He was 71 years old, a diabetic and in fairly good health when he felt “under the weather” with what we thought was a respiratory problem, he also complained with leg and hip pain. We were not sure what the cause of his problems.
Went to the doctor on February 24, 2004 and after a chest x-ray, which showed a large mass in his lung, was further tested and found that he had non-small cell lung cancer which had spread to his liver and bones. The cancer was already in Stage IV. The prognosis was originally 30 days - 2 months, but later was "measured" in months, but not sure of how long. At this point I was devastated because after this diagnosis he seemed to look worse to me. I was hurt, angry and devastated.
Radiation was the only treatment the doctors felt would help with the pain and hopefully shrink the tumor in the lung to help him breathe better. Treatments were to be 5 days a week, every week for 4 weeks, and if progress had been made they would stop them for a while and start back up again but not have as many.
After 2 1/2 weeks of treatments his platelets were low and we had to stop them until they rose again. This did not happen. The pain medications he was on were: 125mg Duragesic patches, 10-650 Percocet and Ativan for anxiety, and liquid Morphine for quick pain control. We thought the liquid Morphine made him seem "delirious" but they said it could possibly be normal due to "sun downing" that cancer patients tend to do at night. These episodes were very difficult for us to watch. He didn't always know who we were and thought we were trying to hurt him.
I don't think I would have done anything differently. The family all worked together and discussed everything that was done. We also listened to what Van wanted because he was the one who had the right to the choices. He chose to have the treatments and knew he could stop them whenever he wanted if they became too much or too painful.
As I write the date is April 2, 2004. My father-in-law, friend and wonderful man passed away on March 26, 2004. We were not given much time with him after his diagnosis, but at least we did have some time. The family was brought closer together and we are all trying to get through this together. My mother-in-law passed away 12 years ago, and we were not given time to say good-bye, and I think that having the time we did with Van made it somewhat easier. Not to say this was easy because this was the hardest thing to watch that I have ever been through. Yet I am glad that I could help him as much as I did before he left us. He has gone home now, but we still have memories of a wonderful man to cherish for all of our lives.
I wanted to create this web page to honor Van Charles Reece who was a wonderful husband, father, father-in-law, papaw, great papaw and friend to all who knew him. He loved to fish and garden, remembering the green beans he grew. I will miss him everyday, but I have two sons who will remind me of him always. My youngest son is so much like him, and that is a trait I am proud for my son to have.
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