Hi there

thanks for sharing your story. You must be really stressed and confused dealing with your dad's diagnosis and also the general upset in the world due to Covid 19. It's amazing that you've found time to write in and I really feel for you. My partner has stage 4 cancer too and it also returned this spring after he had treatment last year. Try not to lose hope. Many people with stage 4 cancer can live a long time by managing their symptoms and some others even end up being cured. However , if you have been told that his prognosis is less positive then I really feel your pain. All you can do is be there for him, listen to him and forgive him if he's grumpy and irritable. He is extremely lucky to have a 17 year old child who cares so deeply about him and him and Im  sure he knows it. 
Conscioudly try to make memories with him; draw a family tree, record conversations about his youth, visit places which are important to him. But don't put too much pressure on yourself. You're very young and should be concentrating on your own life, education, friends and development. He willl want you to be happy - let yourself work out what makes you feel like that and persue it. 
big hugs

Hi Lauren,

So sorry to hear about your dad's diagnosis. I completely understand what you're going through- my parents had health issues (ie. cancer and unfortunatley passed) when I was young. Cancer is devious and I am sorry to all your family that this is affecting. Can I ask what types of chemotherapy your dad has before?

Nat.

hi thank you , i don't know the exact name of the chemo he had but he had it after his whipple surgery as the found a lymph node has the cancer in which they removed but he needed to have chemo to make sure it was gone. he had 12 rounds and i think it was one of the ones a lot  of people with this cancer have sorry i don't know the details 

hi thank you so much for the response and i'm so sorry that you are having to go through it too x we don't know what the prognosis is as we just found out on thursday so as of now i don't know how bad it is. i'm really trying my best to be positive for him and spend as much time with him as i can as i don't know what future will be 

Hi Lauren,

I think the chemo that your dad might be on is Gemcitabine (with/or Capecitabine)- but I may be wrong! If there is progression following this type, then I think that they may use a drug known as Fluorouracil, as I have heard this has some good results! However this is up to your oncologist, and whether your dad has tolerated the chemotherapy well. There may also be targeted drugs or clincial trials that he could possibly be put on, to see if there is any improvements.

Well done on you for pushing through this difficult time! If you need anymore help, message me.

Nat. 

thank you, his prognosis is that if he didn't have chemo he would maybe only live 2 months but he's going to start chemo soon and that's meant to last 4/5 months but it's basically seeing if they can prolong it for as long as possible. i have fully accepted and understood what is happening now but it's still scary to worry that i don't know how long i have left 

he's going to be starting gemcitabine and nab paclitaxel (abraxane) in the nexts 3 weeks or so, so hopefully that can help but we're more at a stage now that's it's just trying to prolong it for as long as we can