Mom on Gemzar/Cisplatin Cycle 2

Hi Lainy. I appreciate your advice. We actually did look into MD Anderson but they asked for a HUGE sum of money for down pay since my mom doesn’t have health insurance or medicare. So she is currently at the Methodist referred by a former pathologist from MDA. As for hospice, we have decided on Houston Hospice and now just waiting for the discharge from the doc. In the meantime, mom’s swelling in her abdomen and legs have gone down a bit. I think Lasix is working its magic in addition to no more fluids for the past 3 days or so. I’ve been reading about swellings for those who are about to pass in the near future and it really scared me. So my brother and I have been religiously massaging my mom’s legs, feet and back for the last several days.. and when we see the swellings subside a bit, I can let out a brief sigh of relief. I know its temporary but it really helps to go on everyday. Its good to hope right? Hope you have a great weekend, Lainy and everyone else on this awesome site!

It’s been while since I last posted something on this site but a lot has been going on. Since mom’s last cycle of Gem/Cis on January 17th she’s been going in and out of the hospital. Emergency to ICU to home and then all over again for the last couple of months or so. Three weeks ago, mom’s oncologist told us that she would like for my mom to start taking Xeloda+oxailplatin while the window of opportunity is still open as soon as her infections in the liver calms down. Mom was discharged three weeks ago from the hospital with take-home antibiotics. Then just last week, we had to bring in our mom back to the hospital due to low blood pressure combined with high temp of 102+. Found out she has C-Diff (common bacterial in bowel) so she’s been on Flagyl for the past week now. Then this week, we were told that any chemo would put my mom at much more risks so basically told her we should look into in-home hospice care. We were told last week that my mom has less than six months to go with or without chemo but today, we were told she has maybe a week left. I don’t believe everything the doctors say but its left a big hole in our family’s hearts. We don’t want to lose hope but I can’t help but to be discouraged. So now we’re looking into hospice care in Houston. I was wondering if anyone’s had any recommendations. The hospital’s social worker is looking up options for us but looks like there aren’t too many to chose from. I was also wondering if anyone’s had or going through hospice care for themselves or for their family who can pass on some knowledge. We’ve had a couple consults but I am hoping for personal testimonials. I don’t feel like this is the end… Maybe I’m in a denial but any thoughts on alternative meds, hospice care, doctors/hospitals would be great.
Btw- I just bought some Essiac from Vitamin Shoppe and some Korean Ginseng extract in hopes that it will elevate my mom’s appetite. I will keep you posted.

Christie

Thank you Kim for your insight and your kind consideration! I read your story and I was in awe! Thank you so much for sharing your story! It was truly inspirational! and Marion, thank you for the helpful link!

So here’s an update. Mom finished her cycle 2 on 1/17, Monday. She was very tired and definitely her condition was different from previous treatments. Her CA19-9 level elevated as high as 834. Then following Wednesday, mom had a fever of 104.8 so we hauled her to the emergency room and she is still in the hospital.. its been 4 days, going on fifth. Found out she had an infection in her blood in addition to a blood clot in one of major vessels that passes through her liver from her heart, which in turn, she now has to get blood thinning shots called Lovenox every 12 hours. On top of that, mom’s CT showed that there’s still a progression in tumors and therefore we are back to square one. We were given options 1. switch chemo treatments to 5FU + oxailplatin 2. stop the treatment altogether. Though we are very discouraged, our mom has decided to go forward with a new regimen of treatments. We were told we have about 15% chance of chemo working on our mom, but we still have hope.

Mom’s lower abdomen’s been swelling up in the last 3-4 days, she’s scheduled to get an ultrasound tomorrow morning to see how much fluid had built up. One of the attendee during weekend said that we would need to talk to our oncologist on Monday when she returns, but he believes the swelling is from her tumors.. while another attendee said that the swelling is from her blood clot. Excess fluids not being able to “flow through” due to clot is building up, causing the bloating of the abdomen. I will have to get this straightened out tomorrow morning once her oncologist returns, but has anyone experienced or experiencing the same symptom out there? If so, I would really appreciate any insight.