Hello Gail (@gailkattouf),
I am also living with Squamous Cell Thymic Carcinoma diagnosed in 2012. I had similar symptoms to your dad, and an x-ray suggested an anterior medialstinal mass, so a CT was done. I had invasion into blood vessels (brachychephalic, innominate & subclavian, and a blood clot from my left elbow to my sternum. My PET scan revealed cancerous lymph nodes in my left clavicle, so 30 nodes were removed. Like Allison Snow, I was given a terrible prognosis and projected short survival time, but also like her, here I am six years later and happy to be not only surviving, but enjoying life as it is now. Certainly my life is different from before with my health and breathing issues, but I cherish it daily.
Your dad may be feeling betrayed by his body for not notifying him earlier, I did; this is such a sneaky disease. Until is has wreaked havoc by invading many vessels, systems and organs you don't even realize it is there.
Following a less than successful surgery which sacrificed my right phrenic nerve, I had chemo, then later seven weeks of proton therapy radiation combined with chemo every 3rd week.
The first chemos I did were weekly - a combo of Carboplatinum and Taxotere. For me, the chemo was the easiest of the three treatments. I had some nausea that was fairly easy to control and didn't lose much weight.
Following initial quarterly rescans, I am now just having yearly CT scans. No active disease (NAD) to date; I can live with that.