vol2 - Page 236
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receiving a few weeks of anti-cancer chemotherapy and radiation
.......
treatments_ however, Joshes weight collapsed.
15. Within a month, Josh lost nearly half his body
weight. He had weighed twenty-seven pounds. The drugs used in
chemotherapy made him violently ill. And he would remain ill
for days° He would vomit for days after receiving treatment.
At times he would have dry heaves for hours without stopping.
Other times he would vomit up red-black bile from the pit of
his stomach. He would remain nauseated_ unable to eat, until
his next treatment.
16. By December_ 1980_ Josh looked like an inmate
from Dachau or a African infant striken by famine. Every bone
in his body was visible. Our son was wasting away and Jack and
...... I felt helpless, unable to provide him with any comfort or
relief from the tormenting treatments that_ if they did not
kill him, promised to extend his life.
17. When cancer strikes one of your children, the
resulting stress is almost unbearable. All we ever thought
about was Josh and his cancer. Everything we read about was
cancer-related. You wonder if the treatments are worth it.
You wonder what they are doing to your son. Life becomes
medically controlled and revolves around the next chemo
session, the next radiation treatment, the next needle, the
next hospital visit.
18. This is horrifying enough from the parent's
perspective. But Josh was actually living through this
terror° The surgery to remove the cancer left him weak_ the
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