My dad is seriously contemplating not completing his radiation. He has 5 left.

He is concerned about quality of life issues - and the spiraling impact on the rest of his body that the treatment is doing.

His bone marrow seems to have been unusually impacted - the drs keep calling him a "special case." (which really is not a comforting phrase in this situation!) And more disturbingly, they don't really seem to know why. Could be chemo, could be something else.

They are running a number of tests - and have stopped chemo after 4 weekly does cisplatin, 1 dose carbo. He has 5 rad left and they want him to finish. (He had a nearly 3 week break halfway thru treatment bc his counts fell dangerously low and he was hospitalized.)

All the reading I have done, and the opinion of his Rad MD, seems to indicate that completing rad is pretty critical.

I know everyone is different - but I'm having a hard time figuring out the cost/benefit of continuing at this point. His blood counts seem to collapse so quickly, that I'm more concerned that if he continues, he will do it at the expense of his bone marrow -- and where does that leave him post Tx and the ability to rebuild his health? If he stops now, will all that he has been through the last 3 months have been for not?

I know you all can't literally answer my questions - but I needed a place to start working through my thoughts and would love to hear anything you'd like to share.

thanks,
Alicia