Posts by Angela Wright

Daniel Nguyen5 said:Hello everyone. I’m reaching out here in the hopes that someone might be able to help me. I am currently six months pregnant, and for quite some time now, I have been dealing with this unbearable, relentless itching on my hands, palms, and feet. After being bounced around through several incorrect diagnoses from my primary care doctor, my OBGYN, and
even my dermatologist, it has finally been confirmed that I have Scabies. I am honestly in shock and just feeling so much disbelief. I went back to get it confirmed one more time because I can't wrap my head around it. I am asking anyone who has dealt with this to please recommend a private dermatologist to me—it doesn't matter where they are located, I just need someone who actually knows how to handle this, rather than a revolving door of specialists giving me the wrong answers. I am willing to travel to any city if necessary. At this point, I don't trust anyone in my local area; I just want to be cured before my baby arrives. If you aren't comfortable advertising a name publicly, please just send me a private message. Thank you all.

http://www.pfizer.com/health/information...about-scabies.html
Make sure to talk to your OBGYN first to weigh the risks to the baby before using any topical treatments.
You need to deep-clean your entire living space, including all clothing, bedding, and furniture.

Linda Ortiz49 said:Maybe I got mixed up, but I think those were the names of those injections; she was getting them from her primary care physician. I don't have my mom's medical records right here, but I'll double-check.

The Oncologist was baffled that the GP was prescribing it, but it worked every single time. When we asked all those questions about whether things like bacon or popcorn might help, she just shrugged and said, "You can try whatever you want..."

I simply cannot wrap my head around why he’d get that specifically for that purpose—presumably to make chemo easier to stomach by dulling some of the side effects. The Oncologist was surprised because Dexamethasone is covered under Medicare, and let's be honest, Medicare is pretty stingy with these things. Usually, a 4ml dose of Dex is strictly for hospital administration, whereas for home use, you're looking at 0.5mg tablets. Normally, she should have received that Dex in the hospital setting. It honestly surprises me the Oncologist didn't lose her cool, considering the GP was essentially making the call without consulting a specialist.
From what I understand, Dex is actually contraindicated during something like a bacterial infection or when white blood cell counts are already bottoming out, since it suppresses the immune system—and we all know the white cell count is already crashing during treatment.

My only logical conclusion is that people are being fed these stories because Neupogen and Neulasta are incredibly expensive.

EDIT: Okay, I found that leukocytosis can be a rare side effect of taking Dex—about 1 in 1,000 to 10,000 cases. But trying to cling to that tiny statistic and hoping it somehow works for an oncology patient whose white cells are plummeting due to chemo is absolute madness, especially when there are medications available that provide almost instant results.

Linda Ortiz49 said:My mom was given Dexamethasone when her white blood cell count dropped so low she couldn't handle chemo; those injections bumped her numbers up within a day or two.🤷

I haven't heard of that before,🤷 so I did a quick Google search and came up empty.
From what I’ve seen dealing with people going through really aggressive chemo, every single time their white cell counts tanked, they were put on Neupogen.

If anyone happens to have a link or some info on using Dex like that, I’d really appreciate it.

hollowridge88 said:Well, we’re finally back from the hospital. They had to push back Mom's chemo session because her white blood cell count dropped too low—it's sitting at 2.8 right now. She was given a Dexamethasone injection to boost her white blood cell count. She’s taking Pepto-Bismol for her stomach now. We'll see how much that actually helps come Tuesday. She also developed a UTI, which probably caused her white blood cell count to drop. My mom has been dealing with this horrific dry cough for three weeks straight; it keeps her up all night, makes her feel like she can't breathe, and just tears her throat apart. Is this even normal given her diagnosis? Regarding cough suppressants, we started with some tablets her primary care doctor prescribed (I can't recall the exact name), then moved to Codeine, and now we're on Pholcodine. We even tried some over-the-counter syrup to soothe it... but nothing is really working. Codeine helped, I guess, but only a tiny bit, and she isn't allowed to take more because she's limited to just one box a month. Does anyone have any advice on how to ease this cough? The strain from coughing so hard is causing her so much physical pain—her back, her ribs, her kidneys, her leg... everything hurts. She is just completely exhausted and worn out by all of this. Thanks.

Look, Dexamethasone isn't used to boost your white blood cell count. It’s an anti-inflammatory, sure, but it also acts as an immunosuppressant. If you're looking to actually raise those leukocyte levels, you'd be talking about Neupogen or a Neulasta injection.
Did you mention that Mom has a UTI, and is she being treated for it? If the culprit is something like E. coli, we’re looking at a potentially dangerous situation given how low her white blood cell count is. Bacteria can easily spread through the system and trigger sepsis. Normally, your white blood cell count would spike to fight off an infection, but since your mom is undergoing chemotherapy, those cells—the very ones responsible for killing off foreign invaders—have been wiped out.
Get her to a doctor right away for some antibiotics if she hasn't started them yet, and you absolutely have to boost her immune system with probiotics. If you want a natural way to get those white blood cell counts up, nothing beats some good old-fashioned bacon and garlic—it’s worked wonders in several cases that looked pretty much hopeless.

You’re just going to babble 😁

Dennis Davis5 said:What kind of illnesses can you actually catch from kissing—you know, via saliva? Off the top of my head, I'm thinking mono, bacteria, fungi.

Just so we're clear, mono is caused by two different viruses, CMV and EBV. There's a literal trillion different bugs out there—viruses, bacteria, fungi—that spread through respiratory droplets or saliva.
I don't get it. You want me to sit here and list every single one? 🤷

crimsongull20 said:Look, I’ll be the first to admit I’m pretty clueless when it comes to cancer. It’s been years since my old man passed away, and we were living in different cities during his illness—which, honestly, went by incredibly fast. Most of what I knew came second-hand from my mother, and she wasn't exactly a reliable source of medical facts. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma—I can't recall the specific subtype—at an advanced stage, apparently starting in a groin lymph node. He had no prior history of cancer, and the only reason he was getting an X-ray was because of a kidney stone stuck in his ureter. That scan was done without any protective shielding, so there's no question he wasn't being irradiated as part of some other cancer treatment.

Standard X-ray radiation just isn't intense enough to trigger or drive the development of lymphoma.

crimsongull20 said:My dad dealt with night sweats, weakness, weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, and an enlarged spleen. For nearly a year, his friend kept telling him it was just stress, and he ended up getting sent home from the ER three separate times without anyone giving him any actual follow-up advice. He was eventually diagnosed with late-stage Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and lived for only 8 months after that.

The primary carcinoma was found in a groin lymph node. Thirteen years prior, because of a misdiagnosis, he had an X-ray where the technician forgot to use a lead shield, and they told him it wouldn't be wise to try for kids for a few years. It’s driving me crazy—what are the odds that he was irradiated enough back then to trigger a disease that started right in his groin?

Wait, did you mention before that your dad already had some kind of cancer? Remind me if you wrote that?
By the way, carcinoma isn't the same thing as lymphoma. They come from entirely different cell types. Carcinomas originate in epithelial cells, whereas lymphomas stem from cells within the immune system. In that sense, the differences are massive; they are treated differently, they progress differently, and they have different prognoses. It’s unlikely for a primary carcinoma to show up in a lymph node; usually, that’s just a metastasis from a primary tumor located somewhere else.
Beyond lymphomas and carcinomas, you also have sarcomas which come from connective tissue, leukemias from blood-forming cells, melanomas from melanocytes, and gliomas from brain cells.
So, "cancer" isn't just one thing, even though people here tend to use the word as a catch-all term for everything because it's such a heavy, taboo subject that everyone avoids talking about directly.

Regarding radiation: yes, any part of the body that has been irradiated carries a risk of developing a new malignancy over several years as a consequence of that exposure. That’s why modern radiation equipment is becoming incredibly precise, designed to target only the diseased cells.

A lot of people I know who have dealt with lymphoma told me one of the very first red flags they noticed was pain in their neck lymph nodes right after drinking alcohol.
A friend of mine got sick when she was about 16. For her, it started out looking like typical symptoms—a sore throat, pain when swallowing—and she ended up going through rounds of antibiotics while her neck nodes were slightly swollen. We went down to Miami for vacation, and that summer she spent all her time swimming in the ocean. My old man used to buy this pure blueberry juice in huge quantities, and we were drinking liters of it; during that month-long stretch, all her symptoms actually vanished. But as soon as autumn rolled around and we headed back home, her neck swelled up aggressively. I vividly remember her having a growth on her neck the size of a hand, and that’s when they finally figured out what was actually going on. On top of that, she tested positive for EBV, which seems to be almost a universal rule for everyone fighting lymphoma.

Bradley Barrett2 said:Since nobody seems to be responding, I figured I’d drop an update here.
I started throwing up, and I didn't get a wink of sleep all night.
My body just kept forcing it, and once there was nothing left in my stomach, the headaches kicked in along with this sharp pain in my lower right side and that weird tingling sensation during
vomiting. The burping hasn't stopped either, though it's definitely dialed back a bit.

Get to the ER immediately.
It could be anything from gallbladder issues to severe acid reflux, or even some kind of food poisoning.

driftingsurfer14 said:I’m guessing the delay is because of all the holiday madness. I call those guys every single day, but they just wait until someone from Merkur gets back, then they tell me I can just try calling again tomorrow. 😢

Give pathology at Merkur a call and see what the deal is.

@hollowridge88 hang in there. The fact that the lumps under the skin are receding is actually a good sign. It means the therapy is actually doing something. Think of cancer like a wild boar—it goes absolutely berserk once it's wounded. Just focus on staying strong and don't let your spirits drop; if you lose heart, you're basically handing the disease the upper hand and letting it take total control of your life.

driftingsurfer14 said:I'm good, thanks.🙂 I honestly hope that PhD arrives soon too; we've been waiting 18 days, which feels like an absolute eternity.

That’s way too much, and they won't stop obsessing over their phones either.

driftingsurfer14 said:Thanks 🙂
They basically hinted that we'll need an oncologist, which is why I started looking into it, but I’ll double-check with them once the test results are actually in hand. Is it just a matter of sending the referral through the central scheduling system, or is there some other bureaucratic hoop to jump through?

Give the hematology department at Memorial Sloan Kettering a call and ask. I don't think you'll be stuck on a waiting list there.

driftingsurfer14 said:Hey everyone, I’m jumping into this thread to ask for some advice.
My dad was just diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. We’re currently waiting on the official pathology results from Merkur to confirm everything, but the doctors have already performed the lymph node biopsies and completed the initial analysis. Since the local clinic doesn't have an oncology department, we have to schedule his appointments at a different facility. Does anyone have recommendations for a specific cancer center or a particular oncologist? Also, based on what you've been through, what does the next step in the procedure usually look like? Thanks so much. 🙂

Lymphomas actually fall under hematology rather than general oncology, so if you want the best care, I strongly suggest heading to the hematology department at Memorial Sloan Kettering and seeing Dr. Aurer.

Elizabeth Davis said:71? I know some people think that's ancient, but my great-grandmother—his mother-in-law—passed away this year at 94 from natural causes, so 71 doesn't feel old to me at all.

I know exactly how that feels. This past summer, I had to bury my aunt. She spent three years flat-out refusing to admit she had breast cancer, let alone agreeing to surgery, radiation, or chemo. Once things turned ugly, she just gave up. She was 80, and trying to convince her of anything was like hitting a brick wall. It was her choice, plain and simple, and as heartbreaking as it was for the family, we had to respect her decision.

As for getting a second opinion, you often have to look outside your local network. Our doctors and hospitals here are basically all playing by the same playbook. These days, it’s not even that difficult to get a remote consultation via email; you just have to be willing to pay for it.

Elizabeth Davis said:It’s that classic "we can't officially say anything, but..." routine. Of course they offered other options like chemo, but they were essentially hinting that there's no cure, and surgery probably isn't an option anymore. Honestly, I don't think any major hospital would just flat-out refuse a surgery like that, if you ask me.
They mentioned from the jump that the surgery was complicated, but once the new CT scans came back, they just froze up and sent him home.

My dad has this favorite mantra he repeats constantly: "Thinking is damn hard work!" And I’ll add to that: you’d be shocked at what our hospitals and medical boards are capable of doing when they prioritize protecting the budget and Medicare over actually helping the patient. That is the cold, hard reality. That's why you have to hunt down at least three more opinions, and I’d go as far as to bet that there's always *something* else available. There is always something, it's just that we often lack the faith, the enthusiasm, the funding, the expertise, or access to the right clinical studies. You also have to be realistic about biology—sometimes a disease just follows its own path. From the beginning, you have to frame the fight primarily around extending the quality of life. Some people hit remission only to lose the battle later because of a relapse, and quite often, someone living with a chronic illness might experience periods of dormancy or slow progression.
In that sense, I’m echoing what garudaban posted as well.
GET A SECOND OPINION!

hollowridge88 said:My God... does everything everywhere just have to be about her and how much she's suffering?!? 😢

Unfortunately, that's just the nature of this disease. It breaks my heart that you have to go through this right alongside her. It's a gut-wrenching feeling that still haunts me whenever I think back to 😢

hollowridge88 said:Here I am again... I was bathing my mother, who has been diagnosed with "Right lung carcinoma (adenocarcinoma), adrenal gland metastasis," about a week ago. I didn't notice anything unusual or new besides some lumps (metastases) on her body, but yesterday, while giving her another bath, I noticed a hard lump on her left breast. It feels like an egg—rough, firm to the touch, and it hurts her when I touch it. I’ve been doing some reading, and everything seems to point toward breast cancer. Has anyone dealt with this? Can anyone help me out or explain if this could actually be it, or if there's something else it could be? Is it possible for the cancer to have spread to the breast? Thanks!

Most likely 😢

Thanks for the response, Nicholas Myers!
I honestly think there’s a chance I might have actually walked right through it. There was this stretch where we were all feeling totally wiped out, dealing with constant coughing and sniffles, plus I was running a low-grade fever right around the time before my first gallbladder attack. It’s entirely possible those two things overlapped. Tomorrow, I’m heading to my primary care doctor to get a referral so I can run a liver panel again.

Maria Fisher46 said:Hey Angela Wright,

If I’m reading this right, here’s your serology profile:

anti-EBV VCA IgG POSITIVE
anti-EBV EA IgG POSITIVE
anti-EBV EBNA IgG POSITIVE

(Note how there is only IgG listed for every parameter—VCA, EA, and EBNA)?

A result like this doesn't point to an active, acute infection with this virus.

The reality is that up to 90% of the adult population carries these antibodies. Likewise, about 90% of infections in infants and young children pass by without anyone even noticing. Generally speaking, the later you catch it and the more mature your immune system is, the more severe the symptoms tend to be. Also, people who have already had mono can still shed the virus through their saliva from time to time, so just because you've had it before doesn't mean you can't pass it on to someone else.

Double-check those labs one more time; it would be helpful if you could write out everything, including any titers if they provided them.

That said, I suspect (though I won't say I'm 100% certain) that this virus isn't what's driving your elevated liver enzymes. While it's true that an EBV infection can sometimes show up primarily as liver issues without other major symptoms, it would be highly unusual for everything to drag on this long without seeing some movement in the transaminase levels.

Admittedly, this specific combination of EBV serology results is the trickiest to interpret (especially with that positive EA), which leads to some conflicting info in medical literature regarding what this exact mix means, but it doesn't indicate an acute infection.

So, all hepatitis tests and CMV came back negative. Regarding the EBV part, it says:
Anti-EBV VCA/EA IgG positive
Anti-EBV VCA IgM negative
Anti-EBV EBNA IgG positive
I looked into this at Mayo Clinic, and for some reason, they don't list the titers. I was googling it, though, and it seems like those numbers are actually important for seeing the full picture.
What on earth is happening to me?! I survived an incredibly high-risk pregnancy involving HELLP, pushed through it all, and dealt with a subpar hospital without any infections, and now, out of nowhere, once everything has finally settled down, this happens. I'm waiting for my doctor to get back from his ski trip to figure out the next steps. I'm honestly dreading this because I can see they're going to keep digging and it might end with a biopsy.
So, can I at least go out in public? I mean, I'm not contagious, right? I'm running out of excuses for why I can't hang out with people.