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Suzie Q

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Posts posted by Suzie Q

    pet & cat confuse

    in MEMBER UPDATES

    Posted

    Bucky,

    Stop getting your reports in advance if you are going to get this anxiety-ridden! Honestly, you are doing yourself more harm than good. You would be better served to wait for your doctor visit and have your doctor explain the entire report in plain English, and you should come prepared for each follow-up visit after scans with the following question:

    1. What does this mean? Disease progression or stable or no progression?

    2. What are the options for treatment if there is progression?

    3. What is the plan for follow up if the disease is stable or if there is no progression?

    I won't venture a guess as to what those report conclusions mean, but I wish you well with your appointment.

    Now go relax with a cup of camomile tea!

    ~Karen

    Don't know what to think

    in MEMBER UPDATES

    Posted

    Bobbie,

    Sometimes the surgeons consider the cancer to be systemic once it is in the lymph nodes, and surgery to remove the primary may not improve the survival. The surgery itself has risks and a recovery time to consider, so if it will not help survival rate, the thinking is why risk the surgery? The important thing is to attack the circulating cancer cells and prevent them from settling in somewhere causing metastatic tumors, whether in more nodes or in other sites. This is what the chemo will do, along with hopefully knock out the primary tumor.

    My mom had a hard time with this, because she really wanted the primary OUT! But after her onc explained it this way, it was clear that she was better off with no surgery. And I must add thet she did have extensive metastatic disease in both lungs; hers was definitely not limited to one node. So keep in mind that each case is different, and certainly it is a benefit to get a second or even third opinion.

    Hugs,

    Karen

    My dad is gone

    in GRIEF

    Posted

    Christine, You DID give him the best chance to fight this, and he gave it everything he had. But it was not in your control, or your dad's control. So hard to accept this, as we all would like to believe that we can actually save someone...it just doesn't always work that way.

    Please accept my deepest sympathies.

    hugs,

    Karen

    delayed grief

    in GRIEF

    Posted

    I think that the second year is harder, in some ways. For me, it's guilt that is added to the grief. Guilt for seemingly moving on with life; guilt for not thinking about my parents frequently enough; guilt for the relief of selling their condo and knowing that THAT one big thing was over and done with...

    I know that this is not logical. Yet, I feel it just the same.

    I don't know, Lori. Maybe a counselor can help. But what you describe sounds not too different from where I was not so long ago.

    Hugs,

    Karen

    Please describe a "Persistent cough"

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Oh, please don't let us frighten you! The intent (if I may be so bold to make the assumption from all the previous posts) is to let you know that you often have to be firm with your caregiver. They sometimes brush off symptoms of younger, healthier patients that they would definitely follow up on in an older, less healthy individual.

    And that's because the odds are in YOUR FAVOR that this is not cancer!

    And I say that as a 41-year-old basically healthy female who has been humored TWICE in the last 3 years to have a chest x-ray for a persistent cough. I even got a work up with a pulmonary specialist for suspected COPD on a Chest xray. All benign results.

    Focus on the odds being in your favor, but get the xray anyway, for your peace of mind.

    ~Karen

    Feel so ashamed of myself

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Theresa, we ALL are at risk for some disease or another, simply by virtue of the fact that we are alive! We eat grilled meats, fatty foods, don't get enough exercise, smoke, drink, work in hazardous environments, you name it! But A + B does not always add up to C. It's all so complicated, and multiple factors come into play...but keep in mind that even some of those who live ideal "healthy" lifestyles can drop dead of a heart attack or stroke with little or no warning.

    Bottom line, you do what you can to reduce your risk. Do NOT let the stress of your anxiety become an additional risk factor!

    That said, I do sympathize with your thoughts. Whenever I have a lingering cough, I start to wonder...

    Do try to live in the here and now. Enjoy every minute you have at this moment.

    ~Karen

    Forgive Me

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Sorry to hear your dear father is having a rough go of it right now.

    Take Katie's advice to heart - she has written it so well.

    Here's to hoping that the next round will be the cancer bomb and fry as much of the beast as possible!

    ~Karen

    Dad is in ICU : (

    in MEMBER UPDATES

    Posted

    Off the vent, if his oxygen levels are too low, they can add oxygen through a tube in the nose or mask over the nose/mouth. This is not the same as a ventilator.

    Praying he does well off the vent and the fluid resolves.

    ~Karen

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