Posts by Grace Lewis6

Donna Ruiz67 said:Of course, I kept wondering if there was more I could have done.

I just can't stop thinking about this question....

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copperbison822 said:Hey everyone, I could really use some advice...
My mom has breast cancer that has spread to her bones. She’s been practically bedridden since the diagnosis, and now we're facing this final stage. She spends most of her time sleeping, talking to loved ones who have passed away, and she gets angry quite often. Trying to get her to take even a single painkiller has become an almost impossible mission. Yesterday, the palliative care team was here while my dad was alone with her, and they told him they could teach him how to administer an IV drip himself, saying it wouldn't be a problem. I was honestly shocked. My dad is 70 years old, and he's becoming physically ill just from the stress of all this. Is that even normal? To make matters worse, her doctor is the type who just answers everything with "I don't know." We all feel so lost, and we have no idea what our rights are or what we can actually ask for. Even the home health nurse who visits five times a week is afraid to touch the IV...

No, it isn't right, but that's just how things are. You either deal with the system being this sluggish, or you fight it...

neoncyclist792 said:My dad passed away this Monday. He was waiting for all of us to get there so we could be by his side when he went... It hasn't even been two months since the diagnosis. I don't even have the strength to write about the hospital or the healthcare system right now...

My deepest condolences...

All those teams sound great and offer everything you need, provided they actually have stock when you need it.
We got our princess right away; we just had to pick her up at the CIA. We waited a few days for a bed to become available, then rented a van and went to a warehouse to grab it. After that, we passed it directly on to another family.
We ended up buying a mattress.
What I really resent is that you get absolutely zero help on the weekends when things get intense; you're basically stuck with just the ER. They simply don't want to come out to the house because, well, a terminal patient is hurting or moaning, and they aren't able to take painkillers anymore. That last weekend is going to haunt me forever. It took five calls before we finally convinced them to come out and administer a pain injection.

If you're looking to get anything for "free," you usually need a specialist's recommendation. It’s entirely possible they'll require a referral from a physiatrist.
We decided to just buy the mattress ourselves, because once pressure sores start developing, there's no going back. Caring for someone in end-of-life care is hard enough without having to deal with bedsores. It costs about $80.

Which city are you in? The local health department needs to provide every bit of information and support available. There shouldn't be any "I don't know" excuses; they need to ease the suffering for both the patient and the family immediately. In our experience, we were able to get home nursing, visiting care, and palliative support all within 24 hours. We even got certain medical supplies, like a hospital bed... But you really have to stay persistent.

neoncyclist792 said:Please help, my father is in the terminal stage of lung cancer. I saw some posts about the right to have home health services come by to administer an IV infusion, so could someone point me toward the specific law or a link regarding that? We had to take Dad to the local clinic yesterday via ambulance just to get an infusion because he isn't eating anything and is dealing with diarrhea. It was such a grueling experience for him—so painful and traumatic. His primary doctor's office is claiming it's impossible to have an infusion administered at home and insists he has to come into the clinic if he needs it again, or we just leave him there, which we refuse to do.

You really need to reach out to a palliative care team. Standard home health nurses don't handle IV infusions...

Robin Diaz4 said:We packed all the meds into a box and dropped them off at the palliative care service. I'm not sure what they did with them, but I really hope they were able to help someone else...

Thanks, that sounds like a great idea!

Hi there,
I have a few boxes of Nolvadex left over from treatment for metastatic breast cancer.
I wasn't sure if it was even worth posting here, but I wanted to ask if it makes any sense to donate these for someone else's treatment... Or should I just take them to the hospital? I'm really not sure...
Should I just toss them in the recycling or drop them off at a local pharmacy instead?

We really are a messy bunch of people.
It’s honestly wild to me that back in the 90s, when religious education was first being brought in under what was basically a dictatorship disguised as a new democracy, those Vatican treaty clauses were way more flexible.

I didn't attend religion class—probably about a third of my classes—so we’d just sleep through the early periods or head straight home once the more devout kids finished their lessons. I wonder if things are still like that at that school today.

So, it was possible then, but isn't now... and I'm not naive enough to miss the point. It’s typical that this kind of forced religious imposition, the massive inflation of church-run schools, the protests, and all that chaos in the streets usually happens whenever a conservative administration is in power.

I’m pretty sure we’ll get a break from at least half of these aggressive displays once the Republicans take over the government, which I’m guessing will happen symbolically on November 18th.☕

Justice might be slow, but it eventually arrives 😉
Back when I was active on Rekra about seven years ago 😱, you were honestly one of the kindest people on the forums.
If I were still posting regularly, I’d probably have had to block half the other users just to keep my sanity.

Nicole Newman15 said:It says the value is 300 here, but my doctor just said it was elevated without being anything too serious.

Jesus, Andrew, I am so sorry!
I was looking at the CRP!
Honestly, just ignore everything I wrote earlier...😬

It might have been some specific lab somewhere, though I doubt it. Based on my experience with various labs, both local and out-of-state, they usually allow up to 5. Some places even go as low as 1...

A level of 5 is totally normal. I had a massive spike in my CRP when I was dealing with Salmonella...

@ velvetmoose9

Thanks 😉

I have another question, though it isn't about me, but rather an older woman I know 😉
How concerning should we be about an elevated blood glucose reading (6.9, while the lab's upper limit is 6.1 or 6.2)?

This was from last year, and everything before that was fine. She’s a relatively healthy lady, currently taking Skopril, Concor, and Rosix.
Her primary care doctor mentioned that the result is okay.

@ Nicholas Myers, hey 👍
My heart finally feels at peace now...

Maria Fisher46 said:So, looking back at everything you mentioned, it seems like those symptoms were definitely there, along with some blood in your urine. Now the real question is whether this is truly asymptomatic bacteriuria or if there are actually symptoms involved, since you noticed things felt different than usual...

Even in that scenario, there’s just no excuse for being prescribed two different antibiotics, especially not over a 20-day stretch... you wouldn't even treat a kidney infection like pyelonephritis for that long...

Anyway, there are... Guidelines... It’s all right there if you want to look up how to treat urinary tract infections; you can see exactly what's recommended and for how long... I didn't just make this up myself...

I don't think the elevated amylase in the urine and the presence of E. coli are actually related... How high was that amylase level exactly?

Oh man, I didn't even realize that elevated red blood cells in urine was actually a thing...
I noticed the color was a bit darker, but I figured it's just because I haven't been drinking much water lately...
My amylase levels are around 600, while the upper limit is usually about 400. As a closet hypochondriac, I immediately jumped to thinking it was thyroid cancer, but my doctor says there’s really no reason to worry about that right now. I guess he doesn't need to worry, since I'll be doing enough worrying for both of us...

Nothing much, I'll just give them a call tomorrow to check on that Nolicin...

Well, I just took a look at the guidelines. I think I’m going to send an email to Dr. Škerk... I've actually been admitted to her ward twice before, regardless of the urinary infection...

Sad that just occurred to me... since I was dealing with upper respiratory issues and sinus problems at the same time, my doctor mentioned that Efox would help with those too. Maybe that explains why he prescribed this specific treatment...

So, here's the situation. Once a year, I get my blood work done—glucose, enzymes, all that—and as part of the routine, the lab always checks my urine too. This time, it's showing high white blood cell and red blood cell counts, plus a ton of bacteria. Then there’s that annoying amylase reading. When the results came back elevated, I mentioned to my doctor that my urine has had a strange smell lately. He was convinced it was just some gynecological bacteria, but he sent me for testing in the US anyway. And sure enough, it's E. coli. Even though I've heard people say it doesn't always need treatment, a friend of mine ended up on IV antibiotics in the hospital and it actually messed up her kidneys... she's not really sure how it happened

On the other hand, my doctor isn't usually one to throw antibiotics around easily, so it feels weird that I have to take two different kinds for 20 days. I'm honestly at a loss for what to do 🙂

I have a gynecologist appointment tomorrow; maybe I should ask for their opinion?

Okay. I have two questions, please:

1. Since I've already gone this far, I assume I have to see it through to the end?
2. If the follow-up testing in the US shows the same thing, can I just refuse the antibiotics without any issues?

Maria Fisher46 said:That sounds like asymptomatic bacteriuria, which isn't treated unless there are specific circumstances—like being pregnant, undergoing certain urological or gynecological procedures, or having a kidney transplant.

So, no treatment was actually necessary...

Ouch.
I'm already halfway through my course of antibiotics. I was supposed to start the Nolicin tomorrow... I assume E. coli needs to be cleared if you're planning to get pregnant? I did mention my interest in starting a family to my doctor, since I've been thinking about it lately...😬