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Being my sisters keeper


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Here's the update.... A week ago she stopped taking a chemo like medication for her arthritis and her blood counts are now slowly going up. A visit to the Oncologist today and her tumor shrunk to about half the size. He says the tumor will continue to shrink over the course of the next 90 days so no more treatments will be done until another CT scan of her chest is done in April. They will recheck her labs in two weeks to make sure her counts are continuing to go up.

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Thanks for the update.  Sounds to me like great news--Shrunk to half size  !  and also that the labs are going up!

Hope the labs continue to improve when they are rechecked in 2 weeks. 

Hope this helps you to have a happier New Year.

 

Donna G

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time to focus on getting back to normal now... diet and other issues to take care of and help out with .. good to hear!!! half is good and counts going up is also great news thanks for updating us !!! prayers and hugs to ya both !!!

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  • 1 month later...

Well everything was going fine, counts were slowly coming up and she got fluids 3 times a week until a week ago when the home health nurses stopped coming then thismorning she woke up with the shoulder and chest pain she had when this whole journey started. I'm not understanding why this would recur out of the blue like this especially since they said that not only did the tumor shrink to half its size but that it would continue to shrink over the next few months.  So does the pain indicate that the tumor is growing again? She does see the oncologist on the 20th of this month.

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So she sees the Oncologist in 5 days?  Hopefully he can give you an answer of why the pain now.  Please let us know.

Has she got something to take to relieve the pain?

 

Donna G

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Pain patches, that's great , they work continuously !  Do you think it could also do with her arthritis?  We sure have had a lot of weather going across the country, many LOWS .

I find my arthritis flairs with lows.  My family is in eastern Massachusetts, I do believe they would verify that they have had quite a few storms recently, 3rd snowiest winter ever recorded, over 8 feet on snow so far, more coming tomorrow. 

Does changes of weather bother her?

 

Donna G

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Not sure if pain is related to growth or not.. why did Homke health care stop coming ?? was this expected or out of the blue?? Deb took oxycontin and Hydrocodoen for her pain.. but was almost alwasy around from what I can remember years ago!.

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Pain management is a top priority for cancer patients and treatment... glad that it is gone per se or at least tolerable if not gone completely.. good luck with ONC and let us know how things are going!!!

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The Oncologist said that cancer pain does not "come and go" and she is therefore unconcerned at this point. My sister is scheduled for another chest CT on April 15th and another blood test to check her counts and magnesium levels on March 20th.

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How are YOU doing in light of all of this??? It does take a toll on both the patient and the caretaker. you also have to take care of YOURSELF in order to take care of her!!! I was in your shoes so.....

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I agree with Randy.  I was also a caretaker and I felt like there wasn't enough time to worry about myself.  I didn't have any help and survived on approx 3 hrs of sleep a day. It WILL take it's toll on you.  I hope you can reach out and get some help somewhere.  Love is a powerful tool when we are caring for a loved one and we tend to push ourselves to the limit, but eventually it will catch up with you.

 

Please let us know how things are going for both of you ((hugs))

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  • 1 month later...

Her magnesium level is still in the low normal range in spite of taking a total of 6 magnesium suppliments per day. She gets that retested in 6 weeks. They also say that, though the tumor did not shrink anymore, everything looks stable. They say there is opacity on the right lung but they saw the same thing in the January CT scan and attributed it at that time to treatment. She gets another CT scan on July 14th. That's all I know at this time.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

The last CT scan showed no change in the size or shape of the tumor but two small white areas which the Oncologist thinks are evidence of a lung infection on that side. She was put on 2 weeks worth of antibiotics and will see the Oncologist for follow-up on August 3rd.

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