Linus

I am so sorry for your family's pain. I will be praying for you. Kelli

Oh Lori, I came to this site today looking for a post from you because I was wondering how things were. I wish I did not have to find this post! I am so sorry for your loss. Your Mom was a lucky woman to have a daughter like you. Your love for her showed in each and every post you made. Prayers to you, Kelli

Chrissy, I am so sorry to hear of your mother's diagnosis. The following weeks will be tough as you adjust to this news. Everyone here is so helpful with support and with questions. Prayers are with you, Kelli

Rochelle, I am so sorry to hear this news. My prayers are with you and your family. Kelli

Welthy, I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. Prayers are with them and you. Linus

Just wanted to tell you that I love the picture of you on your avatar. What a beautiful woman you are! Kelli

my mom passed away tonight. I did not make it in time but they say it was peaceful. 2 long years of batteling this disease. She never had chemo except for temador for brain mets. She has not had it easy for the last couple of months so it is a relief that her suffering is over. kelli

My mom also took megace. Both in the liquid form and in pill form. It worked very well for her with no side effects.

Lori, That is exactly what my mother has done this week! On Wednesday, hospice told me she was actively dying. I rushed to be with her and it surely seemed that she was going to pass any minute. She is still hanging on. Even the Hospice Dr. cannot believe it! Best wishes to you and your family. You will all be in my prayers, Kelli

survive with out food or water? My mom has had neither since Tuesday night. Hospice called me Wednesday morning to tell me to hurry on up there. They said she was not going to make it. When I got there she was breathing very poorly at about 2-3 breaths per minute and a half. None of us thought she would pull through. She has! But she has had no food or water since Tuesday. Dr. says she is activelly dying. I do believe this to be true. I just don't understand how she can go on this long with no food or water. I pray that God take her as she is suffering so very much. By the way, the Dr. agrees with OUR diagnosis of superior vena cava syndrome! Her swelling is so very bad right now that her skin is splitting in places, sorry to be so graphic,I just feel so bad for her. Thanks for any answers. Kelli

Does anyone know if this is fatal? painful? I believe my mom has this and she is in hospice right now. There will be no tests or treatment for it. I am wondering if this syndrome can speed up the dying process? I worry that it is painful for her. Her head and neck are huge and also one arm is swelling now. The hospice people only tell me that "we never know" crap. I am sure they have a pretty good guess! I just need for them to give me a general, non sugar coated idea of what vena cava is! Everything with Hospice is syrupy and much too sweet. I like bluntness and facts. Thanks for listening. Thanks for any help Kelli

Ry, After searching on line last night, I think you are right about the vena cava syndrome. They will not do any treatment for it though as she is in hospice. Is vena cava painful? Is it life-threatening? She has all of the symptoms of this that I found on line. Thank you for any answers.

I went to see my Mom today. She has been in a hospice facility since October of last year. She has been pretty out of it for a while now. Today when I went she was so swollen! Her head and neck were huge. I had to look around the room to make sure I was in the right room! She is believed to have brain mets again but we are not 100%. She has been on steroids for the last 2 years with no increase in the dosage. Does anyone have any idea about what could cause such swelling? I am not kidding when I say her head and neck look to be about 2-3 times what they were. Her voice was very deep and raspy today. She also has a cough now. None of this was the case last week. Any ideas will be appreciated. I hate not knowing and understanding what is going on. Hospice tells me it is all of the disease process. Well, duh! of course it is! Thanks for any help or ideas. Kelli

I just read that article yesterday. I always wonder why it is that the type of lung cancer is not mentioned. Small cell. Large cell, etc... just curious about that. anyway, a great read it is.

I am so very sorry for your pain. My prayers are with you.

Andrea, Just wanted to say that I hope all is going well with your invitro. Thank you again for resetting my password! Can't wait to get the cookbook! Have a great day, Linus

Oh,god Lisa. My heart is just breaking right now for you. I am so very sorry that you are in so much pain. I will pray that you may find some kind of comfort.

My Mother's Dr. abandoned her too. He was a much-trusted oncologist/hemotoligist that used to be my own dr. When he told my Mother to contact hospice, he was only looking at me as if she already did not exsist. He then turned to ME and hugged me. He never even gave my mom a hug! I mean, jeeze, SHE was the one facing eternity not me! I just wish he would have realized that my mom needed the hug much more than I did.

Eni, Just wanted you to know that I am going through the same thing with my mom. The drs. have had her on steroids for a while now and that helped. Recently she has become very confused and agitated just like you are describing. Her Dr. prescribed Haldol for her yesterday. Today is the first time she has had a good day in about 2-3 weeks! You may want to ask about that drug. (Just FYI)

Lori, Best of luck to you. You will do fine at the appeal. Your Mother is very lucky to have you there fighting for her! Linus

Tann I am so sorry to hear that you are not doing well. Hospice should have no problem getting the pain under control. In prayers, Linus

Does anyone know if broken blood vessels in the eye could signal the return of brain mets? Hopefully, I am just being paranoid. My mother woke up on Sunday with a very bloodshot eye and does not remember being bumped there or scratching there. She did go and see her Md. and he said that broken vessles are no big deal. I am worried as she has done a couple of unusual things in the past few weeks and those behaviors have made me wonder if something is not right. Thanks for your help!

My mother's tumor was biopsied when they did the crainiotomy. That is when she was DX with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer. The dr. explained to me that the cells in the brain tumor were lung cancer cells. It is just so hard for me to understand that a cell can just hang out for 10 years and then grow into a tumor!

I was browsing through the ask the experts forum and am wondering if I understand this right: If lung cancer does not come back for over 10 years, and then reacurrs, then it is considered a NEW primary? My mom had lung cancer 10 years ago and it came back last summer. She only had a brain met and no primary was found yet. Her dr. said that no tumors are found in her lungs right now because it may be that 10 years ago a cell travelled from her lung and just recently went to her brain. He made it sound like it is possible that this brain met was leftover from 10 years ago. I hope I am making sence here. Upon reading the ask the experts forum, I came upon a post that talked about how Dr.s consider a cancer cured after 5 years and that usually, if it comes back, it is a new cancer. If I am understanding this right, I am thinking that because my mom had a brain tumor, that there MUST be cancer somewhere in her lungs but it is just undetected as of yet. Sorry for such a long post. Any comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Linus

Well, thank you to all who advised me on getting my mother back in for new scans since her bought with stage 4, 7 months ago. The scans all came back negative. The Dr. has not really said anything to us about her being "cured" or in remission. What usually qualifies a remission? The primary tumor was never found. She had a brain tumor and was treated with WBR and Temodar as chemo for brain tumors. Thanks to all of you and may you also be found in good health!