Jump to content

my husband has lc and bone


paulette1952

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 84
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Paulette; I hope Peter can get his pain under control. Treatment can be very difficult if the pain is not controlled. The doctors should be able to alleviate the bone pain with radiation. There are 5 hospitals on the UK that have the latest equipment for radiation treatment. The equipment can deliver radiation very precisely to a tumor only thus sparing healthy tissue from radiation. He should still be able to have more radiation using this equipment because it targets just the tumor and very little of the rest of the body. You will need to verify this with the doctors. I don’t know if it would be appropriate for Peter to use that equipment, but if he goes to one of those hospitals for a second opinion, the chances are that he would be in the hands of the best medical care in the UK. Here is a link to a news release by the manufacturer of the equipment. The news article contains links to the 5 hospitals that have the equipment.

http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_intern ... r_plan.php

You and Peter have my prayers.

Don M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone

Peter is still in hospital and is on a morphine driver, it seems to have got him out of pain and they are going to take it out of him tonight and put back the fentanel patches and see how he goes. I still have not had the results of his last ct scan hopefully tomorrow. It has been indicated to me that he will probably have another session of radiotheraphy on his back as they fear it may have progressed up his back. Will keep you informed. I ahve a son who lives in Seattle who will be coming over agian on 26th of this month, he is so worried bless him rings all day long, thanx Shane if your reading this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone I have had the results of Peters CT scan today he has now got a fracture on his spine, the cancer is eating his bones, so does not look good for him. He will be having radiotheraphy now on his spine to ease the pain.

I AM SO ANGRY, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO SUFFER, ITS NOT FAIR, HE IS A GOOD MAN.

The next stage to this cancer is it will probably go to his brain, then that will be it, what an outcome, nothing to look forward too, I AM SO ANGRY WITH THE WORLD, STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paulette

Dumpy222 is a lady on this site who is also in the UK. I have told her about you and Peter and she was going to try and send you an email or a private message through this site so she can perhaps give you some information about treatments, doctors etc that she has had some experience with. As you are both in the UK she may have some ideas that can help you that those of us from other parts of the world are not aware of. I pray there is something she can do.

I have you and Peter in my thoughts and prayers. I understand how hard this is. Please keep us posted and let us help you as much as we can.

Love and hugs as well as prayers,

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am Peter's son and it sucks that he has to go through so much pain and that the UK health system is so under funded it takes so long for treatment to happen.

I am so angry, that if I was in the UK I would likely beat the hell out of the doctors that keep my dad waiting and waiting.

Sorry, I just had to vent my feelings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paulette and Shane,

I am so sorry you are going through this right now. I wish there was something I could do to make this better for you somehow. Please know that I am keeping you and Peter in my prayers. I am hoping that the doctors will be able to treat his bone mets and keep his pain under control. I don't know if you have access to this in the UK, but here we have a drug called Zometa that is given to patients with bone tumors. It helps to prevent further damage to the bone. It is something you can ask Peter's doctors about. Hang in there and stay strong!

Sharon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Dear all, I can't believe whats happening in my family, not only is my husband terminal I have a cousin who has lymph cancer, another cousin has ovarian cancr and now her son who is 40 has kidney cancer. I know 1 in 3 people are now getting cancer, it must be in the food chain or why would this disease be so rampant. The governments needs to look at this seriously. All these pesticides additives is killing us all. It seems the modern world is destroying itself. Update on my husband is he tried to come home on Friday but had to be resubmitted into hospital as we could not control the pain, he may have to go in a hospice if thing don't improve, the cancer now has spread further up his spine towards his neck and the pain is awful. He has a syringe driver in his stomach with some sort of cocktail in it which seems to help the pain, the doctors said they don't like to keep them on it for too long because of side effects, my argument is if it eases the pain then don't worry about the side effects for all what is going on in side of him. Paulette

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not have all the answers, but may have a good question for Oncologist. Radiotherapy for Bone Mets.

Why radiotherapy

Your doctor may suggest radiotherapy as the quickest way of relieving your bone pain. Whether this is the best treatment for you will depend on the type of cancer you have. Radiotherapy works very well for many common cancers that can spread to the bones, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, bowel cancer and lung cancer. You may also hear this called bone metastasis or ‘bony secondaries’

External radiotherapy is the most common way to have this type of treatment. The radiation beam is directed at the affected bone from outside the body. It is a bit like having an X-ray. You may have a single treatment or a series of daily treatments for up to 2 weeks. You go to the radiotherapy department each day to have treatment. Each treatment only takes a few minutes. Your doctor is most likely to suggest this type of radiotherapy if you just need a couple of particular areas treated.

If you have symptoms caused by only 1 or 2 areas of cancer in your bones, radiotherapy is a very good way to treat them. But if you have a lot of areas of affected bone scattered around your body, this is harder to treat. Some people may benefit from having radiotherapy to all of their upper body and then, about 2 – 4 weeks later, having treatment to the other half of the body. This is called ‘hemi-body irradiation’. You have treatment to half of your body at a time. Doing it that way helps to control the side effects and allow your body to recover between treatments. But this type of treatment is not used all that often, mainly because people aren’t always fit enough to have it. Their bone marrow also needs to be working well enough to have radiotherapy to such a wide area.

There is another way of treating widespread cancer in the bones. Internal radiotherapy for cancer in the bones means having an injection. The injection is of a very small amount of radioactive material called strontium 89. Strontium tends to make its way to the bones when it is injected. So, by giving you a radioactive form of strontium, your doctor is targeting the treatment to where you need it most. Your doctor is most likely to suggest this type of treatment if your bone cancer is quite widespread. It will treat cancer in the bones throughout the body.

The radiation from the injection only lasts a few days in your body. Although It is only a small amount of radiation,it can work very well for controlling bone pain. There is information about strontium 89 treatment in the internal radiotherapy section of CancerHelp UK

Radiotherapy can take a while to work. With external radiotherapy, it can take several weeks to get the full benefit of radiotherapy as a treatment for pain. The radiation kills off cancer cells that are destroying and weakening the bone. About 6 to 12 weeks after treatment the bones repair the damage and strengthen themselves.

You will need to carry on taking your painkillers in the meantime. It can be several weeks before you get the full effect of the treatment. But within a few weeks, sometimes less, you may be able to cut down on your painkillers. So do tell your doctor or Macmillan nurse if you find that you are getting more side effects from your painkillers, such as feeling drowsy. This may be a sign that you don’t need to take as much.

The pain may ease to some extent or may go altogether. When treated with radiotherapy, about 3 out of 10 people (30%) with pain from cancer spread to the bones will have no pain within a month. At least another 4 out of 10 (40%) will have pain that is half as bad as it was. So at least 7 out of 10 people (70%) will have somewhere between no pain and half as much pain, after this type of treatment.

For those suitable for hemi-body irradiation, this can also work very well. Nearly everyone gets some pain relief. It can relieve pain completely in up to half of the patients treated and can help to stop new painful areas developing.

After strontium treatment, it takes between 1 and 4 weeks for the treatment to start to work. The pain relief may last for up to 18 months. A review in the Lancet found that between 40 and 95 out of every 100 people treated (40-95%) have pain relief from this type of treatment. .

SENDING PRAYERS FOR GOOD NEWS AND HOPE THIS MIGHT HELP SOME. Can not hurt to ask about it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Paulette,

I am so sorry for all you are going through. Your poor DH I pray they can keep him pain free... screw the side effects or if he gets dependent on the drugs, who cares at this point. No one should have to be in that much pain.

I pray for him for a miracle and for you for continued strength. We are always here for you. Do you have family in the UK who is there for support? I know you son is here in the states, but I am worried that you are alone and you need some comfort also.

Keep the faith and know this is in G-ds hands.

Maryanne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear Paulette

I am so very sorry about all of this. I can understand what you are saying and I wish so very much that there was a way to make this all go away.

Please know that you and Peter and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I wish so very much I could do more.

Hugs

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paulette: did Peter have radiation on his back? It should have helped with the pain. Did you try talking to the specialists at one of the 5 hospitals in the UK I mentioned in my earlier post? They have radiation equipment there that can focus the beam on the mets only and minimize damage to the spinal cord. Ask the doctors about it. I have opened the link and cut and pasted some of the content below.

Elekta, a world leader in advanced radiation therapy, comprehensive cancer management and non-invasive treatment of brain disorders, today announced they have been awarded orders for six out of nine new linear accelerators, five of which are Elekta Synergy® Systems, proving the broad clinical acceptance of Elekta’s advanced intensity modulated therapy (IMRT), the most comprehensive image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) solutions, and demonstrating Elekta’s leadership in clinical use and commercial availability of advanced 3D X-ray Volume Imaging.

Elekta Synergy® was the world’s first advanced digital linear accelerator for intensity modulated radiation therapy and image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) treatment allowing clinicians to image and treat patients in the same frame of reference, at the time of each treatment. The result is unmatched clinical confidence for IMRT, enabling more aggressive treatment of tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

These machines will be installed at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, Poole General Hospital, Southampton General Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton who have also ordered a 2nd linac to replace older equipment already on site.

In addition to choosing Elekta’s clinical solutions, 3 of the hospitals have also chosen to install new or additional information management systems from IMPAC Medical Systems, an Elekta company.

IMPAC Oncology Information Management systems will connect treatment planning systems, imaging systems and the radiation therapy delivery equipment - regardless of manufacturer – in order to reduce costs, smooth the patient flow and provide seamless connectivity to the systems and devices that are integral to the full spectrum of cancer care.

Sue Moore, Cancer Care Group Manager at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This equipment enhances our treatment portfolio significantly. It will allow us to offer state-of-the-art treatments for cancer patients and also maximise efficiency within the service.The implementation of the IMPAC system will integrate our medical oncology and clinical oncology service with the potential for a network wide electronic chemotherapy prescribing system. In practice,this will mean better access for patients, which will also impact on waiting times."

"At Elekta, we are proud to be a partner to UK health care in the quest to improve quality and capacity in cancer care", says David Miles, Managing Director for Elekta’s Business Unit UK & Ireland, and continues; "It is particularly pleasing that all hospitals opted for Elekta Synergy®, our solution for advanced, three-dimensional image guided radiation therapy, a cost effective technology that is set to greatly enhance accuracy and precision in radiation therapy and thereby improve quality of care for British cancer patients".

About Elekta

Don M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear Don, they could only give my husband 1 blast of radiation as it would do more harm than good, I have to put my faith into the experts, they are suppose to know what they are doing. The cancer has spread further up his back, all i can hope for is he goes into remission and I have him for much longer. Thanks for your comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.