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DebbieBetsch

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Everything posted by DebbieBetsch

  1. I wanted to thank those of you that have responded to my posts. In early march, a PET scan showed that my husband's cancer was progressing. More mets to other parts of his lungs, more lymph nodes and now his liver. His brain scan, done in Feb, showed no mets to the brain, but by the end of March, he would say that he had severe headaches and his vision was extremely blurry. His onco started Taxotere in early March and we had hoped for some regression. Sadly, on the morning of Monday, April 22, my husband woke up coughing. He began vomiting blood, so we called 911. Before the ambulance arrived, my husband stopped breathing. We took him to the ER, my son & I were taken to a waiting room, and shortly thereafter, the doctor came in and told us that my husband had passed away. We knew that before we ever left our home. My husband prayed that he would not have to struggle in the end. He was scared of suffocating and did not want to become a burden to me & my son. The last thing he wanted was to be in a hospital bed, in our home, with everyone sitting around him, waiting. God answered his prayers and took him so quickly, so unexpectantly, and he now is at peace and his suffering is over. My husband is my hero. He was SO strong and so brave. He was in excruciating pain, but never complained. He worked all the way up to the Saturday before he died, came home washed his uniforms and prepared to go back to work on Monday morning. We had no idea that he was even close to passing and when it happened, it was so quick that he did not have time to get scared, so fast he didnt know what was happening to him. He died in our bedroom, and his spirit is in our home with me. We met when we were 16 years old. Married when we were 23. I had the honor of spending 39 years with this wonderful man and he will be in my heart until we meet again. He is my star in heaven!
  2. Thank you for the encouragement. We saw the onco this morning. He said that my husbands cancer has not spread outside of the lung area. Yes it is massive in his left lung, moderate in his right lung, in 2 different sets of lymph nodes and his diaphragm, but that's it! Great news! He started Navelbine today, and we talked about the alcohol use with the Navelbine. Doc made it clear that the 2 won't mix and he must choose. So now it's up to my husband. If he wants to continue drinking, then chemo is a waste of time. If he wants to live for awhile, then he must stop drinking. He did stop for 6 months with his 1st cancer fight in 2010-2011, but started again when he went back to work. Hopefully he will make the right choice. It's up to him...
  3. Husband was diagnosed with stage 3 laryngeal cancer in Nov 2010. When this was found, they also found 3 nodules in his lungs, but said they were non-cancerous and they would watch them. He underwent chemoradiation therapy for the Laryngeal and it was completely cured. However, by Dec 2011 we were still being told that CT scans still showed the nodules in his lungs but they werent cancer. My husband was drowing in his own fluids, coughing constantly and fatigued. So we were referred to Pulmonologist for bronchoscopy. Bronch results were stage 4 NSCLC, is is squamous cell and by the time the bronch was finally done it was positive in both lungs. We saw a radiologist, no radiation was available because cancer primarily located in bronci and previous radiation made it too risky to repeat. Referred to surgeon, no surgery available. Cancer too advanced. He started chemo with carboplatin & taxol. After 20 treatments, the cancer showed shrinkage, but there are now 4 new spots. Oncologist did not feel they were cancer and wanted to watch these spots too. I went to pulmonologist against Oncologist wishes and another bronchoscopy was done. Low & behold...these 4 new spots are cancer too. And now it is in his lymph nodes & diaphragm too. He is set to start treatment tomorrow with Navelbine. A new PET/CT scan was done yesterday as he is showing symptoms of metastasis to liver & possibly spine. I am concerned about this new treatment starting. In reading about the drug, it is stated that alcohol consumption should stop. My husband has been a heavy beer drinker for over 32 years and his doc knows this. It is nothing for him to drink 12-18 beers a day and is not going to stop. He is still also smoking about 1/2 pack a day. Doc knows this too. His onco has been very evasive when talking to us, so I have done a lot of reading and always have lots of questions regarding his treatments. Doc acts like he is intimidated by my questioning. He has been wrong about diagnoses twice now, and I no longer trust him. Although my husband does and wants to continue working with him. My husbands left lung is almost completely blocked by the cancer and he is having a lot of side effects of previous treatments. It has only been 60 days since he finished the last cycle and I am concerned that this new cycle that starts tomorrow will be too much for him, especially since he is not cooperating with alcohol & cigarettes. His doctor will not be honest about prognosis. Hubby is still working full time and hopes to work thru this treatment also. He won't stop because of health insurance. How do I get this Oncologist to be completely honest with me? I don't expect any miracles, too late for that, but it sure would be nice to know what to expect and to hear it from him instead of reading it on message boards.
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