stand4hope

Dear Frank, I feel terrible knowing that you are so sick. Please know that all my heart and prayers are pulling for you. Post when you can, and if not maybe Connie or Pattie can just let us know every couple of days how you're doing. All my love, Peggy

Gail, It's amazing on this forum how we can be brought to tears on one thread and then read another one and get a big smile. This one is the BIG SMILE for me. 4 Years is just absolutely AWESOME! Congratulations! Love, Peggy

Hi Karen, I'm sorry I'm late here. By the time you read this, I hope you are starting to feel a little better. I think of you, David and Faith often. Love, Peggy

To David (Cathy's brother), I just wanted you to know that your post to your sister brought tears to my eyes. How blessed Cathy is to have such a loving brother. God be with you! Love, Peggy

Hi Jen, I'm sorry to hear that your mom isn't doing well. I know how much it breaks your heart to see her feeling badly because I've been in your shoes. Take care of yourself, too. Put her future (and yours) in the hands of God. It will give you much peace. Love, Peggy

Thank you, my friends. You're right, it is for TPN. The PICC line was put in a couple of hours ago, but they still haven't brought the bag of "goodies". He was scared to death, but afterward he said it was "easy". Before they did it, he told his dad they were going to put a hole in his arm the size of a quarter , and put something like an octopus through his arm. Thanks for the links, too. Teresa, that picture was very helpful to get a visual what it looks like. Two nurses have now told me that it will take away his hunger - he is so very hungry - 7 days without food now. They also said if I go there 6 hours after he's been receiving the "food", I will be able to tell a big difference in how he feels. Cindy, I don't know about the lipids, but I'll find out what they ordered for him. Thanks again, everyone. Love, Peggy

Frank hasn't posted since Thursday. Anybody heard from him? Peggy

I'm sorry to ask this question on here. Guess I should find another forum, but I don't want to (LOL!), so I'm going to ask anyway. Has anybody ever had or heard of being fed through a pic line with some type of thick stuff that contains nutrients, vitamins, protein, etc.? My son is having one put in tomorrow and the only kind of feeding I've ever heard of is with a stomach tube. They say it will take away his cravings and hunger pains/discomfort. Is that true? Thanks in advance, Love to all, Peggy

Hi Beth, I got your PM, and prayers are still headed your way. Hang in there! I'm with Don. Are they so focused on cancer that they aren't considering other things, i.e., hepatitis, gall bladder, pancreas. I don't think a metastasis can be so "deep in the liver" that a PET scan wouldn't see it, but I don't know for sure. If you've seen PET scan films, they see right through everything and they are three dimensional, so they can see from all angles. It's like spinning your body around in a circle and seeing right through it. It's not flat-looking like an x-ray or CT film. I'm leaning toward thinking something else could be going on or should at least be ruled out. Is there any way you can approach that with the doctors? Love and hugs, Peggy

Thank you for all your kind and loving thoughts. Hubby is doing really well. We had a chance (FINALLY) to sit down and talk some tonight before I headed to the hospital. Our son is not so good. He will survive this, but it wasn't a good day. His lipase (the blood test they do for pancreatitis) went down some yesterday, so last night they added "all" liquids (up from clear liquids). He had pureed vegetable soup, milk and ice cream. His pain skyrocketed and this morning his lipase almost doubled. They now have him complete npo, except ice chips, for 3 days. They finally got his pain under control with 100 mg. of demerol every 3 hours and ativan every 2-4 hours. The morphine wasn't getting the job done for the pain. They also added an antibiotic today and are going to give him nutrients via i.v. (I'm not sure how that will work. Some kind of specialist has to come in for this). They have also been giving him fluids, potassium, thiamin and folic acid via i.v. Tomorrow will be his 6th day in the hospital, and he will be in there for an undetermined time. They think he may be moving into a chronic state with this; he has had it several times before but never this bad. Any and all prayers that anyone has time to offer to God are very much appreciated. He doesn't typically have very good coping skills, and while he isn't doing "great" coping with this, he's coping better than I would have expected. That's good news. Of course, I'm sure the drugs they're giving him are helping with that, too. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow morning - so there! Love to all, Peggy

Hi Betty, I've been thinking about you every day. I hope your back pain is getting under control and that you are surrounded by loving family and friends. All my love, Peggy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CYNDY!!! Love, Peggy

It's hitting the Hoosier state, too. 1-2 in. for us tomorrow. Good grief! Peggy

Oh, David, I am so very sorry. I know how difficult this time is for you - been through it myself with my own parents. May God richly bless you with His love. We will miss your mom. Love, Peggy

We love you, too, Cathy. I can't even imagine how it made you feel to type those words, and oh, the courage I'm sure it took - what can I say? May God be with you this weekend as you wrestle with this very difficult decision. All my love and prayers, Peggy

Hubby is still doing ok. He had a great weekend last weekend, but has been a little draggy this week. I'm glad tomorrow's Friday, so he can catch up on rest. We still think the Tarceva is working. On our onc visit last Friday, the onc said we would wait a while before doing new scans to see how it's working, and we would wait even longer before doing another PET. I think the insurance companies must be really picky about frequent PET scans since they are so expensive. I think this last one was about $3,500. The bad news is that our son has been in the hospital here in Indiana since Monday with serious pancreatitis. He will eventually be ok, but it's really bad this time. He's had it several times and each time it takes longer for his pancreas to heal. He's in a lot of pain and been pretty sick, but seemed a little better today and more responsive. He's starting to gripe, so I think that's a good sign. I doubt he will get out of there before the weekend at the earliest. Well, just thought I'd let you all know what's been going on at our house. I've been having long days and late nights, so I've been absent from the board more than usual. Everyone have a great weekend! Love, Peggy

Kasey, Your story brought tears to my eyes, too. My experience isn't nearly as interesting, but I did want to tell you that I was one of those 2:00 a.m. internet searches - FOR 6 MONTHS. I searched and searched and searched for anything that was even a tiny bit hopefull - anything that didn't say "mean survival 7.5 months" (or less). I saw some of the "support group" links as I did all this surfing, but wasn't interested. I only wanted INFORMATION to save my husband's life. I wasn't looking for support. One day, I was searching for some medical term or something and was somehow connected to this site. I recall the first thing that caught my eye was the pictures of real people, so I started reading. It took a while for me to join in because I had never participated in even a chat session online, but to make a long story short, here I am. I've been here for over a year, made friends, and talk way too much. One thing I quit doing after I found this site: I quit surfing the web. Everything I needed was right here - information, love, support, and other people to encourage with my husband's unbelievable success so far. Don't be shy. Keep talking to us and WELCOME! Love, Peggy

Lori, It doesn't get much better than gamma knife for brain mets. See the attached link and refer to Dr. Woodburn's post. Oops! Sorry. I forgot the link the first time: http://lchelp.org/community/viewtopic.p ... ght=#93090 Love, Peggy

Hi Cathy, I am so sorry to hear that you are having this rough time. My love, support and prayers are there for you. I hope someone in the calling circle has your phone number to keep us posted in case you get to feeling bad. If not, please send it to Ry. All my love and prayers, Peggy

Heidi, I am shocked that the doctor actually said he didn't have a clue what could be causing the headache! Did he even suggest that she get an MRI to check her brain? I'm just kind of knocked over that he wouldn't at least suggest to you that if it didn't get better in a few days that she should have her brain checked. To answer your question, "No!" I don't think you are being paranoid. In my opinion, I'd give that headache a few more days and if it isn't better then insist that she get a brain MRI. Just my two cents. Keep us posted. Love, Peggy

Melanie, I ditto Ry's post. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the beginning. My husband has had a lot of brain mets, but no surgery, so I can't offer any experiences. What I can offer is encouragement, love and prayers. Hang in there, girl. They do WONDERFUL things these days with surgery and treatments. Does the calling circle have your telephone number? If not, send a PM to Ry above and give it to her so she can call and see how you're doing. Ry is head of the calling circle. She can then let us know. OK? Love, Peggy

Bill and Jan, I will be thinking of you both on Wednesday. Take it easy after the surgery, and let us know how you're doing as soon as you feel up to it. Love and prayers, Peggy

Hi Randi, Of course I remember you, and, also, we could never forget your cute little boy. I know these past weeks have been tough on you, and the next few will probably be even harder. You can do this. You CAN get through this. Just be there with your mom as much as you can in these last days, talk sweet to her, love her and hold her hand. Even if she seems not to know you or understand, her spirit knows. I'm sorry you have to go through this. I wish none of us did. Even though losing our moms and dads is as normal as the sun rising every morning, it still hurts deeply. All my love and prayers, Peggy

Dear Ry, I don't know what we would do without you. God bless you, and thank you for being my/our friend. Love, Peggy

Probably not. It sounds like the pain is caused by something else. We have been told to watch for shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. I didn't check your profile before I started typing, but she would probably know from a CT scan if a pericardial effusion was present. Here are the symptoms of a pericardial effusion: The common symptoms of pericardial effusion include dyspnea (85%), cough (30%), orthopnea (25%), and chest pain (20%). Pass HI: Malignant pleural and pericardial effusions. In: DeVita VT, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, Eds.: Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 5th ed., 1997, pp 2586-2598. Peggy