cott01

She has an appt tomorrow with a rehab specialist that is going to try to relieve some symptoms. Her ENT said not to expect much - although his dx was a plain ole vestibular hypofunction. It just seems like all of the doctors are like well whatever....its "this" or its "that" like it doesnt matter. Even her surgeon said "well you know its going to come back". It's like jeez - anyways. I just cant help but think that when we got home 1/12/10 - things were awesome....even by Feb she was walking aroudn the table outside without the walker. She was going to the salon....etc with no oxygen. Now - not so much. She is walking with the walker but slowly. She gets nauseated sporatically, the blurry vision is terrible, vertigo, brain fog. Anyway - thanks for "listening"...I can just hope its something simple with an easy fix...right?

Its been a while since I posted. I update the sig line. It's been so busy these passed few months. Mom finally came home 1/12/10 - she was doing good with physical therapy. Got her from a wheel chair to a walker. Seems like we are plateauing though. She began about a month ago - not being to see right - everything is fuzzy. Her gains with rehab have halted. The pain where the tumor was (back) and her center chest where the lymph nodes were (surgeon couldnt even get to them - but they were ned on the last scan) is back almost as bad as before. She is miserable though. She said she hates this and wishes we would have let her go. She is smoking again...but she feels better that way so I guess its ok. She says her skin hurts - like to just touch...feels like a really bad sunburn (any suggestions?) Anyways - we are fighting, one day at a time right. The last scan she was NED which is great....no disease but all the symptoms are still there - not sure if thats a good thing. Right now she is not being treated with anything except for pain meds. Do you guys have any suggestions? Do we go along with this and see what happens?

Well - mom is still here - funky as can be. She ended up with another case of pneumonia (bacterial this time). We held out and decided to give her one last shot. We decided to wean her from the vent slowly. Looks like she is handling her own. She is now on only wall oxygen through her trach (33% oxygen). She coughs a lot. The resp therapist put in her talking trach a couple days ago - she has put it to use for sure! The nurses are calling her their miracle baby. We are working on physical therapy now to get her strength back. Come on Nanna!

My mom is still hanging in there. This past Tuesday - the surgeon said we should basically "pull the plug'. He thinks her shot of coming out of this is "non existent". Tuesday was devastating. The pulmonlogist disagreed and said there is still hope and that it can take a long time. We havent tried to wean her yet so we need to at least give it a shot and not just turn the darn vent off. So far so good. Everything is still in good shape for now. Still praying. Thanks for the warm thoughts and prayers!

Thank you Michelle Mom is still on a ventilator. The pneumonia is cleared up and she has gone from 80 O2 on the vent to 35. Her bloodwork has not changed since we started with this a week ago. If she doesnt come around by Thursday, the doctor is putting a tracheotomy. He is also considering paralyzing her since her breath rate is so high. Yesterday it was 45-55 (should be 15-20). Tonight when we visited it was 28-33. I kissed her and it spiked to 44 so obviously we shouldnt touch her. OMG I already miss her so much I cant believe this is happening. The oncologist said it would be a slow process but geezzzzz....cant she get a break! My mom is such a good person - she doesnt deserve this, neither do my children! This is a nightmare!

Well we had to mom on a ventilator yesterday morning. She is in such a panicked/psychotic state that its best to keep her sedated (she gets violent and hysterical). She looks good - lung are better than yesterday although I just spoke to the ICU nurse and he said they pulled a bit of gunk out this morning but not bad. He thinks she will be there for the next three days he would estimate. He said she looks better than he expected and better than yesterday. My mom is very deceiving though - I thought we had this in the bag - until three days after her surgery, she declined so quickly. Anyway, no change really this morning...still zonked and vented. For me - it seems no light at the end of the tunnel....I dont like not knowing and I am NOT a patient person at all. Plus my mom is my bestfriend and neighbor. Its always been just us girls....hard to imagine life without her.

Please go here - really about the surgery part. I am totally stressed. I need some real people to tell me that my mom can pull through the worst. Thanks.... http://cancergrace.org/forums/index.php?topic=2526.0

She said all of her bones are in pain, she is weak, and hurts everywhere. The onco is out of the office until Monday. Her pain meds arent enough. So instead of a half she is taking a whole Lortab. She is on Ultraset too which the dr said is non narcotic. Is this the chemo? She is on Carboplatin/Taxol once a week for 5 weeks minimum hoping for 6 weeks. She also is taking radiation (general) everyday for the next 7 weeks. I guess the chemo is making her this sick. This is just the first week and its this bad? Is she going to be able to handle this? This is only the first week. Should it be this bad so soon?

Mom did well with her treatment today. Thanks for all of the advice. We stopped and had lunch today on the way home. It was a lot for her though - she is already home sleeping It's a HUGE relief that treatment has begun. It has been a very long couple of weeks. Thanks again for the advice. She asked the dr about the amend too. Helps to be one step ahead.

Mom starts treatment tomorrow. I am so excited for her! If she gets sick, will she get on the first treatment. She is taking Carboplatin and Taxol.

Thanks for the responses. I have looked at the Grace site and like it a lot. I am going to go post on the other board (NSCLC) since I have a question. Thanks again!

I have been lurking this board for two weeks now. Since my mom (50 yo) got confirmation on the 6th that she has a tumor in her r lung. She was having pain in the shoulder since end of May. She kept saying she picked up Zack the wrong way. He is a big boy almost 2 y old. It was a pulled muscle. Dr gave her muscle relaxers and said heat. Well a month later after a week of vacation popping tylenol arthritis (I feel so guilty) she goes back to dr who orders an xray and immed sends her for CT scan and requests an oncologist. That was 7/6 and here we are. I will copy/paste my family update... 7/15: Mom went for bloodwork and the needle biopsy today. Oncology met with her and said the PET scan from monday was optimal. Large tumor top right lung (still tennis ball size) and one adjacent lymph node affected (the one that drains the lung). No other organs affected. She gets her radiation tatoo on Friday... She will have radiation everday except weekends for 7 weeks (along with Chemo) we find out more about the chemo on this Friday. Surgery to follow the radiation and chemo. Other than a bruised back, she is okay. So - I will update on Friday with the next appt. Thanks for all the prayers and kind words. And then today 7/17: Update: Official diagnosis Stage IIIA T2N2M0 Adenocarcinoma of the Lung. She got a couple tattoos today but they will finish that on Wed morning when they actually start the radiation. Chemotherapy once a week (Carboplatin and Taxol) for as many weeks as possible to help the radiation do it’s job – hoping for at least 5 weeks. Doc said she will not lose her hair and should not have any nausea since the dose is lower for a longer amount of time. Dr said it is technically NOT a Pancoast tumor (which is good) being that it is lower in the lung than a typical Pancoast. He said the only thing he is worried about is the lymph node in the center of her chest. It is positive for cancer but hasn’t spread. He thinks the radiation and chemo will shrink it down enough to have mom eligible for surgery in about 2 months. If the node does not shrink; then we have to take another route in order to make it shrink. He said and the placement of the node right in front of her esophagus will cause her to have a really sore throat from the radiation. Other than that – that’s all I have for now. Chemo starts Tues – once a week – and radiation starts Wed everyday for 7 weeks. Here I am...not crying as much as things are starting to sink in and having a plan helps. I have just been doing web searches and cant find anything good. I just want someone to say yeah its possible this could all go away and never come back. I have a 10 yr old and a 2 yr old who love their nanna. It's just so depressing. Can someone just tell me we have a chance?

I have been lurking this board for two weeks now. Since my mom (50 yo) got confirmation on the 6th that she has a tumor in her r lung. She was having pain in the shoulder since end of May. She kept saying she picked up Zack the wrong way. He is a big boy almost 2 y old. It was a pulled muscle. Dr gave her muscle relaxers and said heat. Well a month later after a week of vacation popping tylenol arthritis (I feel so guilty) she goes back to dr who orders an xray and immed sends her for CT scan and requests an oncologist. That was 7/6 and here we are. I will copy/paste my family update... 7/15: Mom went for bloodwork and the needle biopsy today. Oncology met with her and said the PET scan from monday was optimal. Large tumor top right lung (still tennis ball size) and one adjacent lymph node affected (the one that drains the lung). No other organs affected. She gets her radiation tatoo on Friday... She will have radiation everday except weekends for 7 weeks (along with Chemo) we find out more about the chemo on this Friday. Surgery to follow the radiation and chemo. Other than a bruised back, she is okay. So - I will update on Friday with the next appt. Thanks for all the prayers and kind words. And then today 7/17: Update: Official diagnosis Stage IIIA T2N2M0 Adenocarcinoma of the Lung. She got a couple tattoos today but they will finish that on Wed morning when they actually start the radiation. Chemotherapy once a week (Carboplatin and Taxol) for as many weeks as possible to help the radiation do it’s job – hoping for at least 5 weeks. Doc said she will not lose her hair and should not have any nausea since the dose is lower for a longer amount of time. Dr said it is technically NOT a Pancoast tumor (which is good) being that it is lower in the lung than a typical Pancoast. He said the only thing he is worried about is the lymph node in the center of her chest. It is positive for cancer but hasn’t spread. He thinks the radiation and chemo will shrink it down enough to have mom eligible for surgery in about 2 months. If the node does not shrink; then we have to take another route in order to make it shrink. He said and the placement of the node right in front of her esophagus will cause her to have a really sore throat from the radiation. Other than that – that’s all I have for now. Chemo starts Tues – once a week – and radiation starts Wed everyday for 7 weeks. Here I am...not crying as much as things are starting to sink in and having a plan helps. I have just been doing web searches and cant find anything good. I just want someone to say yeah its possible this could all go away and never come back. I have a 10 yr old and a 2 yr old who love their nanna. It's just so depressing. Can someone just tell me we have a chance? (I will post this to the NSCLC board too (I guess)