Lady Salt

For some reason his doctors have not seen appropriate to give him IVs. We have the appointment with his oncologist on tuesday to review the results of his last CT scan (keeping fingers crossed) and I will definitely throw a fit if she does not do something about the weight issue. I think IV are going to be the way to go. He insists that the pain does not let him eat. Thank you for your suggestion! And thank you Jen for giving me no small amount of peace with your comment. Sometimes I dont know if I am making a big deal out of nothing or if I truly need to worry about what is going on.

Hi Nova, When nausea became a problem for David, his doctor prescribed Haloperidol in a very low dose. When he needed something stronger, he was prescribed something called "PMS-Methotrimeprazine 5mg". He is taking half a pill of this 30 min before breakfast and the other half 30 min before dinner time. It has helped a lot with the nausea and the vomiting. Unfortunately it hasn't done much for his apetite. We tried ol' good gravol, half a pill 20 min or so before eating and for a while that did the trick. I hope it gets better

Thank you all for your advice. I truly appreciate it as the pain seems to be escalating in intensity for some reason. David is taking 3 senokot and 3 coolace morning AND night. I still need to give him enemas more often than not to get him to have a bowel movement. I will try all the tricks you are suggesting, anything that will help! I wrote down the names of the medications and will ask the doctor. Our last call to let the doctor know about the increased level of pain caused an increase of the same medication he was taking before which brought up other issues I mention in another post. Getting pretty desperate. Thank you all again, you have no idea how much I appreciate this!

David's pain continues to increase, his weight continues to go down. He is 5 feet 8 and his weight tonight was 50,4 kg. We contacted the pain doctor on the 1st because the pain was too much to handle, and he doubled up the dose of his medication with no apparent benefit more than a week later. His hemoglobin was 78 last week, he looks so pale, so skinny, so forlorn. He is fading away and all I can do is watch... I try cooking high calorie recipes that end up in the garbage can uneaten, make smoothies that go bad in the fridge... I want him to be home, I dont want him at a hospital, but the increased medication is doing funny things to his mind, and he is more and more often talking totally out of context. I am not sure if it is because he is too weak or because of the pills that make him dizzy, but he keeps falling down. He already split his lip open in one occasion and today he hit his head when he fell.. we live in a two storey house and I have to go to work every day. I spend the day terrified something is going to happen to him and I am not going to be there for him. My mom is living with us but she is almost 80 years old and does not speak english... I don't know what to do. Has anyone gone through something like this? Is there hope? Does the pain go away? Can I do anything for him other than cry like a baby after he goes to bed? Please tell me what do do.. he is my whole love, my half soul and my three quarters everything else... Please help me

I am glad you are home and surgery went well. Have you thought of joining a support group at the hospital where you are being treated? A group like that and this site could offer you tons of support and comfort. Please keep us informed!

Thanks for the info. Will start the whole family on it starting tomorrow.

Welcome Twinmom I am very glad you are surrounded by supportive people, and you have powerful twin reasons to keep you motivated and encouraged. This place will keep you informed, you will find people who will offer comfort, understanding, advise and who will share their knowledge and their experiences with you. I will keep you in my prayers. Please keep us informed!

Clean lymph nodes is great news! My prayers that everything will continue up the hill for you and your mom.

My heart goes out to you. As a caregiver to my husband I can relate so well... the permanent feeling of helplessness, of not being able to do anything more than holding a hand (not even hugging because it causes too much pain). My prayers are for you and for your family. Just keep faith and stay positive.

Hi and welcome!

Wonderful news!! Congratulations to you both!!!

Hi Aubree, I am very sorry to hear what you are going through. Sometimes I believe that in some emotional way it is much harder to hear this kind of diagnosis for the people that love the patient than for the patient him/herself. Trust me when I say that the best thing to offer is your ear. Call and ask questions and let him talk. He may go on forever about little things, he may not talk until you probe, and ask. You dont need any kind of degree to do that, in fact, having too much information and knowing too much may cause you to do most of the talking, give too much advise and listen too little. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't get information. By all means, learn all you can. Express your love often. In many occassions that will be enough. I know it is hard but be strong, optimistic and positive. Please keep us posted!

Hubby is being treated in North York General Hospital for his chemo and in Sunnybrook for the radiation. We live downtown, so it is a bit of a ride to get to them, but totally worthy. The team of doctors that took his case are just amazing. Thank you all for your welcome and good wishes!!

Hi Yirol, Not sure about the tingling in your dad's case.. my husband had tingling, along with pain, when his tumor was pressing against nerves in his back. As Wendyr says, smoothies and shakes are easy to swallow and easy to keep down. Skandyshake (600 calories per glass.. you can buy them at almost any hospital drugstore) is just about the only thing keeping hubby out of intensive care due to his weight loss. I mix skandyshake with icecream and he can actually keep it down. I hope you get answers soon.

Awesome news! So happy for you, and your mom, and the rest of your family!

My husband was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 19 2006. It all started with a very strong shoulder pain and night sweats. An X-Ray showed a mass located in the apex of his upper right lung. Our family doctor sent him to a respirologist, who performed just about every test known to man on him: CT/PET scan, MRI, Ultrasound, lung biopsy, bone marrow biopsy, bone biopsy, bronchoscopy, lymph node biopsy, mediastinoscopy… they were the 2 most nerve wrecking weeks of our lives. The diagnosis was Adenocarcinoma of the lung. At the beginning the prognosis didn't look too promising (the mass was 4 - 5 cm in diameter), however, when he initial scans / biopsies showed no mets and no compromise of lymph nodes, the prognosis all of a sudden started to look a lot better. The tumor was latched to a rib and was pressing on the main nerve nodes of the back (which was producing the pain), so surgery was not an option at the time. The doctors decided on an extremely aggressive radiation/chemotherapy treatment (25 days of radiation while receiving both CisPlatin and VP16). It worked… the tumor shrunk to the size of a blueberry and the doctors were able to remove it along with the upper lobe of his right lung. The surgery was the 22nd of January of this year. All the lymph nodes extracted during the surgery were clean (thank God!) and the first CT scan was NED. The surgeon warned that during the surgery he had had to go through the nerve nodes that were closest to the tumor and that we should expect David to be in pain while the damaged nerves healed. The healing process could take anything from weeks to years. We also learned the name of his type of tumor: “Pancostal” (not sure what that means) The last months have been spent dealing with the unbearable pain that was left after the surgery along with 8 more sessions of chemo (CisPlatin and Navelbine together every Wednesday). Chemo is over now and last week he had the second CT scan. We will go this week to learn the results of the same (cross fingers!!!). The pain is still there, and doesn't seem to diminish one bit despite the fact that he is taking Oxycontin 20 mg (2 pills 3 times a day), along with Apo-Gabapentin 300mg also 3 times a day. His breakthrough pill is Oxy-Ir 10mg, and he is taking 1 to 2 pills almost every hour. On top of that, he is also taking Apo-Nortriptyline 30 mg before going to bed. And he is still in pain!!! The pills give him constipation and the combination of so many drugs and the pain has just about absolutely destroyed his appetite. His weight tonight was 51.1 kg (he is 5 feet and he is been steadily loosing more and more since he was diagnosed (at the time he was weighing his usual 78 – 80 kg). His skin looks pasty, so pale and sunken… I am so worried about him! I was wondering if anyone has gone through the same thing... if there is hope to be had... if there is anything he can do to relieve the pain. It is not only his weight he is loosing... every pound he looses takes away his self-confidence, his spirit, his optimism. We will see the pain specialist again next week, and hopefully he can suggest something... in the meantime we hope, and pray, and hope some more that one day the pain will be less, and less, until it goes away completely. Until then I will visit this place often, and I will try to give and take comfort here. A peaceful place where there is always hope to be shared thanks to all of you.

Hi everybody! I count myself lucky I came across this website while trying to find answers/comfort/hope in the internet. Didn't find any of the above until I came across you. What I have read in here is absolutely amazing and beyond anything I had hoped to find. My husband was diagnosed with lung cancer last year in September. He was complaining of shoulder pain (having it treated by a chiropractor) until I sent him to my family doctor and the X-Ray showed a mass located in the apex of his upper right lung. Long story short: a CT scan and a lung biopsy later determined a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the lung. At the beginning the prognosis didn't look too promising (the mass was 4 - 5 cm in diameter), but after an extremely aggressive radiation/chemotherapy treatment (together, 25 days of radiation while receiving both CisPlatin and VP16) the tumor shrunk to the size of a blueberry and the doctors were able to remove it along with the upper lobe of his right lung. The surgery was the 22nd of January. I love him so much! I am so very, incredibly, absolutely scared. And he needs me to be strong, confident, calm, supportive...I guess I just wanted to find a place where I can be weak, and cry, and get a hug or 2. And I am certain I found it.... I am happy to be here!