Posts by Bryan Hughes2

Thanks for your input, though obviously you're talking about hospitalizing her, but that's her call to make. What I was actually asking was which doctor I should take her to right now—someone who might be able to help while she isn't quite ready for a full hospital stay. And honestly, there’s a huge difference for her between staying in the hospital for treatment versus just going in occasionally for tests or checkups (where a nurse could just come by to draw blood at home). Since the last time she saw a cardiologist was maybe 15 years ago, I guess we're just taking small steps, hopefully moving in the right direction.

Hi everyone... I have a question regarding my mom, born in '58. At the beginning of this year, she started having issues with swelling in her left lower leg. Things seemed to improve toward the end of summer without us seeing a doctor, but then fluid started building up in her abdomen. She has high blood pressure and a congenital heart defect. We finally went for an abdominal ultrasound, which shows ascites and some polycyclic formation that's pressing against her bladder—possibly an ovarian expansion or an intestinal volvulus... I don't know why they felt the need to run markers; her CEA and CA 19-9 are normal, but her CA 125 is at 10,000. Without any other diagnostic steps, every doctor we talk to says it’s ovarian cancer and tells her to go to the hospital, which is completely unacceptable to her. She has this massive fear of doctors and dying in a hospital setting... When we're just at home, she takes her meds, eats normally, and everything seems fine, except for the back pain she always deals with anyway. But once we get her to a doctor, she just falls apart. I'm wondering if a CA 125 that high is enough for such a diagnosis... and what kind of specialist I should look for who will actually address her other symptoms? Primarily the swelling and the occasional leg pain... We saw a cardiologist a week ago, and he diagnosed her with congestive heart failure. She was prescribed Concor 2.5 mg in the morning, Apleria 50 mg every other day, and two Lasix 40 mg tablets in the morning and afternoon... Her blood pressure and heart rate are okay, but so far, I don't see any improvement regarding the leg edema or the ascites... I honestly don't know if that's even possible or how long it might take to see an improvement... Any comments are welcome... I'm not trying to stay overly optimistic that it isn't cancer, but it really bothers me how they diagnose her like this while ignoring her other struggles.