UPDATE ON MY DAUGHTER

I posted before, by the time they found the breast cancer, it already
had spread to bones, and a little on liver. So far, no effect to the
live. SHe has had so many dif kinds of chemo. Last one was DOXIL, which
she liked, felt good, hair grew back. She came to PA. from Tx last
week and she looked wonderful, but I could see the way she walked, that
her back hurt, but she never complained.
When she went back, they did another pet scan, which showed a new little
spot at the back of her neck. SHe starts 10 days of radiation now. Then
dr said she wanted to put her back on the estrogen cheom, is that the
Tamoxin (sp)? She does not want that said it made her awful sick. Dr
told her they have many option, they would discuss the chemo when
radiation is done. In all she was expecting much more bad news on the
scan.
This a picture of her when she came home. I think she looked wonderful,
considering all she has gone thru

http://usera.imagecave.com/louella65...lphdeb2007.jpg

"Louanne M" <louella65@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:12615-46C6F801-627@storefull-3274.bay.webtv.net...
>I posted before, by the time they found the breast cancer, it already
> had spread to bones, and a little on liver. So far, no effect to the
> live. SHe has had so many dif kinds of chemo. Last one was DOXIL, which
> she liked, felt good, hair grew back. She came to PA. from Tx last
> week and she looked wonderful, but I could see the way she walked, that
> her back hurt, but she never complained.
> When she went back, they did another pet scan, which showed a new little
> spot at the back of her neck. SHe starts 10 days of radiation now. Then
> dr said she wanted to put her back on the estrogen cheom, is that the
> Tamoxin (sp)? She does not want that said it made her awful sick. Dr
> told her they have many option, they would discuss the chemo when
> radiation is done. In all she was expecting much more bad news on the
> scan.
> This a picture of her when she came home. I think she looked wonderful,
> considering all she has gone thru
>
> http://usera.imagecave.com/louella65...lphdeb2007.jpg
>

Louanne, I can't comment on medications but the picture is great!

Hugs,

Mary

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:25:46 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
<mary.fisher@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>"Louanne M" <louella65@webtv.net> wrote in message
ch more bad news on the
>> scan.
>> This a picture of her when she came home. I think she looked wonderful,
>> considering all she has gone thru
>>
>> http://usera.imagecave.com/louella65...lphdeb2007.jpg
>
>Louanne, I can't comment on medications but the picture is great!
>
She looks wonderful. Let's hope it's a really good sign.
--
"It's easier to get forgiveness than permission."
Rear Admiral "Amazing" Grace Hopper

"Louanne M" <louella65@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:12615-46C6F801-627@storefull-3274.bay.webtv.net...
>I posted before, by the time they found the breast cancer, it already
> had spread to bones, and a little on liver. So far, no effect to the
> live. SHe has had so many dif kinds of chemo. Last one was DOXIL, which
> she liked, felt good, hair grew back. She came to PA. from Tx last
> week and she looked wonderful, but I could see the way she walked, that
> her back hurt, but she never complained.
<snips>
> This a picture of her when she came home. I think she looked wonderful,
> considering all she has gone thru
>
> http://usera.imagecave.com/louella65...lphdeb2007.jpg

Hi, Louanne,

I'm so glad to hear that she was able to visit you -- I seem to recall that
you were worried about that earlier. You're right, she looks great! I
know you must still be very concerned about her (understandably!), but I
hope it was a little relief to see her. The radiation for bone involvement
tends to be quite effective in reducing discomfort, so I'm hopeful that her
back will feel better pretty soon. Sending positive wishes,

Ann T.
Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email

She was so good here, but this morning she called, and said she could
not get out of bed, could not walk, with the pain in her back. It seems
the radioligist for the USAF hospital is out of town, so could not even
schedule her. THe new spot is at the top of her back near neck, but it
is lower back that is hurting. She won't take pain pills, because she
said they constipate her, and that would be worse for her back.

Louanne M wrote:
> She was so good here, but this morning she called, and said she could
> not get out of bed, could not walk, with the pain in her back. It seems
> the radioligist for the USAF hospital is out of town, so could not even
> schedule her. THe new spot is at the top of her back near neck, but it
> is lower back that is hurting. She won't take pain pills, because she
> said they constipate her, and that would be worse for her back.
>
Narcotic type pain pills (opioid etc.) cause constipation because they
slow down the action of gut muscles. You can compensate for this by a
regular dose of a mild laxative. Lactulose is commonly used. It's a
bit tricky to titrate the dose correctly because it takes several days
for the effects to work through, but it can be done. If you are taking
a regular dose of slow-release painkiller to stop the background pain,
and occasional short term doses for breakthrough pain then the laxative
can be matched against the background dose.

This should of course be done under the doctor's supervision. If you
are doing it yourself, then it is important to make any adjustments to
the laxative dose relative to what you were taking 3 days ago, not
relative to the last dose you took. Reacting too rapidly leads to
weekly oscillation between loose and constipated.

Does her hospital have a pain-control specialist? It has become the
norm here in the major centres to have consultants specialising in pain
control, and not leaving it up to the oncologist.


Tim Jackson

"Louanne M" <louella65@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:29860-46C8D87E-676@storefull-3271.bay.webtv.net...
> She was so good here, but this morning she called, and said she could
> not get out of bed, could not walk, with the pain in her back. It seems
> the radioligist for the USAF hospital is out of town, so could not even
> schedule her. THe new spot is at the top of her back near neck, but it
> is lower back that is hurting. She won't take pain pills, because she
> said they constipate her, and that would be worse for her back.
>

I'm so sorry to hear she's hit a bad patch!

I hope the radiologist will be back soon, so she can get that taken care of.

Has she tried counter-medicating for the constipation, so she can take her
pain pills? If not, she could talk to her doctor about what's best, but I
think stool softeners (e.g., Colace (docusate sodium)) are one possible
approach.

Does anyone here have ideas, who's been through the drill with treating
constipation to balance pain pill side effects?

Ann T.
Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email

On Aug 19, 8:57 pm, "A.P. Thorsen" <annthorsendontsends...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> "Louanne M" <louell...@webtv.net> wrote in message
>
> news:29860-46C8D87E-676@storefull-3271.bay.webtv.net...
>
> > She was so good here, but this morning she called, and said she could
> > not get out of bed, could not walk, with the pain in her back. It seems
> > the radioligist for the USAF hospital is out of town, so could not even
> > schedule her. THe new spot is at the top of her back near neck, but it
> > is lower back that is hurting. She won't take pain pills, because she
> > said they constipate her, and that would be worse for her back.
>
> I'm so sorry to hear she's hit a bad patch!
>
> I hope the radiologist will be back soon, so she can get that taken care of.
>
> Has she tried counter-medicating for the constipation, so she can take her
> pain pills? If not, she could talk to her doctor about what's best, but I
> think stool softeners (e.g., Colace (docusate sodium)) are one possible
> approach.
>
> Does anyone here have ideas, who's been through the drill with treating
> constipation to balance pain pill side effects?
>
> Ann T.
> Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email

Lactulose requires a prescription in the USA. Great picture and hope
she finds some relief from the pain.
In the mean time there are other laxatives such as senna or even prune
juice.

Alex

On her lower back, he told her they could radiate that too, but that
will make her sick, being it is close to stomach. Or she could go to
another kind of dr who would inject glue. That tells me she mush have a
fracture. She elected to have the radiation on lower back too.

My daughter had an mri yesterday, the dr called to come in today to
talk, news bad, there are numerous tiny spots in her brain. They are
going to start radiation on her brain for 10 straight day starting
monday. I am heart broken, and she made me promise not to tell her
children. I wanted to go down with her sister to Tx, but she said, no
then the kids would know something was wrong. Will the radiaiton, on
brain, make her blind or some other effect?

"Louanne M" <louella65@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:23741-46CF6DFC-412@storefull-3273.bay.webtv.net...
> My daughter had an mri yesterday, the dr called to come in today to
> talk, news bad, there are numerous tiny spots in her brain. They are
> going to start radiation on her brain for 10 straight day starting
> monday. I am heart broken, and she made me promise not to tell her
> children. I wanted to go down with her sister to Tx, but she said, no
> then the kids would know something was wrong.
----------------
They *ought* to know something is wrong. Hasn't she talked to them about
her illness?

Eva

Louanne M wrote:
> My daughter had an mri yesterday, the dr called to come in today to
> talk, news bad, there are numerous tiny spots in her brain. They are
> going to start radiation on her brain for 10 straight day starting
> monday. I am heart broken, and she made me promise not to tell her
> children. I wanted to go down with her sister to Tx, but she said, no
> then the kids would know something was wrong. Will the radiaiton, on
> brain, make her blind or some other effect?
>
Not as far as I know, I don't know anyone personally who has had brain
radiotherapy but I haven't heard of any particularly nasty common side
effects. Just the fairly obvious things like lethargy, headache and
hair loss, and some effect on brain function. However it is a serious
treatment not undertaken lightly. The following site has some helpful
background information.

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info...a-brain&bhcp=1

As far as telling the kids, they have to know sometime, and they
probably suspect something already. In my view the longer you delay
telling them, the harder it gets to break the news. I would ask her to
consider under what circumstances she *would* tell them, or whether she
would wait until they found out some other way.

To be brutal, would she avoid telling them until she died? Would they
then thank her for denying them the chance to say goodbye? The more
time they have to come to terms with this eventual outcome, the easier
it is to cope with.


Tim Jackson

They know she has cancer, but do not know it is in her brain.THey
believe I did, that God would heal her. She was here 2 weeks ago, and
you would never know she was sick, that is how good an actress she is.
She wanted to keep it from me.