Marlon

...at about 11:20 pm. After her emergency bowel surgery in late November, she seemed to just go downhill, and there wasn't anything I could do about it, not even take her to the Block Center; she no longer wanted it to be my problem. It was increasingly painful to see her suffering every day. I would dread it, and would feel guilty because I knew I should be spending time with her but had to balance that between finding a new job(I got laid off Dec 18.), and spending time with my friends/family. I even talked to my pastor and he told me that God knows I tried my best, and it is no longer my job to save her. She went from the hospital, to home, then back to the hospital, then finally decided on hospice at a local nursing home. She went into a coma earlier yesterday, so we called the cavalry and all her friends and family came. She was barely breathing, and for what seemed like forever with every exhale was just moaning like she wanted to say something. She passed with my sister, brother and I holding her hands. She is in heaven now with my Papa. More to come soon. sorry all.

Oh man, I don't know where to start. It is becoming increasingly apparent that for the last 18 months, I have been barking up the wrong tree! The doctors at my mom's new hospital are now saying that it is looking more and more like Ovarian cancer after all because of all the signs. I've been reading all the websites and all the symptoms were listed. The pleural effusion, ascites, and bowel obstruction. It makes me so mad! Not once in this whole process did someone order a CA-125 test. My mom presented with right-sided pleural effusion as the only sign. There were no tumors on the CT scan. My mom had one of her ovaries removed in 1996 because of a cyst, but was never referred to or followed up by a gyno-oncologist. I wish that one year ago, we would have not wasted our time with that bonomi guy. I am grateful for this board, I really am, but now I think it was the wrong one. GRRRRRRR......

Hi all. My mom is still in the hospital. She's in a lot less pain now and talks now. They removed part of her small bowel and part of the colon, and placed a colostomy bag. My aunt says the surgeon took out everything that looked affected. The remaining ovary was fine, and I believe she said there were no visible tumors on the lungs. However, there is lymph node involvement, and they want to start chemo in a few weeks when they feel my mom has recovered enough from the surgery. There are a billion things going thru my mind right now, but most importantly, I am wondering if she can even take the supplements now that she doesn't have a normal digestive system. This is a nightmare. Has anyone known anyone who was a cancer survivor/patient that had a colostomy and chemo at the same time?

The supplements are specially made by the Block Center. They ran us about $200 a month. They include all kinds of botanicals and what not, supposedly to try and make the chemo more effective, prevent metastasis, promote faster recovery, and require less hospitalizations. I'm glad to hear U of C is working for you. I see their commercials all the time.

My mom had surgery yesterday to remove tumors blocking her small bowel. They removed part of the small and large bowel. She is in a lot of pain. They also found masses in the abdomen, and new ones on the lung. I feel terrible about all the fighting we did. She needs all the prayers she can get. She has colostomy bag, and after 3 weeks of recovery will probably start chemo again. The new docs at my aunt's hospital suspects it may have started in the ovaries after all. They questioned why only one ovary was removed. I'm beginning to think that the first hospital called it unknown primary because they knew they messed up by not doing a complete hysterectomy, and smelled a possible lawsuit.

Hi, Never feel ashamed to ask questions on here. A PET scan is very important as it can determine if there is any spread. You might want to ask if they have the new combined PET/CT machine, which is more superior in terms of pinpointing tumors in the body. Chemo should help to shrink the tumors to operable size. If there are only a few tumors, you should try and see if your MIL is a candidate for RFA(radiofrequency ablation). It is not surgery, but a minimally-invasive technique where they use a needle to destroy the tumors using heat. I talked to the doctor around here who does it and he was extremely helpful and kind, and actually kept me on the phone for 10 minutes. He sounds like there aren't a whole lot of criteria that have to be met, as long as the tumors aren't too big and they're accessible. His name is Bruce Lin and he's at Rush-Copley in Aurora. Even if others say she's inoperable, RFA can be done. If I got cancer, I would look into this first and foremost. It is an alternative to major surgery, and although fairly new, more doctors are picking up on it. As far as other Chicagoland hospitals are concerned, Rush-Presbyterian didn't have much to offer my mom except more chemo. U of C is ok and I would think they have a PET scan machine in there somewhere. Our problem with U of C was with the doctors' demeanors, but that should not stop anyone from seeking treatment there, especially since they're supposedly the most technologically advanced in Chicago. Northwestern Memorial is also good, and my co-worker's mom had lung surgery there too with Dr. Bloom. If she chooses to undergo chemo, I would recommend the Block Medical Center in Evanston, because they give you chemo, and supplements to mitigate the bad side effects of chemo. Some people there don't even lose their hair. Before forewarned though, other doctors will not agree with taking supplements during chemo. They will say it might cancel out the effects of the chemo, but I know for a fact that they helped my mom recover faster. Dr. Mike De la Torre is the oncologist there and was the first one to cultivate hope in my mom and I. Also, Dr. Olak is a great lung surgeon at Lutheran General in Park Ridge. She operated on my mom when everyone else said no way jose. You are right to seek multiple opinions. The best advice I can give you is that you need to go all over the place. We learned the hard way that it is a mistake to limit all your doctors to just one hospital, because closely-knit people will always agree with each other. It's your life [your MIL's], and you never know what another doctor has up his or her sleeve. Whatever you do, do not choose Edward Hospital in Naperville.

http://jol.rsna.org/pr/pr1.cfm

I am going back and forth with the doctor here that does it, but I explained to him my mom's situation including her previous surgeries. I guess as long as the tumors are not too big(which they aren't), and CT/Ultrasound show they are accessible, he can do it. He needs to see the latest CT and PET scans.

:::Praying for clear scans all over:::

She will take chemo regardless, but she doesn't want him to know about the supplements; he's against them because they're not Amway products. I know, how selfish is that, right? The real reason he wanted to sell the house is because he got tired of me influencing her decisions, even though he didn't do jack. He's a real douchebag, and the sad thing is that they had to give back their Expedition thru voluntary repossession, so she can't come over as much. She has to live with him for health insurance. That was the main reason I was against selling the house, because I knew I could take better care of her if we lived under the same roof. All this because of Amway. Her MRI came back clear. I am currently talking to a doctor about RadioFrequency Ablation, and she may indeed be a candidate for it. Just now, tumors have actually been found in the abdomen, and who knows how long they've been there. I guess the doctor at Edwards was right about that part after all. Now that we've confirmed their existence, we can get rid of them and hopefully this cancer once and for all! As you all know by now, the hard part is convincing her to go thru with it. It's like pulling teeth. So everyone Please pray for my mom to have the will to keep fighting.

Hi everyone. The tests came back positive for cancer cells in the ascites. I don't know what else to do but ask for prayers. My mom has trouble moving her bowels and keeping food down. The doctor said to start chemo again. She is willing to take the supplements again, but she doesn't want my stepdad to know. I have just about had it with this stuff. Please pray for the chemo to work.

That is exactly what happened with my mom. All this time, her chest CTs and X-Rays were clear, but they haven't checked the abdomen since she was first diagnosed in July 2002. Now she went to a new doc at my aunt's hospital, and right away he suspected ascites and asked why my mom took so long to have it checked out.

Hi everyone. I know I haven't been around much lately, but I need to get straight to the point. My mom has been having stomach problems for the last few months, to the point where she couldn't keep anything down. She went to a gastro doc and he just said she had severe constipation. However, they did an abdominal CT and found she had fluid building up down there as well as some masses on the abdominal wall. They think her cancer may have came back, or we never fully got rid of it. All this time the PET scan and chest CTs were okay-looking. I am in disbelief once again, but it's not as hard-hitting as before. The reason I didn't want us living seperately was because I wanted to be able to help her whenever she needed it. Please say prayers for her healing because she is starting to talk as if this is the end again. She sounds like she doesn't have any more fight in her. And I think she feels as if she doesn't have anything to live for anymore. She doesn't wanna go back to Block because she thinks its too much work, but she's willing to take their supplements again. They only have one car now, so she can't come over as much. We beat this thing once, hopefully she will beat it again. I hate this stuff. I am having stomach problems too and I am scheduling an appointment today.

Actually, I just read the reports, and it turns out my mom's condition is stable. Her pneumothorax has completely resolved, but there are two 1 cm nodules in the upper lobe, and one in the lower lobe, which Dr. Mike thinks might just be benign nodules or scar tissue from the surgery because they were there at the last CT scan in June and haven't grown. He talked with the surgeon on Friday, and she said my mom is very lucky that her lung expanded. Also, it says pleural effusion is increased lately. It also says that the nodules were hidden because of the effusion in the June CT scan. This is all news to me. Then again, my mom likes to keep her head in the sand and in her mind, she's beaten this completely. My mom had the scan done at our local crappy hospital that just wrote her off, so maybe they're covering their butts' because they're afraid of me and my pen. They're scheduling another CT for January. She had a colonoscopy done this weekend because of bloating and gas pains, and the GI doc concluded she just has bad constipation.

My mom's latest CT scan has come back clean. Dr. Mike sat with her with scans in hand and said he couldn't see anything. She said she no longer has breathing problems (ahem, thanks to somebody whose name rhymes with the team that beat the Cubs). And she is able to drive herself to her checkups. She no longer takes the Block supplements, on the count of my jerk stepdad insisting she only use Amway products. Whatever, it's out of my hands now . As long as she stays healthy, I guess. To think, a year ago, I started emailing her wonderful surgeon-to-be. Later y'all.