I received a very large shock yesterday.  My dad has had ongoing battles with bladder cancer since in his 20s hes beaten it 4 times, most recently he was given a stoma and to our joy got his all clear after chemo last month.  Since he came off the chemo he has been complaining about a extemely bad back and generally feeling worse than when he was on chemo, he was having terrible numbness to the feet legs and hands and was getting up and having to bang his feet to get sensation and complained of really bad pain.  He went for a scan to see what was going on and his results came in yesterday when he went to his appointment he was promply told he had 8mths to 12mths to live and was rushed to hospital in a ambulance to receive radiotherapy which he now has to have daily for i dont know how long but hes definately got a full week of treatments bar saturday and sunday.  Its apparently in the bone.  As you can imagine this was a huge shock for the family as not only is my dad dying but their family dog who is 6 last week was also diagnosed with terminal spleen cancer and given 1 month.  My mum is devasted she will be on her own other than visits from us.  I am so worried about what he will go through with this and equally care as my mother is 69 its not easy.  I know its not a nice subject and some people dont want to know how bad it will get but has anyone been though this that can give me some advice.  My worry is my dad will become paralysed and bed bound hes 68.  How long will he have before this all really kicks in?