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progress report on my sister


Mary

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We saw the radiologist on Monday. My sister has been very upset to her stomach since going in for whole brain radiation. He prescribed a steroid for her to take. He said that the cancer to the femur did not show up in the xray but that did not mean it was not there. I know its easy to bash doctors but this one has the personality of pond scum. "If its one place its a 1000 places." whatever

We saw the oncologist on Thursday. He is going to hold off on a new chemo treatment until after radiation and Gamma Knife are done. Then he will be starting her on carbo/gemzar. He does not think the cancer is in her femur. Who to believe?

The brightest spot on the horizon is that my sister has agreed to go to Staten Island University Hospital for stereotactic body radiosurgery. We will fedex her scans and other information on Monday and should here if she is accepted as a patient by the following tuesday. Cross your finger and toes and anything else that you can for us.

Keeping the Faith,

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Mary,

Could you find out for us from Dr Lederman his success rate?

You may or may not know he treated George Harrison of the Beatles.

I heard from an source that he may be leaving Staten Island to go on his own. Probably don't wont to mention this to him directly, though because I am not sure if I am supposed to know.

It does sound promising though. I am sure everyone is praying for your sister. I found a link that they are doing this in Germany.

Take care,

John

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Mary, its great that your sister is going for the Gamma Knife. My dad had it in Jan, and is doing GREAT!! You mentioned Staten Island, are you from NY? Let us know how the Steriotatic Body Radiosurgury goes, I like to keep everything in my mind, in case something comes up with my dad, or even with my mom, now. Keep us posted, as Judy said, Fingers, toes and eyes crossed. Sending a prayer and positive vibes as well. Take care, Deb

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Mary

I'll be praying for your sister and you that all turns out good for her. This ugly stuff has a way of hitting us all up along side of the head.

I want to tell you that you did insert some humor in your posting as I got a good chuckle out of you calling the doctor's personality "pond scum". I am still laughing on that.

Good Luck and God Bless

Sue M

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Thank you all for the support and encouragement. I will keep you posted about whether we get accepted to SIUH. My family lives in Virginia Beach so we would be making the trip to New York for treatment. I had two of my sister's boys stay overnight yesterday. They are just such awesome kids and so torn up about their mom.( Ages 15 and 13) I think they are just now starting to realize how serious it is. It seems really unfair that children have to deal with cancer.

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I understand that kids react differently than adults about serious illness and death. They usually don't express themselves openly and hide their emotions and concerns. Of course, that is a generality. But you might talk with them openly and see if you can do anything for them, like listening to whatever they want to share. Don

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Dear Mary,

Your right it is unfair for kids to have to deal with cancer espeicially when the cancer patient is your mom or dad! I was 17 when my dad was dx.d with his lung cancer. Back then we didn't discuss cancer, or feelings, or fear, sadness, or happiness, etc...... However we have come a long ways today with our kids.

I totally agree with Don on getting the kids INVOLVED with there mom.

They are old enough to understand, (about as much at times as we do!) so I would think it would be very helpful if they thought or felt that they were part of there mom's care as well as you and others.

I would sit them down and really have a heart to heart with them. OR I would tell your sister to do that. YES THEY WILL ALL CRY!!! THAT'S GOOD, and then they will be able to talk after they all get done with a healthy cry!!! I am very very close to my grand-neice and back when I started my journey, she was only 5 years old, but she was a smart as a whip. We told her lots of things, and she even went with me when I got my CT scan's and did my CHEMO and RADIATION, she watched. It gave her a sense of comfort to know I was being well taken care of, and it also made her feel like she was a part of helping me in my journey. (sigh)! Well, she will be 13 this Friday and she STILL talks about when she went with me for my CT scan's and chemo & radiation treatments. She still to this day will go with me to a yearly checkup, if she can.

There are books that you can get from ACS regarding teenaged children living with a parent that has cancer. You might want to give them a call and see if they can send you one.

Do let the kids be a part of this. After all these years of not having my dad with me, I still wish we could have talked about it back then. Although he and I would sneak and talk about it a little!!! :wink: Then my dad would say to me, "don't tell your mom we talked about this"! GOOD MEMORIES!!

Good luck and my best to you all.

Warm and Gentle Hugs,

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