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Sneaking back in - and info on radiation fibrosis


gerbil runner

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I've been mostly lurking for the past couple of months, spending more time outside with my kids. But all the losses of the past couple of weeks - especially TBone and David A - remind me that life is too short to sit by.

As for my mom, she's had more trouble being short of breath, and saw a pulmonolgist who did another round of testing and diagnosed radiation pnemonitis and possibly fibrosis. So now it's 40 mg of prednisone and hoping it clears up. So far, she's still sane :wink: , but we're all dreading the mood changes she seems prone to with steroids :shock: .

But while surfing for info, I discovered that pentoxifylline and vitamin E are being studied and show some promise in treating fibrosis. This is important, because fibrosis is usually viewed as untreatable.

Here are some links:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... s=15169810

http://bjr.birjournals.org/cgi/reprint/71/848/892.pdf

http://professional.cancerconsultants.c ... x?id=30707

Mom is hoping to recover enough pulmonary function to undergo the stem-cell transplant. Other than that, she's doing well, still NED and doing some antiquing with my dad.

Anyone suffering from shortness of breath after radiation needs to see a pulmonologist. Pneumonitis is easier to treat than fibrosis.

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Jen,

Just wondering is your mom on oxygen? Here's a little advice I am not in the medical field so I dont know if I am right about this..When my dads pulm started to wean him off of steroids is when he started to decline, from reading about others here it seems to happen more often..I dont know if there is any significance it may just be coincidence..

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