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My sister


hope4her

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I dot know were to begin, I guess you could say i feel like a bomb has been dropped on my entire family. My sister who just turned 41 was diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer stage 3A, I live in another state so it as been unbearable to not be with her. she has 5 children.. She started her first round of chemo on tuesday and when she got home she became violently ill, the doctors never wrote her script for anti nausea meds. I am begging her to get a 2nd oppinion. I find myself crying all the time and very depressed i just want to be with her. My husband has agreed that he will let our house go since we cant sell it in this market and i can move back home to be with her, I have 2 special needs kids and my husband cant come because he needs to keep his job to pay for my place there. I dont dare tell my sister but i am falling apart.

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Hello Hope and welcome. I am so sorry about your siter.However do not lose hope,there are many stage 3 survivors here and I am sure they will be posting soon. We all know what a bombshell it is when you are first diagnosed and the worst possible things come to mind. I know when I was first diagnosed I thought my time would be up in a matter of months but that was over 3 years ago and I am still here and feeling fine. There are many stories here that will inspire you. Maybe your sister can come here and check it out also.Hopefully after the chemo they might be able to do surgery.2nd opinions are a good idea if possible. My thoughts and prayers are with your sister and you and family at this difficult time. Please keep coming back for support and information.

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Oh my. Lots of hugs for you, you obviously love your sister very much. How very unfortunate about the mix up with the anti-nausea meds. That is just so wrong and unacceptable. Has your sister asked about why no radiation? If not, I would certainly ask about that as well. She has 5 children and obviously much to live for and it sounds like you are willing to give up much to be with her. Wow, what a sister you are.

Please take the time to read some of the good news stories here. LC is not a death sentence. I was diagnosed at Stage 3b in Sept 2007. It is a very tough fight but one that needs to be done with hope, prayers and a fighting spirit. Please tell your sister that there is always hope and of some of the survival stories here.

And please keep posting. Tell us how you both are doing and ask any questions. There are many knowledgeable kind people here who will respond. We get it and we care.

Sandra

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Hi, welcome to the group. I think most of us agree that the beginning is the most stressful time, not only for the patient but also for loved ones. Nausea is not nearly as common as it once was, since very effective anti-nausea medication is routinely given along with the chemo. It must have been an oversight that she wasn't given a prescription for one to take at home, and I hope that can be corrected before her next treatment.

If your sister is in good general health, there's every reason to believe she can tolerate her chemo well and receive good benefit from it. The first 4 months were the hardest for me, but since January 2007 I've been feeling pretty good, certainly better than when I was diagnosed in the summer of 2006. When you find out what specific chemo your sister is receiving, let us know so we can give you the best information. And bless you and your family for sacfificing in order to help her. Aloha,

Ned

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Welcome to our group , I am so glad that you found us. We all know how hard it is to find out you have lung cancer and how this affects the whole family. Sounds like you had enough on your table to begin with too!

Keep us posted.

Donna G

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Welcome to our family.

I am 3 1/2 stage IIIB survivor and 35 at diagnosis. Your sister is very lucky to have you!! Hang in there!

I would definately seek a 2nd opinion. There are many wonderful nausea drugs out there. Finding an oncologist you believe in, I think< is very important to your healing.

Also, I would not hesitate to tell the onc. about anything out of the ordinary in regards to side effects, pain management and nausea until it was relieved.

You have come to a wonderful and beautiful place. We are here for you every step of the way as you two embark on this new journey. Keep the faith.

God Bless!!

Jamie

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I am so sorry for what you family, and especially your sister, are having to go through. Like others here said, the early months are the toughest. Don't make any rash decisions about moving until things settle down a little. You can't make good decision when emotions are high.

What kind of cancer, size of tumor, where its metastisized etc are all important to what kind of treatment is appropriate. When you have some of those details, go to cancergrace.com and ask Dr West (it's free) what he thinks of your sisters treatment. Many of us here will attest that he's fabulous, a specialist in lung cancer and answers questions within 24 hours. It could be a tremendous comfort for you if your sister won't get a 2nd opinion.

I'm a one+ year survivor of IIIB, IVA in the new staging system and have been in remission since April 1. No radiation or surgery, just aggressive chemo treatment so I am offering HOPE.

Judy in Key West

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I just want to say thank you for responding and all your kind words, As for why she is not getting radiation that is a good question and i will try and find out why, As for what chemo med she is on i will get the names from her later on. I do know that she is taking 2 kinds chemo 1x week for 3 weeks then she gets a break for a week and that they are giving her very high doses because she is on dialantin for epeleptic seizures, The docs said that dialantin eats up the chemo meds. she has 2 tumors on her right lung and in the lymnodes, she had a petscan and everywhere else is clear. I think there goal is to shrink it this way they can operate. I am not crazy about the hospital she is dealing with and would rather her go to sloan kettering. She is not far from it and if i was there i would just get her in my car and take her there. I have already set it up and all she has to do is approve to send her records, she sounds hopeless on the phone and i cant allow that, I wont. I was also looking into the cyberknife treatment since one of her tumors is in a area that they cant get to. Has anyone had this ? Thank you again

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Good Morning Hope and welcome

I am sorry about your need to find a site like this but glad you have joined us.

I can't really add much to the advice you've gotten already but wanted to say hello.

Is there any possibility of your sister coming on board here and joining us? It might be very, very helpful for her to talk to some of the members here who have been through this and get some advice and idea of what she can be asking her doctors and nurses about.

Please keep posting as we are here for you!

Lots of hugs and prayers

Christine

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I am glad you are doing the research for her. There are several people here that have had cyber knife, one being Don M. You can search his posts or search cyber knife for more information from the board. She really needs a second opinion. She is young and she can survive this disease if she gets the right treatment.

Keep us posted on how she does.

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I told my sister about the website and she is just so sick she said she just does not even want to go on the computer, She said she has severe diaharear and i told her to call the doctor, She just feels so sick. She did say the pains that she had in her chest wall are going away this has been going on for months before she knew she had cancer. She has very large club fingers as well. She is questioning if the treatment is worth it. Its easy for me to say you can do it but i have no idea the hell she is going through, I just try and be her cheerleader through this. She said they are giving her a combo of Cisplatin and Gemezar, Forgive me on the spelling i am sure i am way off on how to spell the medication. Has anyone been given this combo?

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My sister had cyberknife treatments this past summer. She had a follow-up PET in Sept and the tumor was less active than the previous scan (indicative of less live cancer cells). though the size hadn't much changed. She'll be having another PET in Dec so our fingers are crossed. She tolerated the treatments very well and had previously had traditional radiation the summer before. She is 19 months out of a diagnosis of 3b NSCLC.

While I do understand how hopeless your sister feels, she at least must contact the dr and tell them how she is feeling, because it is important that they know. They may need to adjust the doses for her (I'm going to assume she doesn't know the doses she is on, my sister never did, the joke was always "that's why we have you", since I work in the field so I made a point of knowing all her details). There are many things they can do to mitigate the side effects of the treatments, but they have to know she is having them. The side effects themselves can be deadly. Diarrhea/vomiting, coupled with loss of appetite, can then lead to plummeting electrolytes, and that can be very dangerous. So it is very important your sister talk to her medical team and treat the symptoms.

Good luck. And I know how you must be feeling. I'm drivable to my sister, but I'm still in another state and 3.5 hrs away. I would move heaven and earth to help her and despite how much I've been able to do for her, I still feel helpless. Hang in there, once she gets the side effects under control, she'll feel better and feeling better leads to feeling more optimistic.

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Hi Hope

I just want to join everyone else and welcome you to this great site. As you have already seen, members here are very knowledgeable. You will receive great support here as well.

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I just think everyone on this board is so amazing. In just a few days i have learned so much about my sisters illness. I call her up all the time and tell her there are so many people out there sadly with lung cancer like her and there are so many inspiring stories of strength and courage. I wont push to go on the computer as she feels like hell this week and sleeps a lot but i told her she should go on these boards and she will in time . thank you

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Hi Hope

So glad you have found this to be a helpful site!! This really is a great bunch of people overall.

Just a suggestion but you could maybe print some of the good news posts and the posts that might be helpful to your sister and share them with her in that manner or even just read some of them to her. ANYTHING to keep her spirits up and show her that there is a ton of hope here!!!

Hugs to you and your sister,

Christine

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