barbara1168

I have six Plurex effusion kits that cost $214 each. I would like to give them to someone who can use them. I am in NJ.

Thank you for your reply. I contacted all that you suggested before posting here. There is nothing in this state to help people. It is a disgrace.

Hi, I am from NJ and would like to donate unused plural effusion kits, diabetic needles, unused perscriptions etc. I can not find any place that will take them - this is crazy with so many people in need. Each of the plural effusion kits cost $241. I was told the American Cancer would take them, but I called twice and no one answers the phone - thats not a very helpful organization! Please let me know if anyone has any ideas.

Has anyone out there been swimming while they had a plural effusion drain in them? Would be interested in any suggestions for keeping it dry. thanks

Thank you for the feedback. My husband did not have surgery because his heart has been in A-fib and he was due for another ablation when they found the cancer. Dr Friedberg did not think my husband could take the surgery. I wish we had seeked another opinion. As far as not dwelling on whether they screwed up or not: The ONLY reason I am asking this is because we DID trust them, we loved the radiation oncologist who did order a CT scan and it did not show anything. He has made himself available to us 24/7. Unless someone can tell me otherwise, it seems that "early detection" is just a myth, my husband new something else was wrong, he suffered for a year not getting any better, but the drs had to wait until it got bad enough for the pet scan to pick up.

I am very sorry that I did not express myself clearly. I am in no way blaming or accusing anyone of hiding anything or not being truthful. I have just found it difficult to find track records of doctors so I am asking people to remember to include this information. My husband has been treated by The University of Pennsylvannia over this past year. We are wondering if we should go to MD Anderson in Houston or Mass General or Sloan Kettering. We live in NJ about 40 mins from Philadelphia.

It is time to start counting the good doctors and hospitals based on positive results from people on this web site. People are always telling their good/bad stories without mention of the doctors and hospitals. I would find it helpful to know where everyone is being treated.

A year ago my husband was diagnosed with stage 2b lung cancer at Penn. Drs said they felt they could cure this because it was early. This is my husband 2nd cancer after having Hodgkin’s back in 1972 and successfully treated at Jefferson. Now at University of Pennsylvannia, the Drs seemed so sure that they could cure this that we didn't even seek other opinions or options; I could kick myself for that now. So after just 7 radiation treatments and what I thought was too short a time on chemo of tax/carb, they sent him home to rest and get better from the treatment. Before we left the medical oncologist office, I said to him “this is it, it can’t be this easy compared to what he went through with Hodgkins”, Dr. said that’s it and we went home with only scheduled follow up the radiation oncologist. My husband got worse rather than better. He continued to loose weight, could not eat, was extremely tired and felt like he still had cancer. They could find nothing to indicate that he still had cancer but would not know for sure until the Pet Scan in March. They were stumped but just kept saying since this is his 2nd bout with cancer, it must take his body longer to heal and it’s probably depression. In the meantime he went to his family internist, his Endocrinologist and Gastro doctors looking for help. They each did their own thing and found nothing significant. By March he was no better and had lost 20lbs so his Endocrinologist, not Penn, finally suggested Medace for appetite. Now it was March so they finally did the PET scan, they told us it did not show improvement but they felt there was inflammation and the next one in three months would show improvement; we went home to wait again. In the meantime he got plural effusion which was not malignant but continues to produce fluid so he must drain it every day. Now June comes, he feels a little better from putting on some weight, but still feels things are not right. The new Pet Scan shows the old area light up went from 4.5 to 7.5 and there is a new light up in the abdomen, they still talk about inflammation, but we said we wanted a biopsy. The biopsy in the abdomen shows cancer metastasized. What happened??? Did they screw up??? Who do we trust going forward? How do we find the best doctor?