kathmy Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Hi, have been lurking for a while, And decided to come out into the open. My 74 year old mom was diagnosed end of February with Limited (we think...still have not done the bone scan) SCLC. We live in Greece on an island which has been a very stressful situation because we are 2 1/2 hours away from the hospital and drs. Unfortunately her first bronchoscopy biopsy done on 12/23 came back negative across the board (Washings, etc) I say unfortunately because we lost two months of therapy with that setback, so we were in limbo for a month and a half till we did another one with Needle aspiration which came back positive. The tumor in the first ct scan was 2 1/2 cm and had grown to over 4 in the two month period. Her head and liver scans are negative so far. She did the first 3 day chemo cisplatin/etoposide on 3/11. It went pretty well apart from the first day which was a 15 hour drip....I really thought it would never end. Took the nausea medicine proactively so she really only got nausea the fourth day when we stopped it. Ran a low grade fever for one day which went up and down by itself. Then on her second week blood tests her WBC was very low so we started with filgrastim. That gave her cold sweats and major bone pain which was scary... And today she was running a low grade fever again...her hair is falling out in clumps and I don't know where to start looking for wigs......My biggest problem and I have read many others is the not knowing part..plus since she is so fatigued I can't imagine how she is going to do another five times of the chemo. That and the fact that here we are in a public hospital and I really don't have dr support...especially at night and at the weekend which of course is when you need it the most. I'm grateful for this site because at least some of my questions have been answered here. Hopefully this week's chemo will not make her worse. Thanks for listening....Kathy Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna G Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Hi Kathy. Glad you found us. I did not have SCLC . I had NSCLC but I was given those drugs. They are ruff. I had to be pre medicated for nausea , it helped some. Also I did loose most of my hair. The good part of it was I did not have to shave my legs or underarms for months . You do want to protect her from anyone who is sick for she could catch it really easy. Do you have any family or friends on the mainland to stay with? Keep us posted on how she and your are doing. Donna G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathmy Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 Hi Donna! Unfortunately we don't have really anyone to stay with. I sleep on a chair next to her in the hospital (I know strange but since the public hospitals are so understaffed here they can't possibly help all the patients at night so they let a family member stay to help). I lay up at night worrying and so scared she won't be strong enough to go through the next round...she is tired all the time and I don't know how to help keep her spirits up. I've been reading her some of the success stories on here hoping to give her a ray of light.... Thanks for your reply Kathy Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 take a lookthrough the good news and inspirtation forums for stories of hope and good news.. Hope things are getting a little better over time. Keep us posted and sorry we have to meet this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathmy Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 Thank you Randy I will! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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