The Dad Sessions - Part 1: The Diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer, strokes, terminal illness, facing death
Before we dive into our regular format, the first few episodes of this season are a special three part series I call the Dad Sessions. I highly recommend you start here with part one. Just two weeks after my father's death, Kendra and I sat down and began recording my experience of his diagnosis, the three and a half weeks being with him as he died, and his death and the new very challenging world of grief I've experienced since a few days before his passing.
I was alone with my dad as he slept. In a moment he came to and said very clearly, tell them what happened. It was not angry or challenging. More matter of fact. It just needs to be so. So here we are telling you what happened. I'd also recorded some conversations with my dad the few weeks before he died, and we will be including some of those clips here.
You'll get to hear his voice, my own, my sisters, and that of my mother. It is an honor to include him here in these episodes and have his voice heard and his perspective known as he faced the final days of his own life. After all, this is ultimately about him. He should have a voice.
On this episode, I talk with Kendra about the five month process it took to diagnose my father with pancreatic cancer. From a single minor stroke to the unforgettable words of his oncologist, “You have stage four cancer",” was a journey of life that will shape me forever.