jessicahsmom

Rochelle they did give her something for that and the nurse even told her to use her ativan before she goes to bed but, what ever is in her stomach is really bothering her. I am just curious if this is just part of the mass that is breaking up from chemo and radiation or should we be calling the doctor? She has also been coughing it up what ever it is, just like when she had the bronchoscope done. That's why I am thinking it is part of the mass. I just don't know how to get her pass it, especially if this is what it is going to be like for the next 3 months....Thanks for your help. Jessica

Hi everyone it is me again...My mom had her second chemo treatment this week and started her radiation treatments. She was a little sicker this time than last time and complained of stuff in her stomach that made her really sick to her stomach. She did get sick a few times and said it was like mucus. I am wondering if this is the mass it's self breaking up? If so any ideas on how to make her feel better. She has had this for 4 days now and I can barely get her to eat or drink. I once again would appreciate and help you can give. Thanks again Jessica

Hi everyone, I just have one quick question? I finally talked my mom into cutting her hair short and shaving it all off. Problem is her hair is growing back and she is wondering if she needed to keep shaving the stubble or let it grow? Her scalp is feeling better without hair but, will it get sore as new hair comes in? Thanks for any help you give me..Jessica

HI everyone, I just got off the phone with my mom and she said that her hair is starting to fall out. She did want me to ask about her scalp being really sore and sensitive. Nothing we have read mentions a sore scalp. I would appreciate any feedback..thanks Jessica

Hi everyone, do you guys ever wake up and know it is going to be a bad day and you should just stay in bed and not answer the phone... Well yesterday was one of those days. This is kinda long but, this seems to be how my typical days are here in the real world... It started out with me having to go and pick up my step son from his mom. He has epilepsy and is special needs and he is on a growth spurt which is causing a lot of seizures and very bad behavior. He was being very naughty at his moms and she needed to go over to her boyfriends parents house, his dad is dying of cancer and hospice was going to be there sometime yesterday afternoon. It seems they have a lot of cats and these cats have s**t and P****d all over the house and they wanted to clean it up and mask the smell before hospice came. So when I got home from picking him up he was very naughty and my mom called and said the doctors office called and said her blood count was really low and they had to quarantine her. The normal range should be around 10 and hers was 2.5. So for the next couple of hours I tried to deal with my step son but, had no luck. After 2 phone calls to his dad, dad decided to come home early and deal with him. While he was on his way home his ex wife called and said she tripped and fell and might have broken her ankle. So my husband dropped my daughter and me off there so I could bring her to the hospital. So we are almost ready to leave the hospital and the nurse brought in the crutches. Being new they were very stiff and the nurse asked my daughter to help. Well with these crutches they had 2 little buttons to push in so you could either pull the end out to make it longer or push the end in to make it shorter. Well none of us were strong enough to push the buttons down with one hand and pull or push the other end. So I helped my daughter she pushed the buttons and I went to push the end down well, needless to say that damn thing went all the way down. When my daughter was pushing the buttons down, her ring finger had some skin that had poked through the hole, it got ripped right off. It didn't seem to bad at first but, then it started bleeding very bad. Like someone had cut open and artery. It bled and bled and the nurse wrapped it up several times and tried to put pressure on it but, my daughter just screamed hysterically that it burned. She started to hyperventilate. The nurse took us out to the doctor and when he look at it said yep we need to take care of it and asked about a tetnus shot. Being 12 she was due for one. She screamed again bloody murder and refused to get the shot. This whole time while she hysterical and hyperventilating she is being such a drama queen and the things that came out of her mouth had us and every one in the ER rolling laughing. While she was crying/laughing we were all laughing/crying. She was absolutely hilarious last night. Everyone had to stop in our room when they walked by and every single person walked out laughing. So the nurse comes in to put something on it to numb it and when she pulled the gauze off it stuck and my daughters finger and it just about killed her. When the doctor came in and tried to look at it, same thing. Finally they got her wrapped up and the other nurse came in to give her the shot and she went ballistic and told them nope she ain't getting a shot. Finally the nurse copped a deal with her that if she got the shot in the leg she could ride out in a wheel chair. That worked until she give her the shot and we had to hold her down and cover her eyes. Once she was done with the shot she was fine. Just as we are getting ready to leave my husband showed up, worried since we were there for 3 1/2 hours. Again she started crying and hyperventilating telling him that we did nothing but, laugh at her. So our trip to the ER went like this: We show up at 6:00pm with one person in a wheel chair and leave 3 1/2 hours later with two people in a wheel chair. Here is a helpful hint please don't carpool to the ER. That only means someone else will get hurt. My daughter has to be the only one that gets hurt in the ER...right? Jess

I heard yesterday from someone who used to work in a doctors office say that house plants should be removed from the house or put into a room that my mom doesn't go into. How abour a Hepa filter...I want to do everything I can to keep her safe. Especially when I will be the only one around for a while. Thanks again for all the great advice once again. Jess

Hi everyone its me again. I do have a question and I know someone on here can help (I hope)... My mom's doctor called today and her blood count is down to 2.5 and I guess the usual is around 10. She has to go in Thursday for more blood work and they said if it is still low they will have to give her shots. I am not sure what the shots are but, my question is with radiation starting next week and she is supposed to be home bound will she have to wear a mask and gloves? I know it sounds silly but, I really don't want her to get sick. They told her she cannot come into any contact with anyone but, I have kids who are constantly sick and I am the one taking her to all of her appointments, what can I do to safeguard myself to keep her from getting sick? I know to wash my hands and use Lysol and Clorox but, do you guys have any helpful tips that may help? Thanks again Jessica

Well we had a very good day today. We met with the radiation oncologist this morning and mom's MRI of her brain came back normal. So they staged her cancer limited small cell. We go back Monday for the 3D scan so the 24th she can start her radiation treatments. That will be 5 days a week for 6 weeks and she will go in for chemo every 3rd Tuesday for 6 courses. My mom broke down and cried at the doctors office when we got the results from her MRI, and survival numbers. We are planning a 2 1/2 week vacation in June to go out west to the Grand Canyon and into California and she is looking forward to going. She would like to see the Grand Canyon and the ocean before she dies. The doctor was willing to work with us on her radiation to make sure she is finished so she can go with us. She thought that would be a good idea to have something for her to look forward to. A big weight has been lifted and I think we will all get a good nights sleep tonight...Jess

Thanks for your prayers and I send my prayers to you and your family also. She started chemo Tuesday so we are feeling better knowing they aren't wasting anymore time....Jess

Randy thanks for the info. They did tell us what to look for and gave us a booklet to read. He did call in some nausea medicine and another to flush her kidneys out. My daughter has stayed with her the last few days and is taking care of her, playing nurse. Her doctor is involved with a few different things concerning chemo. He personally called her yesterday morning to see how she was feeling and again told her what to keep an eye out for. I do have all of her records and medical bills as they come in and I am in the process of putting it together for my brother and sister to keep at their houses...I will be asking I am sure a lot of questions here in the few weeks...thanks again Jessica

Cindy, the doctor is involved in a lot of clinical trials and he said mom's type of cancer and location this will work the fastest. He called her yesterday morning and asked how she slept and if her breathing was any better, she said that was the first night in a month that she didn't wake up coughing all night. He seemed to think the chemo was kicking in and killing the cancer cells and called in a prescription to start flushing her kidneys out. She seemed a lot better yesterday, not so short of breath, or coughing all the time....We will see how her blood work comes back next week to see if there are any changes. Thanks for the imput, we did ask and he was pretty adament about it....Jess

Hello everyone, I now know why I feel so confident in my mom's doctor. They called her Friday after she got the results of the lung biopsy and made an appt. for her to go in yesterday to see the doctor. She was hell bent to go by herself but, I told her I needed to be there to hear what he had to say and I had some questions for him. We were under the impression that we were going to discuss treatment options being, we don't meet with the radiation oncologist until next week. The nurse brings us in and ask my mom about prescription drug coverage and said the doctor will be in shortly and then they are going to move her into the other room. This baffled us, so the doctor came in and again asked about her drug insurance and said he is going to start her on two chemo med's and they are very expensive. He answered our questions and led us to another room. They started mom on VP 16 (Etoposide) and said they can get the Paraplatin in pill form but, we won't be able to get it for a day or two. So our 20 minute visit with the doctor turned into a 3 1/2 hour visit. Mom did good and they did give her something for nausea in her IV before giving her the VP 16. They called in a prescription for her also. I was so unprepared for this my daughter and I had planned on taking a CPR class at the hospital from 6-10 pm for her 4-H camp counselor program. So we didn't get out of the doctors office until 5:30pm, I had to have my husband find a ride home from work because his truck was in the shop and I actually had to call and have someone come and get me during moms chemo to go pick it up, drop it off at home, and bring me back to the doctors office. I had to have him come and get her and take her to the pharmacy to get her med's, sit with her because we were unsure how she was going to be feeling. I then had to run home get her car and go to her house. My daughter stayed the night with her just to make sure she was ok. Her chemo schedule is every 3 weeks for 6 courses of the VP 16 and every chemo treatment she will take 8 Paraplatin for 2 days. The doctor didn't want to wait any longer for treatment or for radiation to start. He did tell us the mass is wrapped around her pulmonary artery and wanted to treat it as soon as possible. So our battle has started and we are praying it works. Does anyone out there have any experience with these med's and have any feed back on them. I would greatly appreciate it...thanks Jessica

Thank you everyone. I think my mom is starting to have faith. I bought her some cancer prayer cards last week for her birthday. When she read some of them she cried. Well yesterday we went and stayed with her a for a while and took her out to dinner and she showed me her card for the day. Keep in mind she forget to get one out for Thursday. It talked about doctors giving percentages on survival rates and said what ever they said it was, with god's love it was going to be 70%. That just totally flipped her out. She is not a religous person but, I honestly think she is getting closer and closer every day to being one. She had a 1 in 30 chance to pick that card for the same day she got her results and asked what the survival rate was. The doctor is very concerned with it already having spread to her brain. That does scare me. I did relook at her chest xrays and I can now tell where the mass is and how far up it goes and I think where it is coming through to the airways. We meet with her oncologist Tuesday, go in for a MRI on her brain Thursday, and the 13th we meet with the radiation oncologist. She has already had her oncologist look at everything, the pulmonary doctor look at everything, the radiologist and now the radiation oncologist. I know we should get a second opinion but, with all of these different doctors should we be ok. Her oncolgoist is involved a lot with the clinical trials and even has been in the local paper for his research. I do feel very comfortable with him he is the grandpa type doctor like you would swear was from the little house on the prairie....I really think she has a good team out there and I know of someone who has used him for cancer care. Everyone we talk to has nothing but, nice things to say and as much as he has done to move this process as fast as he has, I would like to think we can trust him....with her life. I already have gotten everything organized. I have one binder full of the types of cancer and treatments, one for nutrition and skin care for radiation and chemo, and one for appts, medical records, insurance, questions to ask, doctor info....I hope I am not forgetting anything. I am going to make these up for my brother and sister also to keep at their house incase mom will be there and one for mom's house. I feel if we have a central station set up at her house, who ever is with her will know exactly what needs to be done. When it comes to research and organization I am there. Thanks again for all of your help and I will be asking some new questions once we have an idea on treatment. I will try to get the pathology report in hopes someone can help me with it...Jessica

We just got the phone call with the results. It is small cell and the doctor wants to do a brain scan. They are setting up the radiation and chemo. The doctor is saying my mom's life expectancy is 1-2 years with a 5% chance it may be longer. She put her on steroids and something for her vocal chords. My mom is pretty upset with the 1-2 year thing. I did tell her that depends on so many factors, that it is hard to say. She is healthy and hasn't lost any weight yet. I will keep you updated...Jessica

Hello everyone, my mom finally got her lung biopsy yesterday. They were able to get 4 biopsies from her airways. The couldn't really get down to the mass, seems part of the mass has pushed through the the lung and out in her airways. After her breathing test Tuesday the doctor said she would not be a candidate for surgery. The mass is in both lobes of her right lung and would require full removal of the lung. The doctor was also concerned with her vocal chords being swollen, she is thinking it might be from all of moms coughing. Her left lung looked clear and she said that was very good. I have to call her Monday afternoon for the results of the biopsy. She will then have mom go in for a PET scan. We are praying that the cancer has originated from the lung and no where else and the PET scan comes back ok. I will keep you updated and thanks for all the help. Jessica