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Dad passed away July 10, 2004


Guest sandra.sobotka

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Guest sandra.sobotka

Friends,

My Dad (78) passed away on July 10, 2004 after a brave and valliant fight to survive stage 4 lung cancer. He had just finished his whole brain radiation treatments on July 6th and we were so happy that he seemed to make it through without any major problems. However, one side effect of Decadron (a steroid required when you have metastatis to the brain) is that it makes your legs, hips and arms weak. Thus, on Tuesday (July 6th - - Dad's last treatment) the radiologist told us that Dad's weakness was due to the steriod and that his strength should slowly improve after being weaned off the steriod. The very next day Dad got much weaker and Thursday was worse. We assumed it was still the decadron and overall tiredness from radiation treatments catching up with Dad, but we were still relieved he was going to see the oncologist on Friday to cofirm. Unfortunately, we ended up in the hospital that day and Dad did not return home. WARNING - - if your weakness goes from bad to worse (sudden) this is NOT the Decadron, but most likely infection. Go directly to the hospital. We did not know this and by the time we took Dad to the hospital on Friday morning his infection had reached his blood stream. They tried giving him antibotics, plateletts and neupagen (spelling?), but it was too late.

One question for those who have had brain radiation treatements. Did your radiologist check your blood counts during treatment? My Dad's radiologist did not, but it seems like a very important part of this type of treatment and I would highly recommend it for anyone else needing radiation treatments in the future.

Take care and God Bless,

Sandy

Loving Daughter of Eugene, at peace July 10, 2004

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Sandy, I am so, so, sorry for your loss. Wishing you strength to help you with this most difficult of things to get through. You are not alone, so please stick around and let us know how you and your family are going.

Sending you love

Jana

xx

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Sandy,

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Please stick around while you are healing, even if you are just "absorbing" posts and not responding. Lean on us, as a collective, we're a pretty tough bunch!

Again, so sorry.

Becky

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Sandy,

Condolences and prayers for you family. I too was on Decadron for a brain met. No blood tests were done. I didn't have WBR, I had surgery to remove tumor and Stereotactic Radiation (one treatment.) It does zap your energy, I am still recovering from the fatigue. The decadron is awful, I was on 3mg per day max and had to wean myself off, doctor's didn't help. I wouldn't let doctors give me a higher dose, I read what it does to a person, it is a brutal drug. The doctor's don't tell you the side effects...

God Bless, prayers and hugs,

Karen

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