7 posts shown.
vividsailor7 said:Everything you said is true, though I suppose I’d just call it reality. Of course, any outcome is possible.
I guess the best way is a direct approach, but obviously you shouldn't just walk in and say, "Hi, your father has liver cancer," and then bolt out of the room. You need empathy, I guess, but there has to be a limit.
I had a similar experience with her doctor in Miami. She basically told me right at the door: "Your mother's tumor markers are extremely high, she has a 7x4 cm malignant tumor in her right lung, we're waiting on the CT scan to see if it spread to the bone, then I'll let you know if she's heading to Mayo Clinic for surgery or chemo, I have to go, I'm in a huge rush!" And then she just left me standing there in total shock... Thank Bog that not all doctors are like that!!!
Mom came back from the city last night after her chemo session. Looking at her medical history, I see they added Setronon via IV alongside the TH, though she’s still taking her regular Reglan three times a day before meals. She uses Tramadol for the pain, too. It looks like they swapped Zypantola for Nexium? I called her oncologist, and he mentioned she needs to come in for a "full workup" at the end of the month, so we'll just have to see what happens then (her records show they want another abdominal ultrasound and a chest X-ray). Honestly, she seemed to be struggling a bit more with her breathing this morning, so I guess I'm worried she might be retaining fluid again...
Lisa Sullivan96 said:Hey everyone, hanging in there during this tough time.
My mom had surgery for breast Carcinoma on July 31st—they removed the whole thing. She’s been doing chemo since August 29th. I don't have all the medical records handy to paste here, but I will later.
On October 31st, she finished her 4th cycle, and it was by far the hardest one, especially tonight. She was mostly okay all day, then suddenly she just stood up and couldn't stop vomiting for two hours straight.
She was crying from the pain, screaming about her stomach, while clutching her chest at the same time. Usually, my mom has such a high pain tolerance, so I honestly couldn't believe what I saw today.
I guess I'm wondering how to help her when this happens again? She can't eat or drink anything, loses all her strength, cries, and the vomiting just won't quit. Is there any way to make this easier for her?
Has anyone gone through something similar who could suggest some pills or tea to prevent this?
Lisa, maybe try calling her primary care doctor if you can't get a hold of the oncologist. I did that when my mom was in terrible pain after one of her treatments. They prescribed Zypantol and Tramadol, which helps sometimes, though last Saturday they didn't work at all. I suppose she just has to push through it, especially after several rounds when the body is already saturated with all those chemicals. Anyway, ginger and orange tea (you can find it at CVS) might ease the reaction a bit, along with Linden tea and maybe Lexaurin. Just stay strong for her; I know from experience it isn't easy. My mom actually said on Saturday that she wasn't going to go on Tuesday, even though it's her last one for now, but my dad and I managed to talk her into it since it's the end of this stretch...
vividsailor7 said:Based on clinical indications, they should probably perform a GI workup—specifically an EGD endoscopy—along with a PPI assessment and more detailed esophageal testing.
The prognosis for any lung carcinoma is poor, and in this case, there are also bone metastases present.
Mom finishes her sixth cycle of therapy tomorrow. Her oncologist said she’ll have a break until Christmas, then they'll run a CT scan of the lungs, a scintigraphy, and bloodwork—probably markers. I guess what worries me is that four days after this last treatment, she was in terrible pain. She took everything prescribed—Reglan, Zypantol, Tramadol, even Lexaurin, plus ginger tea, linden, and aloe—but the pain just wouldn't stop all day. Maybe it's a reaction to the chemo? I don't know, since the pain isn't always this intense every single day; some days it's barely there at all.
vividsailor7 said:Regarding your situation, I'll take a look whenever I can find a moment. Otherwise, I don't go into detail regarding non-digestive tumors—like lung, brain, ovarian, or hematological ones—since gastroenterology just isn't my specialty. That's why my info on HCC is thorough, while the stuff about tathin is, well, let's just say it's a bit thin.
I don't want to overstep, but I'll try to look into this over the weekend..
I completely understand, and thanks in advance!
urbandrifter4 said:Thanks to everyone who replied to my question, but things turned out way worse than we ever imagined. My father-in-law passed away on Saturday night. Last week he started his first five days of chemo, and he didn't have any nausea or anything noticeable at all. Saturday seemed like just another day, though he lost his appetite over the last few days and barely ate. We actually took him to the ER on Saturday night thinking maybe they could give him an IV or something to strengthen him up—he was actually holding up pretty well, but we were just uneasy. While we were waiting in line at the ER, he just suddenly collapsed and died. They tried to resuscitate him, but it didn't help. I guess it was just meant to be like that.
Dear Lea, please accept my sincere condolences.😢
I get it, because there's no saving my mom either; I suppose the only question is how long this agony will last😕... I kind of hoped that vividsailor7 would give me some sort of prognosis, but he’s probably just too busy.
Hi everyone. I decided to join this forum to ask for some help. My mom (68) was diagnosed with lung carcinoma. It all started back in April with pain under her right shoulder blade, coughing, shallow breathing, and shortness of breath. At first, she was treated with Ketoral injections, then her doctor heard something in her lungs and prescribed an antibiotic. Since the gasping and coughing just kept getting worse and her breathing more shallow, she had an X-ray for pleural effusion and a puncture was done. The cytology results showed carcinoma—maybe adenocarcinoma? While she was at the hospital in San Diego, they did a lung CT which showed a 7x4 cm tumor, and a bone scan. The scans showed pathological activity visible in the middle third area...
Right clavicle, then area around the 5th rib on the left front, plus the 3rd rib on the left back, and the 5th rib on the left again. I guess.
The ultrasound showed something on the 7th rib, left side of the back. The cytology results from the bronchoscopy aren't great either—they found some small clusters of malignant cells in the samples. I guess it's looking like carcinoma.
Hyperchromatic nuclei, inconspicuous nucleoli, and sparse to moderate amounts of cytoplasm... or so they say.
The slides only show stuff under section I)—bronchial epithelium, squamous cells, mucus, and debris, I guess.
Red blood cells. I guess.
The diagnosis.
Maybe it’s an adenocarcinoma? Or just some kind of carcinoma... I guess it's hard to tell without more info.
She’s currently undergoing chemo at Mayo Clinic. She just finished the second part of her fifth cycle using gemcitabine and cisplatin back on October 16th. After that fourth cycle wrapped up, she had a CT scan done at Mayo—specifically a chest and abdomen scan. That abdominal CT was completed on September 28th... I guess.
So, they just diagnosed me with a right-sided bronchial neoplasm. I guess that means cancer. Maybe.
The CT scans of the chest show an extensive, poorly defined mass on the right side. I guess... maybe it's just a shadow, but it looks significant.
It looks like there's an expansive, infiltrative process measuring about 7 cm on the transverse slices, which seems to be infiltrating... I guess. Maybe.
The end of the main bronchus and the entire bronchial tree near the hilum... it seems to be spreading into the surrounding area. I guess.
The bifurcation angle appears to be in direct contact with the esophagus. In the surrounding lung parenchyma, there are irregular zones showing increased absorption coefficients and some consolidation, which might...
It looks like there's some spreading in the primary process, and the ventilation seems to be getting interrupted too. I guess both lungs are showing it.
There's a higher number of small malignant lesions, which I guess mostly points to hematogenous spread of the tumor.
It looks like there’s a moderate pleural effusion showing up on the right side, but I guess nothing was noted on the left.
The results are in. I guess there aren't any enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum. No pericardial effusion either, maybe.
The liver looks to be a normal size. Based on the native slices, the parenchyma appears homogeneous with no signs of anything unusual.
There are some significant changes. The ultrasound shows mixed stones in the gallbladder. There’s also some bile duct dilation, I guess.
The bile ducts aren't visible. I guess the liver looks okay—size seems normal and the parenchyma appears fine, maybe.
The spleen looks normal. I guess the adrenal glands are also fine in terms of shape and size.
An ultrasound showed a cyst about 7.3 cm large on the dorsal side of the right kidney's middle section. The kidneys seem okay otherwise, I guess.
Looks normal. The parenchyma on the native slices shows a regular structure. No signs of hydronephrosis.
The results came back. Apparently, the bladder was empty, so they couldn't even perform the analysis properly. I guess the uterus and adnexa areas look normal, though.
It looks like it. I guess they didn't find any morphological changes in the gut that this method could actually detect. Maybe.
No enlarged lymph nodes were found within the abdomen. There's no sign of ascites, I guess.
The ultrasound shows some kind of large, soft mass, maybe about 2 cm, with these hard, sclerotic edges that seems to be eating away at the second lumbar vertebra. I guess.
The findings mostly point toward secondary issues, I guess. Sometimes you can see a few spots on the bones... maybe.
Small sclerotic zones of unknown etiology, I guess. Maybe.
Bone scan: results are still pending, I guess.
The tumor marker levels came back at 3.0 ng/ml... I guess that’s what they are. Maybe it means something.
CBC results: WBC 8.3. Hgb 99. Plt 840, Seg 72.
Biochemistry results: bilirubin is high at 8.6, urea is 4.6, creatinine is 55. BUN is 6.4. Potassium is 4.6, sodium is 131, chlorides are 93, calcium... I guess.
Iron at 2.35, iron 2.9, UIBC 46.3. TIBC 49.3. Iron saturation is 5.9, ALP 63, GGT 22, AST 16, ALT 7, LD... I guess. Maybe just some labs.
188.
Can any doctors on here give me an actual prognosis? I'm wondering how likely it is that the cardia will compress, or if it’ll hit the esophagus next. Yesterday, she wasn't just complaining about nausea from the chemo; she was showing me the pain with her whole palm, like everything from her throat down through her entire digestive tract and chest hurts. Her specialist at Mayo Clinic is satisfied with the CT and scintigraphy results—nothing has spread further compared to the last scans—so he wants to go ahead with another round of chemo (making it six total) before taking a break. He hasn't mentioned radiation lately.