Chemo help…
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Dehydration has been my problem and like your mother, during the worst if it, i could not walk up our stairs and was very weak. Chemo wasnt working for me either so doctors suspended it for over 6 weeks. I feel great now and will start a different regime on monday. So you never know how things will go. Get your mom rehydrated and see where that takes you.
My doctors are always scheduling ultrasounds to check my liver. Ask your doctor if they are doing an ultrasound with contrast. It is regularly done here in Sweden and the rest of Europe and statistically it gives roughly the same accuracy as MRIs and CAT scans.
Kris
Elicia, My husband usually felt bad on his off week from chemo…he would say he needs his chemo fix to feel better.
To get food and liquid in your mom to get her strength back, give her ginger, lots of ginger. It’s natural and really, really works. Get a fresh ginger root and grate it into ice cube trays and then freeze it. Let her suck on the cubes for as long as she can tolerate it. As repeat constantly if she can. At some point when she can drink water easily and swallow pills, get her natural ginger supplements to get more of the ginger into her.
I promise you it should help settle her stomach so she can drink and eat and hold it down.
Good Luck!!Lulu
Dear Elicia,
I think you need to take a few deep breaths and plan carefully.It would be good to see what the ultrasound shows.Your mothers doctor was right to suspend the chemo at this point because you cant administer it unless people are in reasonable shape and your mother sounds too weak to tolerate it.When you work out if it was the chemo or the cancer that was causing her deterioration you can go from there.I can understand how worried you must be,Ive been there too.
Have you had a good talk to the doctor,that might help.
kind regards JanetI think you can ask for a copy of the records for yourself or you can ask the doctor to forward the records to the next doctor.
Is your mom in northern or southern Oregon? If you are in northern Oregon, the Cancer Care Alliance is in Seattle, and Dr. Philip Gold (one of my doctors) has experience in cc. You could stay with me if you needed to, though I’m 60 miles from Seattle.
I don’t know about docs or facilities in California.
Ok this is the latest update:
My mom has no energy, and could not get up the stairs to get home, she has been in and out of the hospital to get hydrated thru an IV. The Dr. told her today that he does not think her chemo is working so he suspended her next treatment. He is going to do an ultra sound of her liver to double check on Monday. He is using the least invasive way as possible because of her weaken state. He basically said to think of her quality of life?? Basically give up and let her die! He has dealt with 3 cc patients his entire career. So we are trying to get her medical records sent to other CC Dr. for second opinion. How do we do this? Do we just ask the current Dr. to send them? We got Dr. Lenz info from Marion, but what do we do next? Where is the best place to get a 2nd opinion? My mom is in Oregon, and she is so sick and weak we have no clue how to get her to Ca! I am so new at this and at a loss as to what to do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Elicia
ps Sorry if I sound like a spas right now I’m just panicking!Hi Elicia;
Just a thought but is your Mom on any meds for nausea? I found that if I kept them by my bed and took one when I first woke up BEFORE I got up and then waited awhile to get up it helped. Then I was able to get up and eat. I think I’d let her Dr know about the dizziness and dry heaves. It could be something totally unrelated and simple like fluid in her ear? The Dr or his nurse would be the best one to talk to. Just my thoughts hope she is feeling better soon! Take care and God Bless,
JamieThanks Patty I ordered the books today. My mom was so happy to hear that I found some reading for her. There is so much to choose from it was good to get some advice!
**My mom has been really, really weak and throwing up on her “off” week. I hope that this is not a bad sign?? When she gets up in the morning she feels great until she stands, gets dizzy and begins to dry heave. I thought that she would be feeling better on her week that she did not go for chemo? Well it’s so heart breaking to see her suffer!
*** Marion, thanks for the USC Dr. Lenz info. We are waiting for her to get stable and then we will bring her down to CA. The insurance thing is a mess right now, she qualified for Medicaide in Oregon…YAY!!!! But she really needs to be down here(CA) where we can take care of her, so we will be working on Medical soon. Once this is complete I am really unsure of the process of obtaining a new Dr. so I may have more questions. We are so new to all this, it is soooo wonderful to have this website, it is truly a blessing!
Elicia….if USC is not too far from you then I would contact Dr. Lenz. Let me know if you need help with this.
MarionElicia,
I am the resident librarian on the board so I always recommend books, here are some titles that may be helpful:
The chemotherapy survival guide: everything you need to know to get through treatment / McKay, Judith
Healthy eating during chemotherapy / Mil, Jos
Thanks everyone, I have passed the info on!
Yes we are looking for a Specialist in Southern CA. I live near Loma Linda University(15 minutes), but UCLA is only about an hour away (that is without traffic
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Thanks again! EliciaHello Elicia, the chemo can be tough on the system, no two ways about it. My Dad had the same experiences. Per those experiences, I’d say encourage your Mom rest when she’s tired, it is ok to surrender to your body slowing down with the treatments, as you continue to look for energy boosting alternatives. Ice tea and lemon-aid/orange juice mixtures were Dad’s drinks of choice when all else failed. As suggested by Lisa, the lemon (drink/candy/fruit) prior to meals also helped balance the tastebud changes brought on by the chemo, and helped Dad better tolerate foods.
I hope your Mom can find more comfort and a CA specialist.
Tess
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