[I "give" I can't do this anymore]

Shordy,

I agree with what everyone has said from the view as either a cancer patient or family member. Let me also add some insight as a health care member who has work with some very sick patients. A lot of the time our patients are very angry, it is hard to care for them, but we understand that it is the circumstances and the medications that cause this reaction, so we try our hardest not to take it personally and to do our best for the patients, and to be patient. Most of the times we are rewarded, and the patient finally decides to turn all the energy previously used in anger, into fight. I hope this will happen with your Dad. Give him a little time, and if you need space that is fine, but keep supporting him. He needs it, even if he pretends not to want it. You may want to talk to social work yourself, or someone else for support.

Take care Shordy, you will be in my thoughts and prayers,

Faylene[/b]

[Discouraged by statistics]

Hi Kathy,

In regards to the anti-nausea drugs, you may want to ask your oncologist about adding Decadron(?sp) aka Dexamethesone. My mom had no nausea when this was added.

Have a great day,

Faylene

[Results of appointments]

Hey Connie,

East St. Paul is actually a little town just outside of the Winnipeg, Manitoba where both my parents and my family reside (about 5 min from each other). There is a St. Paul in Minn. as well right?

Faylene

[Results of appointments]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your prayers and well wishing.

Mom was feeling much better today. Isn't that always the way, when you finally get to see your doctor, you are feeling better!! Oh well, the lab work came back fine, and they don't really know what to attribute her symptoms to. She had a CXR done, and they will get a head CT done just for piece of mind. She has a chest and upper abd. scan booked for the end of this month. No results from the bone scan yet, should get those next week. In any case, she had a good night, no night wakenings with nausea and sweats. Just another one of those unexplainable experiences!!

Thanks again for all your support and prayers, you guys are great

Faylene

[appointments]

Hi Guys,

Well mom has a bone scan today. She also has appointments with her family physician and radiation oncologist tomorrow to try and sort out why she wakes with nausea, clamminess and headaches, but seems better later in the day. Wish us luck and say some prayers.

Thanks,

Faylene

[Need your help]

Karma,

My mom saw her family physician on thurs. and I talked to the Oncologist on call, on Sat. He said to continue with the antinausea meds and tylenol for headache.

She is a little better today, just feeling fuzzy. The funny thing is that this same type of situation occurred about 4 weeks ago. After about 5 or 6 days she was better. Hope this isn't going to occur every month.

Faylene

[Need your help]

Thanks for the prayers Rosanne. We sure can use them.

Faylene

[Need your help]

Thanks for the reply Don. I don't think she is dehydrated, prior to Wed, she was eating and drinking fine. She still is getting quite a bit in fluids, and I did the "pinch the skin" test and it doesn't show dehydration! Wish it was that simple!

Faylene

[Need your help]

Well, mom is sick again. She finished chemo/rad in Dec. Now she wakes up at 3 in the morning, sweaty and clammy. She is nauseated and dizzy. By evening she is able to sit up and have soup, but she is still fuzzy and tired. She has been like this since wed. Saw her physician on Thurs and had blood work done. Haven't heard anything on that. Not sure what it might be. Any ideas?

Thanks,

faylene

[Taxol/radiation]

Hi Minnie,

My mom had Carboplatin with Taxol once a week, with daily (5xper week) radiation. So far she hasn't has radiation pneumonitis, but she has only been off treatment for two and a half months. Usually it occurs 3-6 months after treatment.

Hope that helps,

Faylene

[Any good doctors in Arizona?]

Caroline,

Hi, I asked the same question when my parents were down in Arizona. Susan C. one of the members responded with a name of a good oncologist. If you go to the posts under general and look for the thread named Message for Susan C you will see her posts.

Faylene

[Surgery Tomorrow]

Kristen,

Add my prayers to the list. Good luck to your dad tomorrow.

Faylene

[Surgery Tomorrow]

Kristen,

Add my prayers to the list. Good luck to your dad tomorrow.

Faylene

[supplements]

Here is a great site to use as a reference for supplements.

http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/i ... HS,00.html

Lots of good info.

Faylene

[Check out this article]

Connie,

That is great news from the U. S. Unfortunately, in Canada where we are, LC hasn't attained that status yet. Hope we follow suit soon!

Fay

[mom is in the hospital again....]

Hi Karma,

My mom had 5 chemo treatments (1per week for 5 weeks). She had Carboplatin and Taxol, and her hair never fell out. Prior to starting treatment we went wig shopping and she got a cute short haircut so if it did come out it wouldn't be in long clumps, but it never did!

Fay

[anyone had this occure?]

After two days on the antibiotics, my mom thought she was maybe feeling a bit better. Last night she began having severe pain in the shoulder and back. My dad took her into emerg, and they did a cardiac work up on her, but that wasn't the problem. EKG, and labs came back fine, and nitro didn't help. They gave her morphine 5mgx2 which seemed to help. CXR didn't show anything. She went home with the pain killers. The ER doc. wasn't quite sure what it could be. Maybe from the radiation? Maybe from laying on a not too good mattress for too long. Bone mets weren't mentioned to my dad, but I'm praying that it isn't that. It sure is hard being so far away. My dad is going to try and talk her into coming home (to Canada). Please keep us in your prayers.

Thanks,

fay

[I happened upon this site]

Some of you may have visited it already. It is dedicated to Lung cancer awareness. There are some stories of hope from three female LC survivors and it has celebrity promoting awareness. I wasn't able to view some of the promos due to the age of my computer. It did look interesting though.

http://www.lungcancer.org/

[anyone had this occure?]

The doctor seemed to think it might be pneumonia. They did a CXR, but the doc wants me to send her last film down for comparison, I guess he found it difficult to read. He has put her on a couple meds. Hopefully there will be improvement in the next few days. I can relate to how those of you that are far from your loved ones feel, it is much harder to be involved by distance.

Best wishes to all,

fay

[anyone had this occure?]

My Mom is almost 8 weeks post chemo/radiation. Her next CT is in about 8 weeks. My parents went down to Arizona for a while. On Weds, after eating out, she started feeling yucky. Thought she had ate too much. She had night sweats and just felt bad. The next two days was much the same. She is clammy, her esophagus is bothering her again when she swallows pills. (She had radiation esophagitis which seemed to be better) and she has a heavy feeling on her chest (not sharp pain), the same side as tumor. No fever though. No difficulty in breathing. My dad is taking her to see a doc down there this afternoon. I'm hoping it is just a flu bug or from something she ate, but she is not feeling nauseated, just sweaty.

Any one have any ideas?

[Nausea]

Hi Laurie,

Zofran and Kytril are the same class of drugs, but never- the-less, maybe she will have better results with Kytril. What really helps though is adding the dexamethesone. Like you suggested, a stay in the hospital may help as well. They will be able to give her the drugs via IV and help her catch up on her fluids. We had to take my mom in one day, because the nausea and vomitting was so bad the pills weren't staying down, but they were able to get it under control after about 5 hours. My mom is now vacationing for two months until her next CT scan. We are praying for good results. Hoping the same for you guys,

fay

[Surgery, finally!]

Hi Ada,

What great news, I was following your journey on the other board. My mom is stageIIIa also, and was told it was inoperable, so you have given me hope that maybe something can be done after all. She has had a response to both chemo/radiation. We are waiting to see what a repeat CT scan in March will bring.

I wish for you continued healing.

Fay

[Nausea]

Hi,

My mom had a bad spell with nausea as well. At the hospital they gave her various drugs IV to help. She got Kytril, dexamethesone, maxeran and gravol. When she got home she continued with Kytril, dexamethesone and maxeran. Her Oncologist said the nausea may have been due to her elevated liver enzemes. Have they done lab work as well?

Hope you find a solution.

[Check out this article]

It is a brief article, but has valid point. Lung Cancer, unlike breast or prostrate cancer, doesn't have a ribbon or awareness week dedicated to it. Hope that changes soon.

Read it at:

www.pulse24.com/News_Features/Pulse_on_ ... 1/Page.asp

NB where there are spaces, put in underscores, for some reason, when I previewed this post they didn't appear.

[I'll get this one started]

Barbara,

Radiation went well for my mom. It wasn't painful. Sometimes it tired her out a bit, nothing an afternoon nap wouldn't help though. She did have radiation esophagitis though, a side effect of the site they were radiating. And her skin looked a little burned at the site, but they gave her a cream to help the healing. She toughed it out though. Not sure what you can expect for radiation of the arm, hopefully someone out there has been through it and can answer. Good luck.