lovemymomad
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Hi Dad’s Daughter,
I just wanted you to know that we went to Cleveland Clinic for my mother to originally meet with Dr. Pelley. We decided to meet with another doctor at the Clinic so that we could get in a little quicker. We did not have a good experience. He simply told us there was nothing he could do to help us. Very discouraging to my mother and just a waste of time. This doesn’t mean that you would have the same outcome, but I just felt I needed to share. We ended up sticking with her surgeon and local oncologist for treatment and they were wonderful. I heard that UH has some fantastic doctors for this area of cancer as well. We did talk to her oncologist and surgeon as well, with my mom’s permission of course. They really included us kids with treatment options, etc.Best of luck to you, your family and your dad. It is wonderful that he has such a caring daughter. Take care of yourself.
LoveMyMom
Hi Tstewart,
I truly am sorry that you and your family are facing this. I am sure that mom’s chemo will go well. I understand your concerns and worrying about the future. I did the same. My mother also suffered from anxiety/depression and we thought that she would be unable to hear, understand and cope with any further bad news if the cancer spread, etc. However, this was NOT the case AT ALL. My siblings and I all discussed the fact that mom just could not handle any more bad news. But, she did, and she handled it with true dignity. We did request that the doctor inform us first of any changes in mom’s condition, and, with my mom’s permission, that is what he did. The doctor truly sees this disease every day and I thought that he would be numb to the news and discussing it but, he had such compassion and gave her such hope. Talk to the doctor and discuss your concerns. This will put your mind at ease. You will be surprised at how much your mother can handle. We all were with our mom. Even with depression she will fight this dreaded disease! I will pray for you and your family.LoveMyMom
I am so sorry to hear your father passed away. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I wish you the best.
Thank you ALL for such kind words and such encouragement. Pam, wow, tears are streaming as I read your post…I hang on to every word. You all are amazing. I feel so blessed to have found this site and to be able to converse with all of you about this awful disease that has touched all of our lives in some way or another. We are right in the “thick” of things and I feel completely overwhelmed, as well as being exhausted. We are so blessed to have had this time to communicate and share with mom…I will treasure this time forever. Mom is getting extremely weak – we are on day 17 without food. The hospice nurses are incredible. We have my mom’s sister in town and my cousin, they are a blessing. I pray for you all and will keep you posted as I can. Thank you for listening.
Sharon,
I’m just so sorry that you are facing this with your mom. Thank you for your kind words to me. I know how hard this is right now with the children, husband, family, trying to juggle everything. My mom was in the hospice center and is now at home. We were not sure what would be best, but she is now just so happy she is at home. I wish you the best and I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers.Hi Gavin,
I feel like I know a lot of you because I read your posts often. I have asked several questions and shared my concerns about my mother under the general discussion area, which has been such a help and source of information. My mom is currently in hospice and my family and I are really having a tough time right now. Lately, I have not been able to spend as much time here. I just wanted you to know that you and your father are in my prayers and I hope everything goes well for you all.LoveMyMom
Thank you all for kinds words and concerns. I wanted to update you on my mom. She is still in the hospital. Her stomach is healing from the surgery, staples are still in. Her stomach was leaking a ton, stopped for a few days, and is now leaking again. It is extremely distended, but not uncomfortable for her. They are going to do a dye test today. I believe that will show how things are working in the stomach. She has had a tube in and out of her nose to drain her stomach. Seems like they can pull it out for a few days and then it needs to go back in. Not sure what will happen as far as that goes. Anybody else dealt with this with their loved one? Doctor put her back on liquids and hoping to move her to solids soon, but I think we are waiting until stomach stops draining. My sister and I are meeting with Hospice tomorrow morning. I hear great things about them. For the past few days mom has been saying off-the-wall comments and not making sense. She seems to be getting a little clearer, but not sure what that is about. She calls from the hospital in the middle of the night so not getting much sleep!
Thanks for listening.
I don’t know where to begin…my heart is breaking. My mom ended up having surgery and we received really bad news. He said the cancer is everywhere. She has hundreds of tumors and could not really do much. He did make her another opening so that she can now eat solids and drink, but she probably wont want to due to the cancer. She is just so sick. I’m just so sad. We will talk to her in the morning about all of this. I wish I could take this from her, and from my kids when they hear their MeMe is just so sick right now. I’m at a loss for words…
My mom has a tube running from her nose, down her throat and is pumping out her stomach. She is not allowed to eat or drink until it is removed. I spoke to the doctor today. Tomorrow, mom is going to have a scope to try to enlarge the opening of the stomach. They also are going to put a drainage tube in the stomach. He will put a line in for a feeding tube in the stomach if he is able to stretch the opening. We found out that mom’s insurance will not pay for her to have the nutrients through her PICC line at home, she would have to go to a nursing home for them to “pick up the tab”. I just love how these insurance companies run things. We pay for the insurance and then when we need it, hmmmm where are they besides dictating what they will pay for and when. Anybody else ever run into this problem???? We have a wonderful Care Nurse at the hospital who is working all of this out for us.
If stomach opening cannot be enlarged then off to surgery soon. Wish us luck tomorrow. God willing we will hear good news and maybe mom could come home for awhile, and maybe even eat some Turkey Day dinner!!!
Elmoks, so sorry to hear about you mom. My mother was vomitting ALL the time and we now know it is due to radiation damage. Hope you had good news on her blood work. Take care.
Mom is such a trooper. She is still in the hospital. She still has the tube through her nose pumping her stomach, a PICC line, and she is receiving nutrients daily. The surgeon is still waiting for her to build her strength and debating on what to do next. Her test results came back and her blockage is due to radiation. He is leaning towards putting a drainage tube on the outside of her stomach, pulling the nose tube out, and leaving the PICC line in. Then, through outpatient, try to scope her to make opening larger in stomach to help alleviate the problems and maybe allow her to eat again. Also discussed Roux-en-Y procedure. Never used this name but sounds just like what he would recommend. Not sure if mom could tolerate at this time. I was just wondering if she would be able to remain on the nutrients if unable to actually eat again. Told that it could cause blood clots and not typically done. Hoping for several more options.
Thank you all for listening, suggestions, encouragement, etc. I know you all are dealing with these type of issues, as well as others, and I wish you all the best.
That is exactly what he was talking about yesterday. He did say that her strength needs to increase before he could do it. I’m not real good with these medical terms. I don’t remember him saying “duodenum”, but that is exactly the way he described the surgery.
She is using the Chloraseptic spray as well. She seems really down in the dumps. They are giving her medicine for this as well. I will keep you all posted.
So this procedure would not remove the tumor just rearrange things to help alleviate symptoms, correct?
Wow, we have been through a lot. Finally have some answers. To make a long story short, mom is in the hospital. She has a tube in her nose draining her stomach and they put a PICCU (spelling?) in her arm today. She then had a scope of her stomach. The doctor showed us some pictures of her stomach and the opening is only about the size of my pinky finger. He then showed us what the opening should look like, and I would say about the size of your fist. So, he said he did not find any cancer in the stomach. Possibly more growth of the bile duct tumor causing the blockage, maybe damage from radiation. Took blood and said let’s see what the numbers come back at. If indicative of more cancer then we’ll have to get mom stable to see about surgery. For right now, she will stay in hospital and work on nourishment and fluids and try to get nose tube out. He said we will do another scope to try to enlarge opening in stomach.
Anybody have any thoughts on this? Anybody gone through this already? Thank you for your time.
Okay, oncologist said mom has a blockage and needs to see her surgeon. She is to only have liquids right now. Surgeon can’t see us until one week from today. Worried about mom. Can anybody tell me if it is common to have blockages? If so, what do they do for them? Just wondering what to expect with the doctor.
Thanks.
