Sorry to hear this Sam

Shingles is not overly infectious but the advice to avoid it completely is very sound.

Hopefully your Dad can still commmunicate with gestures and still can understand what you say to him. The loss of language is very annoying, I still have problems digging out the right word after my stroke.   If you have a digital camera you could take him recent pics of the area and family. 

I mean this in a nice way but I hope in the circumstances he goes quickly. My grandfather died of cancer when I was a kid and he lasted 6 months, but the last few months he didnt recognise his kids.