BlueWolf6457
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Posts posted by BlueWolf6457
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Multiple new dense patchy areas of opacification are noted in the left
upper lung field, potentially malignant, inflammatory, or infectious
related. There, again, is a pleura-based, irregular mass in the right
posterior apex, measuring minimally smaller.That was on the final report of her July 2015 chest CT. I'm not sure what any of this means. She was treated with 2 weeks on a hefty antibiotic and since that treatment has occassional unproductive cough and is short of breath with any exersion. She'll be going back to the cancer center next Tuesday.
The shortness of breath could be caused by whatever is going on with the lungs, her low blood pressure, or dehydration. Any thoughts?
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Thanks Michelle. How are you doing?
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This is what the CT scan results say so I'm not sure if this is such good news. Sorry about the attachment thing but this wouldn't allow me to cut and paste.
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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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Well tomorrow we get the results of Wednesdays chest CT scan. Hopefully the tumor shrank even more.
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Pain appears to be better. Other than checking her blood levels on March 20th, nothing else is planned till her chest CT on April 15th.
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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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The pain was out of the blue and she now claims its gone. Seeing her Oncologist tomorrow so we will see what happens.
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She uses pain patches and pain pills for her arthritis.
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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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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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Yeah a break would be nice. Hopefully tomorrow we can just stay at home and not have to go anywhere. But I have a feeling that the better part of Friday night will be spent at the hospital getting yet another two units of blood.
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My goodness, now they think she either has a GI bleed or a blood disorder. Monday she goes for an endoscopy and if that comes back normal she sees the oncologist for a blood study. Meanwhile she may need another unit or two of blood on Friday. This nightmare never ends.
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She's back at the hospital for 2 more units of blood after less than 24 hours of being home, they knew about this need for more blood before the let her go home but sent her home yesterday anyway. They finally started her on a shot that is supposed to bring her counts up and she goes back tomorrow and Thurs to get more shots. Then they are going to check her counts again next tuesday. They talked about having the VNA come in to give her daily fluids. I dont know how much more of this she can take.
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Well my sister is back in the hospital again as of Saturday night. Her magnesium level was so low that she started having severe and uncontrolable muscle spasms as well as being physically ill. When she was hospitalized earlier in the week it was due to low platelets. All side effects from the chemo therapy I am told. I am also told that when a person has this many side effects it means the chemo/radiation is working. Is this true or am I being lied to? She'll be lucky if shes home in time for Christmas. This is so very frustrating.
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Well my sister is in the hospital for probably at least 48 hours. She had low platelets and blood counts plus she is severely dehydrated. All an effect of the chemo they say. They also say that if its this hard on her there's a good chance its kicking the cancers *ss too. She's in under observation status tonight awaiting blood platelets to be delivered and it might turn into an admission tomorrow. The way they do things is just scary but I hope she can come home in a couple of days feeling much better.
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Well today I learned that the chemo nurses don't know squat. The Oncologist says she had the two rounds of chemo he wanted her to have and she is done with chemo. CT scan on January 7th with results on January 9th. Here's hoping for good scan results.
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I guess she will be getting chemo every three weeks for the forseeable future. I will know more next Friday when she sees the Oncologist. She finishes this round of chemo and her radiation on Monday. The Ritalin does wake her up for brief periods and they finally found a combination of anti nausea meds that seems to help so she can at least eat a decent supper but when she runs down she not only quickly falls asleep sitting up but also complains she is nauseated. I think they plan to continue this same type of chemo too. I don't know if or when she will have a scan to see if all this has actually helped her. I wish we at least knew that much.
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Day two and the Zombie like chemo fog is back. The Ritalin still works but only for a couple of hours. She's very nauseated again. Nothing they have tried so far seems to work well for her. We know that part of the problem is that, since her gastric bypass surgery, her stomach is smaller and her gastrointestinal system is "rewired". And although she drank a bit more today than she did on day two of her first round of chemo treatments, she will need fluids and probably at least 2 to 4 units of blood again after this is over and she only ate a banana for breakfast and a small cup of chicken noodle soup all day today. Also she was dehydrated so they gave her extra fluids yesterday but only a small amount today and she was still "slightly anemic" as of yesterdays labs as well. I'm also trying to deal with the insurance company and the Ritalin to make sure she has enough to last her for awhile. Doc wanted her to take 3 a day but somehow the script said take one pill only twice daily. The week of Thanksgiving the Ritalin seemed to work for about 6 hours per pill so two a day was fine...not true now.
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Tomorrow she starts the second round (6 days) of chemo. Hopefully the Ritalin will continue to work for her.
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Well here's the story. First for anyone with severe chemo brain the drug Ritalin worked for my sister like a charm. One dose and in 10 minutes she was completely alert and remained so for nearly 6 hours. Its a miracle!
Secondly, the Oncologist is giving my sister the week off (at least of Chemo) to give the drug time to really wake her up and for her to get rid of her case of thrush. At least we can spend the Thanksgiving holiday at home and not at the local hospital.
She and I both need the rest. I am mentally and physically exhausted chasing after her making sure she didn't absentmindedly set the house on fire or anything for an entire month and didn't sleep too well.
As for her not getting surgery, if they feel the surgery would kill her then I certainly don't want that. If chemo and rads can buy her three more years, I'll take it.
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They did radiation and chemo on your wife for three years? WOW!
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Today she had a blood transfusion after a meeting with her Radiation Oncologist who informed us that the surgeon doesn't want to operate on her because he is not sure she would survive the surgery. Instead they will do more radiation and chemo. Yikes! I don't know what to think of this new development and what will they do to reach their goal of a "cure" if there is no surgery?
Being my sisters keeper
in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER
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I'm nervous but otherwise okay CindyA. The lung "specialist" doesn't know what it is either. He said it could be a fungal infection which they did a blood test for today. It could be blood clots in the lung (which shes first getting tested for on Monday because there is a "special test" they do to look for blood clots that wouldn't be seen in the two CT scans shes had in the last month), or it could be cancer which is the first thing her Oncologist ruled out. So....