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Amilcar-holding you in my heart and hoping for a peaceful comfortable time for your Dad. I lost my Dad this summer and the pain is still fresh for me. Your love for your Dad has helped him transition in peace. Hugs to you and your family. Patrice
Cathy-Dave and I send our loving thoughts your way and hope the love and support of your chat room family helps to soften your pain.
PatriceRobyn-my heart goes out to you. I hope you will stay connected to us and let our support help you in any way we can. Grieving is a very individual matter and you need to do what works for you. Take care of yourself and let your friends and family be there for you in whatever way they can.
PatriceDave has shoulder pain too. I told him that as a nurse, I think it is probably from the enlarged size of his liver and spleen but he continues to say it is muscle pain from “sleeping wrong”. So, I don’t argue as pain is pain for whatever reason. Dave takes pain med(oxycodone) every 4-6 hours but really can’t pin-point pain-just complains of generalized pain. Talk about atypical….he has never had abdominal pain, jaundice, has normal markers and we wouldn’t have even known he was sick except that he had hypercalcemia (which is unusual with CC) and a 35 lb.weight loss and then the CT scan showed multiple very large liver tumors. This disease is just mind-boggling. Patrice
Hey Jeff-I’m not sure beef jerky and Hawaiian shirts go together but I am sure you will make it work! Good luck with the next round, I hope your labs will allow it.
PatriceHi Coleen-Dave has multiple tumors in the left side of his liver. The largest is 16 cm x 10. He also has tumors in his spleen…they think. I will be interested to see the outcome when the oncologist, surgeon and radiologist get together. We will consider it all carefully before we make a decision, but at least they didn’t just say “their isn’t much we can do” like our local hospitals. Yes Peter, it is going to be costly going there and my employer just switched to Cigna who refuse many things so we’ll just have to wait and see….and hope. Patrice
Hi Laura- Type I Diabetes should not effect wheter your Dad can have chemo. It will effect healing if he has surgery, and his blood sugar will need to monitored very closely with chemo as the potential nausea and food issues can cause blood sugar problems and a need to adjust insulin. But, if he is on a pump then he is used to frequent testing and adjusting as needed. Gone are the days when if you were diabetic no body wanted to risk doing anything to you. I have had diabetes since age 5 and they wouldn’t even take my tonsils out when I was a kid….ancient history!!! Best to you both. Patrice
Thanks all your support. Karen our insurance was a nightmare and also told us we had to go to Illinois. My employer changed insurance starting 1/1/08 and so we get to go to Philly but it is still “out of network” so we have to pay 40% up to $5000 out of pocket, then we’ll see what happens. The several hospitals around here ( Cape Cod ) and in Boston have basically told Dave “gemzar will prolong your life but not more than a year or so” and we want more hope than that, so we cling to Jeff G’s success and keep searching for answers. Take Care all. We’ll report back in when we have news.
Patrice and DaveWe have good news! We finally got the insurance mess straightened out and Dave has an appt. at Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philly on Tuesday. We are hopeful but realistic that that may not have anything better to offer. Dave is really feeling lousy lately so anything will be an improvement we hope. Wish us luck.
Patrice & DaveThinking of you and your family in this time of sorrow. You were lucky to have your Dad and to have each other. Cherish your memories and hold tightly to one another. It was your love that kept him alive and will help you all to survive this horrible time.
PatriceIt is so hard to know what to say other than that we hope the friendship we share with you because of our common bond brings you some comfort at a time when it probably seems as though nothing can bring comfort or peace. Holding you in our hearts.
Patrice & DaveHi Charlene-I know just where you are with the insurance companies, but you have to keep advocating for John. The Doctor can appeal the insurance company decision by filling out a form that states what has been used and why the drug is necessary. There is always an appeal process but you sometimes unfortunately have to hound the doctors to do it. I send hugs to you and John and hope things turn around for you soon.
PatriceJoyce-I think Marion is right and she said it all just the way I would want to but rarely can form my thoughts that well. All of us in your cc group hold you tight to help you through the holidays. We all need a little help at times. Patrice
HI Amilcar-Dave was on Gemzar and Oxcilliplatin for 5 rounds until he developed pleural effusion then he stopped and shortly thereafter started on IV vitamin C which he is still doing. His latest CT scan showed growth in all his tumors, so he has started back on just the gemzar, 3 wks. on and 1 wk off. We hope to get to the Cancer Treatment of America in January and we hope they will have other alternatives. Don’t know if this helps at all. We hope your Dad feels better soon and that you too are able to enjoy this season.
Patrice
Patrice