newly diagnosed with cc

Thanks Darla and everyone in here. Once again, I’m glad to find this forum and although definitely like Lainy said, no one wants to be a member of this club, but I really feel the warm and kind hearts from everyone in here. Anyway, mom was doing better when we left the hospital and i’m glad. Seriously, every single day, we’re really worried and dont know what will happen the next hrs or next day. God, please helps mom and every single patient to get better and soon will be discharged without any discomfort.

Hello,
I have bad news. The culture of the fluid came back and it was negative. They ruled out everything else and thought that there must be an actual blockage inside her small intestine which required an operation to remove it. They opened up her abdomen and cut off the part where it caused the blockage. As he opened it up, he found that tumor had been spreaded everywhere there. Although he cut off that part, but he doesnt know how long it would be good for and when another blockage will present.
So today her abdomen got big again. she couldnt pee maybe due to the current medications/condition. They’re just monitoring her condition. Earlier in the afternoon when we told her we were going to eat and would be back, she was conscious at that time. Although couldnt talk, but she held our hands as giving a sign to tell us to stay. We asked her if she wanted us to stay and she was nodding. We asked her if she felt very uncomfortable and she was nodding. We were really scare that god would be taking her away from us. About 15 minutes she was feeling much better I guess. She’s now sleeping and her condition was much better than earlier. However, we’re very scared and we don’t know when the scary moment would come back. Yesterday when we found out it was just a blockage in her intestine, we were happy in a way thinking that would take care of the problem and she would soon be discharged to go home. Then the bad news just came after the surgery. We’re all very depressed. I’m praying everyday n hope that she doesn’t have to go through all the tortures. She’s a great person all her life and she doesn’t deserve to be tortured like this.

Thanks for the info Barbara. I would like to know how long was your stomach being distended before it got back to normal? Did they have to drain the fluid out while you were being treated with the antibiotic? I wonder if mom’s distended stomach is ascite but I really hope it’s not.

Hello everyone,
Mom was transferred to ICU on 3/31 when she had a hard time breathing. They had to intubate her. They had to drain the fluid from her intestine (wasn’t just air) and came out to be around 2.8 Liters of fluid. They brought it to test but the result hasn’t came back yet. They treated her with broad spectrum antibiotic with Flagyl, Zosyn, and Vancomycin. Her wbc was 22 but went down to 12 today. Once they get the result back, they’ll streamline it down to more specific antibiotics. They still dont know what really cause her distended stomach yet. They continue to take CT scans everyday trying to trace down what cause the blockage. They said their last option would be cutting it open and physically see what causes the blockage but they really want to avoid that. As for now, it seems like they’ll have to keep drawing out fluid from her intestine everyday the fluid couldnt be get rid off by her own system. I wonder if anybody experienced this before and how it was treated?

Hello everyone again,
I had been very busy but here is some latest news and they’re not good. Mom was sick more frequent lately with nausea and vomitting plus some pain at the site of her bile duct catheter drainage. My brother & sis took her to USC a few days ago. They did some lab work and it showed that the two spots in the lymph node shrunk a bit/blurrier (which is a good sign I think). However, we don’t think she can tolerate a 4th cycle given her current health. Her tummy got bigger and the newest lab show that there is an infection inside. A few CT scans seemed to confirm that there is an ulcer in her colon (from what my brother told me). They’re currently have a small tube connecting through her nostril to the inside of her stomach to collect the liquid from there and will test it 2morrow or something. I wasn’t here when the doctor explained what was going on and what they were going to do so I don’t know if what I am saying is right or not.
She looked pretty depressed and we all tried to convince her not to worry at all. But still, being a great mom as she is, she feels really bad for us that we have to take care of her. I told her that she should just relax and not thinking about anything at all. She convinced me that she’s very happy having us as her children and she never had a hard time raising any of us and didn’t really have to take care of her as much as we’re taking care of her now. OMG, i almost broke out crying several times (now too) but I try holding it back so she doesn’t see/know it. Anyway, I guess I’m just gonna stop right now ‘cuz I’m getting emotional. I need to stay away from thinking about it so I dont end up crying in front of her.