iowagirl
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Melinda,
As for the chemo brain, I had it pretty bad during and several months after chemo. Not being able to retrieve words bothered me most of the time, but sometimes, I would not be able to complete a thought, which really bothered me more. That has gotten much better the last several months (chemo was over August 27th last year) though it hasn’t gone away, and it may not completely go away. It’s the new me….and I’ve come to accept it as who I am now. I’m still the educated, sharp woman I always was, but the chemo brain is no different than having some chronic illness. It doesn’t diminish you. Words always came easily to me, so at first it was upsetting, but when I let that go, I’ve been fine since. If it never goes away, I’m okay with that.
John is so much more than his use of words and I’m sure his psychologist has brought that up. Sometimes, something like “art therapy” helps a lot…..to express yourself through paintings or pottery, or glasswork, etc.
. It really is best if you just tell people that the chemo has messed up some of the thought processes (they may not understand the term, chemo brain) and it’s perfectly fine to say the word that you’re obviously trying to say. I really felt better when someone did that instead of struggling for the word that wasn’t going to come to me. Lainy is 100% right on that one.
As for the anxiety before or between scans, I really noticed it last November for the first scan AFTER the chemo ended. It was like my crutch was gone…not that there’s any proof that the chemo will stop the CC. I noticed about three weeks before the scan, that my anxiety level was worse than usual, and I was easily moved to tears over any little thing. Even after that scan, things didn’t feel right, and I had a tough time through the holidays even though I’d gotten good news. I think it was just the thought, “what if” this is the last Christmas. Once Christmas is over, I have to say that my mood and anxiety were both better and I’m doing fine again. I now have three weeks to go before another scan and IF the anxiety starts to build, I will try using an Atavan, for short term anxiety relief, OR, I will go see my oncology psychologist to help me get through those several weeks if needed….maybe both. I started seeing a psychologist once every week or so during chemo, which helped some. She did help me with some coping skills and directing me toward more healthy thoughts.
I must also tell you that I am also a heart patient (100% blockage of right , rear coronary artery/heart attack in March of 2002) and a diabetes patient. I think talking to my psychologist was probably the best thing I could have done to alleviate some of the stress, but I’m not so concerned with what the stress is doing to the cardiac and diabetes issues. For a short term basis, it isn’t going to hurt a lot (short term being a year IMO). I
Other than that…..I wish your husband well for his next scan….prayers are sent to him from me and others. Julie T.Porter, I forgot to add that the ventilator is necessary due to the medications your uncle is on…and all of this….reduces the load on his heart and brain and allow things to heal faster. They will gradually wean him off the ventilator.
Porter…..I won’t sugarcoat it about your uncle…..that’s a very serious situation. But, I’m going to throw this out. A similar thing happened last January (2014) to my husband’s cousin (he is about 64ish in age). He was on a bike trail (yes, in winter and the temperatures were brutally cold) and had a massive heart attack. They didn’t know how long he had laid there before someone just also happened to be out there in the winter cold riding the bike trail. Not a lot of hardy souls go out on the bike trails in winter. They used their cell phone to call 911 and he had to be shocked back to life. They got him to a hospital, where a stent was placed in a heart artery and then he was placed into a medically induced coma. A couple days later (they don’t wait too long usually), the doctors started to reduce the medication to wake him up, to see if he had brain damage. Today, he is doing fine…YES….FINE…. and working. He has no recollection of even BEING on the bike trail and was adamant that he wouldn’t have been out there in the winter.
But, yes, today, he is doing just fine. It CAN happen. The medically induced coma is a quality of life saver.
Hang in there girl……and I’ll say another prayer right now for your uncle.H Tze,
Her doctor is right. It is extremely rare for CC to met to the brain. I did some research about it when I was first diagnosed a year ago, and at that time, I could only fine one known case of a CC met to the brain. I’m so sorry to hear that your dear wife has had some kind of cancer, (a glandular type) start growing in her brain. Hopefully, they got it all and it was just a bad stroke of luck that it happened….and now that she’s had surgery, that will be that. I’m sure the doctors will have more thoughts as to what to do next, if anything. One thing, since this would be so rare to be CC again…in the brain…if that is what it is….then it is so rare that they will most likely be giving her a LOT of attention..consulting with other doctors….writing it up for medical journals, etc. That’s how I found out about the one known case. We are here for you if you have any questions that we might be able to answer and we’re hoping for the best for your wife’s recovery.
Debbie and Mike…..such incredibly fantastic news…and certainly a story of hope for everyone reading your post, whether they’re in remission or in current battle with CC. I love to hear stories like yours and thankyou so much for sharing with us. Let us know, if you will, how he is doing as he recovers and what the tumor board has to saw about other treatment.
Julie T.
Contratulations to EVERYTHING!! When it comes down to it…..we all just want more time…to be with family and friends, to experience love and life. So happy for you…..great news!
Porter, again…..I’m adding to the chorus….best wishes for a safe and successful surgery and VERY fast recovery. We’ll be hear waiting to hear that you’re doing okay.
prayers…Julie
Hooray!!! I’m glad they moved things up for you which then settled your anxiety back down. Great news!
Moose, you just said something else that reminded me of the time after surgery. Before surgery, I was singleminded….full speed ahead…get that surgery…get that damned thing out of me…and I’ll be better. Well, I got the resection…..and mentally I was in a far better place…even though I was recovering from the major surgery. But, the farther out from surgery I got…and the closer to starting chemo (if I was going to), the more anxious I got again…more crying, etc. It has been similar before and after scans…just reversed in when the anxiety hits. But I remember that feeling in the couple weeks before surgery….I HAD to get that thing (tumor) out of me….and the relief I felt after the surgery that it was gone.
The other thing I wanted to touch on was very close family members with whom you really have to stay in touch. My mother is very elderly and does not deal with medical things well (whole history of family issues i won’t go into here). I know this….and I know what her responses are going to be before she says them….which should help, but it doesn’t. I know my mother can’t be the support for me that I would wish she would be….though I hoped that maybe in this crisis, she would finally step up, but she really didn’t much…and once the chemo was over, she went back to her old ways. She looked at my cancer (and a previous heart attack 13 years ago) the same way….as to how they were going to affect HER…..not what she could do for me. I know she thought she was trying during this cancer treatment…surgery and chemo….but the phone calls often turned to her and not me. I’m sure she was concerned and scared…but more scared of her outliving her children, than for me. That isn’t being harsh…..as I said….there is a whole history I’m not talking about here. It is just the way it is. But, it was still disappointing. And, being my mother, she wasn’t someone I could really push aside…at least I didn’t feel I should. So, I finally gave up…let her say her trite things….and just got through the phone conversations (she lives a long ways away).
As I said…sometimes, the people we hope will be our strongest rocks….don’t respond to us the way we thought they would or wished they would.
I had people who were there for me…helping with food and offering to give me rides to treatments…..but these same people often said stupid things. I finally decided to quit arguing with them about it….accept the wonderful things they offered and leave it at that. If they wanted me to be more positive (after I shared with them the facts), I finally figured out that it was they who couldn’t handle the truth…and it was mean for me to keep pushing it at them. They were never going to accept it…because they didn’t want to deal with it. But, I could accept the offers and gestures they made otherwise and be thankful. It was definitely a tradeoff.
Julie t.
Amy….good to see you here…and welcome. Matt is such a sweetheart and I know you’re there with him every step of the way. I’m about a month behind Matt…..diagnosed late Jan 2014 and a resection at Mayo on Feb 28th, 2014. We’ve traded a lot of notes with each other. Hoping that Matt’s new appt will yield something positive for him for treatment.
Julie T.
