Lesli

Have really great insurance, so that is not an issue. My own MD has busily scheduled my next 3 CT scans!

Good evening, all. I hated to be the type of poster who brought our problem to this board, and then just up and left! These past months have been surreal! I also did not post, as my Mom has far exceeded any and all expectations! I didn't know if it was PC to come here and rejoice in how she is doing. She completed radiation 3 weeks ago. This week is her 6th and final round of VP-16 and carboplatin. She still claims that she did not have one single moment of nausea throughout this entire process. She did have some discomfort in her esophagus during XRT, but when they shifted her a bit, that went away also. Her oncologist calls her his "miracle lady". She will have scans in 4 weeks, but thet don't anticipate finding anything! They did scans at the halfway point, and all were clear! I had my own scare 3 weeks ago. DH and I were on a long weekend in Wisconsin, and I thought I had badly pulled a muscle in my back/scapula after 18 holes of golf. It started to hurt so badly, we decided to stop at the ER in Sturgeon Bay, and see if an MD could provide me with some relief, until I could get back to my own MD in Indiana. THEY ADMITTED ME! I had a complete pleural effusion of my R lung, with a pretty significant haziness in the base of the L. I stayed there for 4 days, and then I was transferred to another hospital in Green Bay, where I underwent a thoracotomy and decortication of the right lung. They found some suspicious nodes at the hilum, and in the base of the R lung. These WERE proved to be benign nodules. I don't think I have ever been so scared in my life! I have whole chunks of those 14 days in the hospitals that are missing, and I probably woun't want to remember them anyway! Hope all of you and yours are stable. Lesli

Mom started Round 2 of her chemo yesterday. So far, she has not had a single second of nausea! Syhe does refer to her rapidly declining "hair supply" as "molting"! LOL! She seems to be doing so well, at this point! The plans are chemo this week x 3, Neupogen every day next week, a weeks rest, then Round Three of the same protocol. Then scans, and a decision will be made concerning radiation. Please continue to keep her in your prayers! Lesli

Up North in Lake County........Merrillville to be specific. But, I work in Elmhurst, Illinois; about 8 miles from O'Hare.

Well, Mom had her first dose of chemo yesterday, and another this morning. She says she has not even had ONE SECOND of nausea. My aunt flew out from Tennessee yesterday, so hopefully, that will keep her distracted. So far so good!

My step-son takes OxyContin 120mg for pain due to his Muscular Dystrophy. When we refilled his prescriptions, his 80's were generic, but the 40's were not.

Good evening, all! Thought I would "introduce" you to my Mom. That is her avitar below my name; her and two of her 11 baby furbies. She says they make her laugh, and lighten her mood, so who am I to object? I have 6 of them myself. ANYWAY, this week we got more information. The final pathology is back on the pleural fluid and the tumor itself. "Large cell variant of un-differentiated small cell malignancy with a Class 4 designator." Even being a nurse, the classification scares me!!! She will start chemo on Wednesday. She will be receiving carboplatin and VP-16. I told her to STAY OFF of the Internet, as she tends to look too far into things, and will develop any possible side effects through the theory of suggestion! I'm anxious to hear from any of you who have gone through this specific protocol, either as a patient or as the lovedone. Thanks!

My folks have a fairly strong support system in California, but her FAMILY is all East. My brother and I in Indiana and two sisters in Tennessee. My job is so supportive, that some of my colleagues have offered to "donate" vacation days so I can eturn to California as needed. It is hard to determine how often I need to be out there, without being a pest. Additionally, it's hard to know WHEN I should be there. Expedia.com makes it easy to make flight arrangements, but you need a certain amount of time, in order not to be spending a fortune on airfare! I called the hospital to day, to try to get an update. Some bozo lost the HIPPA release letter that we had specifically formulated for the hospital and all of her doctors. No one would talk with me. Mom was asleep, so they couldn't get her permission. She was horribly nauseated, and they had "given her something", but no one would even give me any info on why she felt so illl. It is terribly frustrating! We should have the final pathology back on Monday, and will know what the next course of action is.

I am "looking forward" to becoming a regular. Additionally, seeking guidance and support to get through this new nightmare.

I was really suprised to see all of the replies to my post so soon. We feel really bereft right now. My family lost my grandmother 2 years ago this month, to complications from Parkinsons Disease. Then, last July, we lost my baby sister, age 36 to a sudden cardiorespiratory arrest. She had cerebral anoxia, and was brain dead. Trying to have a positive attitude about this horrible tragedy, we made her an organ/tissue donor, so that some sort of good could come out of all of this. That is precisley why I do what I do now. Now this with Mom. Up until now, I was certain that God knew what he was doing with our lives. I am not so certain now. My Gramma used to always say that "God will not give you more than you can handle." OH YEAH? How did HE decide? I guess that the good thing is that there are really no discernable mets, other than a few hilar nodes. She did have a thoracentesis about three weeks ago, and during the surgical procedure on Wednesday, he did put some talc in the lung, so hopefully this will not return. Mom. has a fabulous attitude about all of this. It's her CHILDREN that aren't coping too well!

This is my first visit to this forum. I have serached for a support site for family members, and I am very glad to have found this one. My mother, age 66, just received a definative diagnosis of SCLC. She was told she had a "problem" about a month ago. She was having some chest pain, which was initially thought to be pleurisy. Chest Xray showed a mass in the left lower lobe, and a suspicious spot on her liver. She did have a large left pleural effusion, which was resolved with a thoracentesis. Now, 30 something days later, she has had a bone scan, a brain scan, a liver scan, a PET scan and an MRI (full body). All of the scans are fairly clear, except for what appears to be an hemangioma in the liver. This past Wednesday, she had an endoscopic thoracostomy and is still hospitalized. She has a chect tube and a pleur-evac. Her surgeon dissected a large portion of the tumor in her lung, and removed some of the hilar nodes, which he feels have metastatic disease. He is 99% certain that this is a SCLC, but the final path won't be back until Monday. He spoke with me on Wednesday, saying that further surgery will not help, and that the next step will be chemo and possibly radiation. Do I sound knowledgeable? Sure I do. I am a nurse, and this whole thing scares the CRAP out of me. Mom lives in LA, and I am in Chicago. My family is looking to me to be the strong one, and I don't want to be. This is my MOTHER, not a patient. Do you folks have any suggestions for me?