looking at causes of jaundice, and one thing led me to another until I was on a Wikipedia page for pancreatic cancer.

Symptoms:
Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes and dark urine)
Pain in the upper abdomen and/or upper back
Loss of appetite
Unexplained weight-loss
Weakness
Diarrhea or constipation
Nausea and vomiting
Pale, greasy stools that may float in the toilet
Onset of Type II diabetes

A few weeks ago, he had some abdominal discomfort and constipation. His pee was darker than usual, but blood tests and a recent colonoscopy showed negative for anything.

Over the past year, my dad has gotten skinnier, but we all just assumed it was because he was getting old (he just turned 70). It could be, still don't know.

Then I remember my mom mentioning recently that the docs said he was starting to show some early signs of Type II diabetes.

All together, there are a lot of symptoms that seem to line up with pancreatic cancer.. he also smokes and my uncle died from it as well a few years back, so I'm very concerned. Haven't stopped looking into it since I realized this could be the reality of how my dad goes.

Stay off the internet until you have a diagnosis. It will drive you crazy and not help this point.

My wish is that you are wrong! Hugs to you and update us on Tuesday. :)

My dad just finished chemo last round from Kidney cancer. Can't agree more with both of your post above.

Never trust the internet; parents read the first few post on possible cures eg// if you stop eating meat, or start eating fish, you can prolong blah blah blah blah/

Doctor confront my dad saying "I have years of experience via books and real patients and medical journals . Please verify your source before you question my diagnosis and possible treatment."

I had to CONVINCE my dad to do chemo after surgery.

NEVER go head on asking someone to go to the doctor, do treatment, get help. IT WILL NEVER WORK. Try a softer side / angle.

"Dad, you're 69 years old, if you LIVE till 99, (my grandma is 97 right now), you have 30 years of life left."

"If you don't do chemo now, and it appears somewhere else eg// brain/ nose, it's not something you can just REMOVE & cancer will come back stronger"

"For the sake of your next 30 yrs, think about short term pain now, vesus lowering the risk from 30% remission down to 5%"

24 hours later, when I stepped into the door at 12 AM "son, I'm going to do chemo"

PRAISE THE LORDDDDDDDDDD haahahhah

any suggestion to refill sodastream canisters? Seems like Badland Paintball in New West is permanently closed.

ooh, also anyone know if you can get real coke/coke zero syrup anywhere?

looking for any sodastream 'hacks' that you guys know of!

Anyone have any recommendations for a lawyer to create a will?

Has anyone used one of the will kits etc? Ours isn’t overly complicated as it would be just leaving all assets to X and Y etc. However we have life insurance policies and whatnot that may make things more complicated?

https://www.westcoastwills.com/

Dont forget POA & representation

Just an update about my dad.

We went to BGH on Monday afternoon and lined up at the non-emergency to get his jaundice checked out. Blood tests showed that his bilirubin levels were high (as expected) and we returned the next day for an ultrasound and CT scan.

Looks like there is a tumour in the tail of his pancreas and it has metastasized to his liver. The doctor at the hospital said that its incurable and he will have limited life. What that means, I don't know, but people with stage IV pancreatic cancer live on average six months.

He currently doesn't have any pain in his body right now and no other symptoms other than jaundice and a bit of weight loss. I expect this to get worse as the weeks go on, but there's nothing we can do. He's still currently doing his regular day-to-day things, and I'm not sure if he understands the extent of the situation.

It just hurts me to know the reality of what my dad has been diagnosed with and knowing that I'll watch him slowly wither away as time goes on. I want to do everything I can to cure him, but with current medicine and technology, it doesn't seem to be possible.

My dad is currently going back to BGH on Friday for a triphasic liver scan and we are trying to get him booked for an ERCP procedure to relieve the jaundice as his gall bladder is being pressed on.

Just a bit frustrated because we cannot get in touch with anyone at the office of the specialist that we were referred to for the ERCP. He really needs to get his jaundice removed.

Does anyone know happen to know of a good gastroenterology that we can possibly get in touch with in case we still can't read the referred one tomorrow?

Thanks for reading.

I am sorry your dad and family are going through this. Please take care of yourself.

Just throwing this out there, but i know a lot of people who require urgent care go south of the border.
You will have to pay, of course. But i hear quality and expediency are much greater.
Just throwing it out to you.
Take care. Lot of tough decisions ahead. I hope for the best for you and your family.

You got a few things going on here.

- Might be a shock for some, others see it as a normal day in life. Don't stress too hard on your dad's response. Our pysc says everyone reacts differently, can't expect those to react same as you.

-Write down all the names / terms / medication /visits starting now. Dates of visits, surgery times etc. Patients (my dad) kept using improper results and wording things improperly. Your guidance will help.

Eg.. Couldn't remember the 5 blood tests he had to do (for diff doctors) and what they are for. Percentages versus actual units. (Kidney function result was 40/150, versus "my kidney is only 40%")

-There are things in life you can't rush; looking for love, looking for a job, health. Our body works mysteriously and even magic pills take time.

-You can ask your family doctor to refer you to TWO different specialist (ERCP in your case). I had an immune system disease and I called multiple specialists asking "Have you specifically dealt with this _____ disease, if no, can you please provide referral who does?"

-If your family doctor is being a bitch, go to a walk in clinic and see if they can get you a different referral. Certain doctors (family or clinic) are able to bump you up for emergencies. " Hi _Mr. XXX_, usually we have a paperwork day / hour set aside for situations like this. You're one of these cases, please come in asap, we need to discuss your results Dr. X sent me"

We are all humans after all.

Best of luck, PM if you want need someone to talk to.

Sorry to hear. My uncle was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer late last year was well. He's doing treatment now, and it's ok so far. Take care of yourself and the family too.

Thanks everyone.

Good suggestion on writing down all the visits and terms. I'll be starting that tonight. Will also get my brother to ask about a few referrals for some oncologists (I don't think we've had one assigned yet) at the hospital tomorrow for the second opinions.

We actually haven't been back to dad's GP at all this entire time. Just had an argument last weekend, convinced him to check out his jaundice at the non-emergency room at BGH and now here we are.

So far I'm glad BGH has been efficient taking care of my dad, and hopefully the oncologists that we get will have some better advice on how to manage everything.

We'll take it one day at a time.

Thanks for all your advice and comments RS.

Definitely write everything down, and write down any questions you think of as you think of them. Whenever possible my wife and I both go to major medical stuff, we've both got copies of whatever questions we have and whoever is being support copies down answers and any other info the docs give you.

Alternatively maybe ask if you can record it, then copy it to notes after. I've never thought to do that but it's hard enough to keep up with the relatively minor things we've had, I can't imagine the flood of info that may be coming at you at times.

When we started to get phone calls from GP + cancer agency + bloodwork / lifelabs + kidney / bladder specialist, we could not remember /spell their names pronounce properly and it got cumbersome each time we see a different specialist.

If your parents / brothers are tech savvy, use an app eg/ Simplenote, which you can share the notes to friends and family via email or share function.

After 2-3 weeks, when parents & relatives, starts to ask how your dad came about; it got easy as we just copy and paste the chinese/english situation to them.

Thank god for the free level 3 chargers at Superstore. They’re a light sabre..................... I mean................... life saver.


And, they’re Uber friendly............ to use. :troll:

https://globalnews.ca/news/6573230/m...rg-sex-worker/

Your dad's a billionaire but decide to ho yourself out for chump change.

Just got a really weird call on my cell. I didn't check to see who it was, because I was expecting a call from one of my kids. It was not a recording. It was a woman crying like she was in pain. Not hysterical, but a painful one. The person hung up after a few seconds. I tried calling the non emergency RCMP line to report it, but was put on hold.

Anyway, pretty sure it was a prank call. And, no, I am not going to try calling back, lol. The number is from Dominican Republic........... Santo Domingo, Distriito Nacional. I immediately blocked the caller. The number is +18294155545.

Going to be more careful and check caller ID before answering. Lesson learned.

Always check the caller.
Once i recieved a call from 16 04 xxx-xxxx
It looked like a 604 # but it wasnt the 04 was separate

Wtf I got the same call earlier!

Number was 18294155546

I didn't say shit and it just disconnected.

Whenever I pick up an unknown number I don't say anything and wait for the other end to say something first.

Ask about clinical trial treatments too to see if they're an option, never ever just rely on one experts diagnosis, get second, third, fourth opinions

They want you to call the number back. When you call back you will be charged some crazy amount per minute. I had a similar call from Africa. A girl said hey sexy then another girl laffed and then they hung up

https://www.inspirehealth.ca

The one place that helped my wife get through it all. She spoke highly of the services they provide.

Not sure if they offer translators or not. I'm thinking they do.

A cancer patient sharing how they want to be supported.

Flat earther dies after his home made rocket that he is in crashes. Was filming for a TV show.

https://www.newsweek.com/daredevil-m...-1488622?amp=1