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Took a trip to the Emergency


Fay

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We ended up taking mom to the ER yesterday. She has been getting more and more of those "episoides". She would wake up in the early am, feeling flushed, headache and nausea would come on. The docs aren't sure what is causing this. We tested for low blood sugar, that wasn't it. The last few days, mom thought her abdomen was getting a bit larger. The ER doc thinks there might be some fluid there. Her blood work and liver enzemes came back good. She will be going for an abdomenal ultrasound early this week. Also, she has a brain scan scheduled for tues, and the chest/abd CT the following week. I'm trying to get that one moved up.

They are also doing a urine test for 5HIAA.

Please send lots of prayers our way. Thanks

Faylene

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Hi Fay

My husband also experienced flushing and we're waiting for the 5HIAA results. A side effect of carcinoid tumor is flushing and diarrhea so they wanted to rule that out as the chemo would be different

I also felt he got flushed and nauseated for 3-4 days after chemo. He then has had an allergic reaction to Carbo (after 11 treatments ususally happens around the 6th) and Taxotere after 3 treatments.

Does your mom do hydration after chemo? This really helped my husband. Hope she is feeling better

Karen

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Hi Karen,

Thanks for the reply. My mom finished her chemo back in Dec and did really well until Feb. She doesn't have diarrhea with the flushing, and I understand that is usual with carcinoid syndrom, but they are testing just to be sure. Her electrolytes were fine, so they ruled out dehydration. In fact they only gave her 300 ml of iv fluid. I did read yours and Teet's posts on carcinoid.

Faylene

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Fay and Karen I'm sending you both warm wishes and prayers!

Karen I was just wondering what the allergic reaction was? What were the symptoms? My Mom had a terrible reaction on the fourth chemo. She threw up for almost one month, and no one ever seemed to know why? I noticed while she was here that she had a cough, aches and pains and some stomach cramps? She did not mention hot flashes although she seems to be much colder than she was post cancer. PS.. sometimes i think about making an excel spreadsheet of the people on the boards and thier DX, treatments and symptoms.. just to see what the "norm" is but I quess there is no norm when it comes to cancer... :roll: Just one day at a time!

(((Hugs)))

Laurie

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My prayers are with you and your family. I hope the drs. can figure out what has been causing the episodes your mom has been having.

Minnie

P.S. Thanks for the advice about the "pink lady." Before my mother's own episode today, she did get a chance to ask her oncologist about this and he prescribed something very similar for her.

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The best test for a carcinoid tumor is an octreoscan. Also if there is a tumor sample then a staining for Chromogranin and synaptophysin

can be done. Search for neuroendocrine tumors and you can get more info. These tumors at least typical and atypical may not respond as well to chemo since they do not divide as fast (mitotic rate is slow). Neuroendocrine carcinoma is a fast dividing cancer and acts more like SCLC.

http://www.propathlab.com/docs/focus_oct_2000.pdf

Best of luck

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