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My moms ordeal


nagynaggles

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June 25th was the day. I woke up so excited it was 6 months until Christmas! Shortly thereafter my 65 year old mother called me and told me she had went to urgent care last night because she couldn't breathe and they had found a 7cm mass in her left lung. Her self diagnosed pneumonia turned out to be lung cancer. My excitement had quickly turned to shock. Will my mother even make it until Christmas? She had a persistant cough that wouldn't let up with occassional tinges of blood. I had been nagging her to go to the doctor and have them recheck her COPD. I figured she was a pack a day smoker for the majority of her life they were just blanketing the real problem. The issue was they did not think it to be lung cancer as she had just had a screening in October 2017 that was totally clear. They did a PET scan which showed cancer in her lung, breast, liver, lymph nodes, and adrenal glands. Brain scan came out clear. Liver biopsy showed it to be advance stage small cell lung cancer. Breast biopsy confirmed.  Oncologist recommended a clinical trial. Without treatment prognosis was 4 months to live. My mom signed up. Unfortunately she would be unable to partake due to emergency chemo that had to be administered over labor day weekend due to a collapsed lung. She seems to be doing well for the most part but has developed a terrible cough so powerful she was puking up with brown sputum from her lungs (is this normal?) The oncologist told us her cancer is so advanced that they aren't going to bother with radiation. The plan now is to continue with Etoposide and Cisplantin chemo for 6 cycles every 21 days.

She has good days and bad days. Her chief complaint is she cant sleep at night. I am not ready to let her go. It just blows my mind that 1 disease can change the lives of so many people. Don't let cancer change you, change cancer. 

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  • 5 months later...

She is a fighter! She completed her preventative radiation today. Her chemotherapy was finished the first week of January. She's doing well. Her chief complaint is not being able to sleep well. I am just glad to still have her with me.  

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/11/2019 at 6:49 PM, Eugenia Gregorio said:

I'm so glad to hear that you're mom is doing well!  My mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and going through chemotherapy.  Her confidence and motivation is so low - Any tips on how to keep her upbeat day to day?  She just wants to sleep all day.

I am surprised that nobody posted any tips for you. Tell your mom to stay strong and to fight. Make sure she eats well. Think positive. Tell her that no cancer has 100% mortality rate. While survival rates are not amazingly high, we must keep in mind there are thousands of Stage 4 lung cancer survivor living today 10, 15, 20 years after diagnosis. STAY STRONG!

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