Agent Orange Strikes Again

In October of 2010 my 71 year old father began to have episodes of painful hiccups. He also started to have trouble swallowing certain foods. My dad is notorious for being a very fast eater whose motto is, "hog and jog", so initially I agreed with that assessment. But very quickly he was even having trouble swallowing soups and beverages and the hiccups were stronger and more painful. His Dr. told him it was reflux or GERT and to take an antacid 2xs a day. The antacids did seem to help so I stopped nagging him to get to a new Dr. But then I looking up Mom's new bone building drug when something in its warning label caught my eye. One of the warnings was about Esophageal cancer. It listed the warning signs and Dad had every last one. The 7th warning sign was persistent and recurrent hiccups. It stated that if you or a loved one had any of these symptoms, especially the hiccups, to seek immediate medical attention. I was struck with body numbing dread. I knew my Dad had cancer.
After I gathered myself somewhat together, I called my Mom. I told her what I had read and that I was certain that Dad had cancer. She got very angry and defensive. She told me to mind my own business and I was not under any circumstances was I to tell my Dad I thought he had cancer. Five minutes later I had done exactly that. Dad wanted me to print the info off at work and bring it home for him to see for himself. I quickly printed it off and then looked at the V.A. Agent Orange site to see if E.C. was anywhere there. What I found stunned me. Thousands of Vietnam Vets, no more correctly thousands of widows and children of Vietnam Vets were wondering the same thing. I printed that info off for Dad as well.
That evening was one of the worst of my life. Mom was furious that I had shown Dad the info on E.C. She ranted about how all that was wrong was Dad ate to fast and took huge bites. She was very angry and things got quite personal. Normally, I would have walked away from her crazy but not this time. I felt I had to stand firm because Dad's very life might depend on it. And I told her so. I was going to go to his Dr. with or with out her. Dad finally agreed to go see his Dr if things got bad again. I asked everyday if he had a Dr's appointment, and everyday we had another fight about it. Finally when he choked on water, Dad himself told Mom he thought there was something wrong and he wanted to see a Dr. as soon as possible. Mom was angry but agreed to make an appointment but with HER doctor.
As soon as her Dr heard Dad's symptoms, she wanted him to get scoped asap. Even before his appointment. Luckily for us, there was a cancellation that Friday and Dad got the appointment. It was the last appointment of the day and when I saw the Dr.'s face I knew I had been right along. He told us that Dad had esophageal cancer and it had spread to the top of his stomach. He wanted Dad to come back on Monday so he could put in a feeding tube. He wanted to give Dad a short course of radiation to relieve some of the symptoms, but there was not much more than that he could do. We left the hospital in silence.
That weekend, we googled E.C. and treatment options, and at every turn we also found more questions about agent orange and this cancer. In the upcoming weeks, I will be writing about my Dad, his cancer, and what I have learned about Agent Orange and this deadly cancer.