Very Strange

My sister went with her quilt group to the Houston Quilt Show last week.
One of the group, Laura, was on medication for high blood pressure & had
been treated over the summer for some blood vessel problems in her eyes.
The day before the trip, she visited her Primary Care Physician for
shortness of breath. He told her it was stress & said of course it was
OK take the trip.

Last Friday, their first day at the show, Laura sat down to rest
frequently & was out of breath. Saturday she stayed in bed. Although
Laura thought she should just rest & drive back with the group on
Sunday, maybe go to a pharmacy with a blood pressure cuff to check PB,
Saturday night, my sister took her to an urgent care facility in
Houston, affiliated with St. Luke's hospital. They transported her to
St. Luke's where she was admitted & tests were run. Sunday, Laura's
husband flew down to Houston & the other members of the group drove back
home to the Dallas area. They kept checking on Laura & learned
pulminary edema was suspected & more tests, including one involving a
catheter, were being run. Wednesday night, Laura passed away, still
in hospital. No one expected that at all. Not at all. She was 54.

I am posting part of an email I received from my sister today:

I've been receiving emails all day about Laura (mostly about the
quilter's plans for meals for the 15 people at Laura's house), but the
latest one said her daughter talked to the cardiologist and he said all
the reports are indicating lung cancer! Her right lung was not
functioning at all. Still a lot of reports from the autopsy outstanding
and we are all anxious to hear the results. Laura's body is being
transported to Rockwall tomorrow.

The funeral arrangements will be made tomorrow and I'll know more then.
I still can't digest this and can't process the fact that she is gone
and there was no opportunity for diagnosis and treatment.


I know there are a lot of unanswered questions here. I wonder why the
PCP didn't detect a totally non-functioning lung (assuming it was that
way when he saw her). This sounds very strange to me. Last Wednesday,
this woman was teaching school!

Fig

On Nov 10, 12:40 am, Figgertoes <agent01...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> My sister went with her quilt group to the Houston Quilt Show last week.
> One of the group, Laura, was on medication for high blood pressure & had
> been treated over the summer for some blood vessel problems in her eyes.
> The day before the trip, she visited her Primary Care Physician for
> shortness of breath. He told her it was stress & said of course it was
> OK take the trip.
>
> Last Friday, their first day at the show, Laura sat down to rest
> frequently & was out of breath. Saturday she stayed in bed. Although
> Laura thought she should just rest & drive back with the group on
> Sunday, maybe go to a pharmacy with a blood pressure cuff to check PB,
> Saturday night, my sister took her to an urgent care facility in
> Houston, affiliated with St. Luke's hospital. They transported her to
> St. Luke's where she was admitted & tests were run. Sunday, Laura's
> husband flew down to Houston & the other members of the group drove back
> home to the Dallas area. They kept checking on Laura & learned
> pulminary edema was suspected & more tests, including one involving a
> catheter, were being run. Wednesday night, Laura passed away, still
> in hospital. No one expected that at all. Not at all. She was 54.
>
> I am posting part of an email I received from my sister today:
>
> I've been receiving emails all day about Laura (mostly about the
> quilter's plans for meals for the 15 people at Laura's house), but the
> latest one said her daughter talked to the cardiologist and he said all
> the reports are indicating lung cancer! Her right lung was not
> functioning at all. Still a lot of reports from the autopsy outstanding
> and we are all anxious to hear the results. Laura's body is being
> transported to Rockwall tomorrow.
>
> The funeral arrangements will be made tomorrow and I'll know more then.
> I still can't digest this and can't process the fact that she is gone
> and there was no opportunity for diagnosis and treatment.
>
> I know there are a lot of unanswered questions here. I wonder why the
> PCP didn't detect a totally non-functioning lung (assuming it was that
> way when he saw her). This sounds very strange to me. Last Wednesday,
> this woman was teaching school!
>
> Fig

Sorry to hear about your friend of your sister, It sounds like she
didn't have cancer. Do a search on pulmonary edema, it is related to
heart failure not lung failure based on your interpretation of the
issue.
Sudden death is always hard to deal with.

Alex <usenetgirl@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1194713421.230258.257970@57g2000hsv.googlegro ups.com:

> On Nov 10, 12:40 am, Figgertoes <agent01...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>> My sister went with her quilt group to the Houston Quilt Show last
>> week. One of the group, Laura, was on medication for high blood
>> pressure & had been treated over the summer for some blood vessel
>> problems in her eyes. The day before the trip, she visited her
>> Primary Care Physician for shortness of breath. He told her it was
>> stress & said of course it was OK take the trip.
>>
>> Last Friday, their first day at the show, Laura sat down to rest
>> frequently & was out of breath. Saturday she stayed in bed.
>> Although Laura thought she should just rest & drive back with the
>> group on Sunday, maybe go to a pharmacy with a blood pressure cuff to
>> check PB, Saturday night, my sister took her to an urgent care
>> facility in Houston, affiliated with St. Luke's hospital. They
>> transported her to St. Luke's where she was admitted & tests were
>> run. Sunday, Laura's husband flew down to Houston & the other
>> members of the group drove back home to the Dallas area. They kept
>> checking on Laura & learned pulminary edema was suspected & more
>> tests, including one involving a catheter, were being run.
>> Wednesday night, Laura passed away, still in hospital. No one
>> expected that at all. Not at all. She was 54.
>>
>> I am posting part of an email I received from my sister today:
>>
>> I've been receiving emails all day about Laura (mostly about the
>> quilter's plans for meals for the 15 people at Laura's house), but
>> the latest one said her daughter talked to the cardiologist and he
>> said all the reports are indicating lung cancer! Her right lung was
>> not functioning at all. Still a lot of reports from the autopsy
>> outstanding and we are all anxious to hear the results. Laura's body
>> is being transported to Rockwall tomorrow.
>>
>> The funeral arrangements will be made tomorrow and I'll know more
>> then. I still can't digest this and can't process the fact that she
>> is gone and there was no opportunity for diagnosis and treatment.
>>
>> I know there are a lot of unanswered questions here. I wonder why
>> the PCP didn't detect a totally non-functioning lung (assuming it was
>> that way when he saw her). This sounds very strange to me. Last
>> Wednesday, this woman was teaching school!
>>
>> Fig
>
> Sorry to hear about your friend of your sister, It sounds like she
> didn't have cancer. Do a search on pulmonary edema, it is related to
> heart failure not lung failure based on your interpretation of the
> issue.
> Sudden death is always hard to deal with.
>
>
Maybe I wasn't clear. They suspected pulmonary edema & were testing for
that. They had also noticed a dark spot on a lung & wanted to do a PET
scan. For some reason, they say they couldn't do that as an inpatient &
she was not a candidate for release. We don't know why that is. Sounds
strange.

Thank you. She was my friend too, but much closer to my sister. When I
visit, which is every month now, we go on little excursions & I have
spent quite a bit of time with the quilt group over the years. So far
they have not made me learn to quilt :-)

Now there has been an autopsy & while I don't know much about that yet,
they are now saying lung cancer, but we haven't heard exactly what
killed her. I haven't heard of people dying quite that suddenly from
lung cancer. We are all waiting to hear why the PCP dismissed this as
stress less than a week before she died, even after she went to him with
the specific complaint - shortness of breath.

The suddenness is very hard, harder still if it didn't have to be. This
is like having someone die in an accident. As they ruled out things
like heart, Laura said, Well at least I'm not going to die.' That's
haunting now.

Fig

On Nov 11, 12:04 am, Figgertoes <agent01...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> Alex <usenetg...@gmail.com> wrote innews:1194713421.230258.257970@57g2000hsv.googleg roups.com:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 10, 12:40 am, Figgertoes <agent01...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> >> My sister went with her quilt group to the Houston Quilt Show last
> >> week. One of the group, Laura, was on medication for high blood
> >> pressure & had been treated over the summer for some blood vessel
> >> problems in her eyes. The day before the trip, she visited her
> >> Primary Care Physician for shortness of breath. He told her it was
> >> stress & said of course it was OK take the trip.
>
> >> Last Friday, their first day at the show, Laura sat down to rest
> >> frequently & was out of breath. Saturday she stayed in bed.
> >> Although Laura thought she should just rest & drive back with the
> >> group on Sunday, maybe go to a pharmacy with a blood pressure cuff to
> >> check PB, Saturday night, my sister took her to an urgent care
> >> facility in Houston, affiliated with St. Luke's hospital. They
> >> transported her to St. Luke's where she was admitted & tests were
> >> run. Sunday, Laura's husband flew down to Houston & the other
> >> members of the group drove back home to the Dallas area. They kept
> >> checking on Laura & learned pulminary edema was suspected & more
> >> tests, including one involving a catheter, were being run.
> >> Wednesday night, Laura passed away, still in hospital. No one
> >> expected that at all. Not at all. She was 54.
>
> >> I am posting part of an email I received from my sister today:
>
> >> I've been receiving emails all day about Laura (mostly about the
> >> quilter's plans for meals for the 15 people at Laura's house), but
> >> the latest one said her daughter talked to the cardiologist and he
> >> said all the reports are indicating lung cancer! Her right lung was
> >> not functioning at all. Still a lot of reports from the autopsy
> >> outstanding and we are all anxious to hear the results. Laura's body
> >> is being transported to Rockwall tomorrow.
>
> >> The funeral arrangements will be made tomorrow and I'll know more
> >> then. I still can't digest this and can't process the fact that she
> >> is gone and there was no opportunity for diagnosis and treatment.
>
> >> I know there are a lot of unanswered questions here. I wonder why
> >> the PCP didn't detect a totally non-functioning lung (assuming it was
> >> that way when he saw her). This sounds very strange to me. Last
> >> Wednesday, this woman was teaching school!
>
> >> Fig
>
> > Sorry to hear about your friend of your sister, It sounds like she
> > didn't have cancer. Do a search on pulmonary edema, it is related to
> > heart failure not lung failure based on your interpretation of the
> > issue.
> > Sudden death is always hard to deal with.
>
> Maybe I wasn't clear. They suspected pulmonary edema & were testing for
> that. They had also noticed a dark spot on a lung & wanted to do a PET
> scan. For some reason, they say they couldn't do that as an inpatient &
> she was not a candidate for release. We don't know why that is. Sounds
> strange.
>
> Thank you. She was my friend too, but much closer to my sister. When I
> visit, which is every month now, we go on little excursions & I have
> spent quite a bit of time with the quilt group over the years. So far
> they have not made me learn to quilt :-)
>
> Now there has been an autopsy & while I don't know much about that yet,
> they are now saying lung cancer, but we haven't heard exactly what
> killed her. I haven't heard of people dying quite that suddenly from
> lung cancer. We are all waiting to hear why the PCP dismissed this as
> stress less than a week before she died, even after she went to him with
> the specific complaint - shortness of breath.
>
> The suddenness is very hard, harder still if it didn't have to be. This
> is like having someone die in an accident. As they ruled out things
> like heart, Laura said, Well at least I'm not going to die.' That's
> haunting now.
>
> Fig

Let us know what the autopsy shows. Yes it is very hard an unexpected
death, especially in a person in their 50's. Actually, she didn't
suffer much which is a blessing but it is hard on family and friends.

In article <Xns99E4E0B2A6C4Cagent01413mydejacom@216.168.3.44> ,
Figgertoes <agent01413@my-deja.com> wrote:

> Now there has been an autopsy & while I don't know much about that yet,
> they are now saying lung cancer, but we haven't heard exactly what
> killed her. I haven't heard of people dying quite that suddenly from
> lung cancer. We are all waiting to hear why the PCP dismissed this as
> stress less than a week before she died, even after she went to him with
> the specific complaint - shortness of breath.

I have a friend who's mother died from SCLC. It wasn't detected until the
autopsy. If diagnosed in the late stages, I guess the survival rate is
small. SCLC can double in size in only 30 days. That's pretty fast. It
can't be cut out of the body for fear of it's spreading. Radiation and
chemo are the only options (besides doing nothing) that I have read about.

bobert (SCLC survivor) 5 yr dx coming up 5/29/08 or 29/5/08 depending on
where you live.
--
After four decimal places, who cares?

Bob in Central California

"The Bobert" <nobody@nowhere.nowhow> wrote in message
news:nobody-72E4CE.14405812112007@newsclstr03.news.prodigy.net ...
> In article <Xns99E4E0B2A6C4Cagent01413mydejacom@216.168.3.44> ,
> Figgertoes <agent01413@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
>> Now there has been an autopsy & while I don't know much about that
>> yet,
>> they are now saying lung cancer, but we haven't heard exactly what
>> killed her. I haven't heard of people dying quite that suddenly from
>> lung cancer. We are all waiting to hear why the PCP dismissed this as
>> stress less than a week before she died, even after she went to him
>> with
>> the specific complaint - shortness of breath.
>
> I have a friend who's mother died from SCLC. It wasn't detected until
> the
> autopsy. If diagnosed in the late stages, I guess the survival rate is
> small. SCLC can double in size in only 30 days. That's pretty fast.
> It
> can't be cut out of the body for fear of it's spreading. Radiation and
> chemo are the only options (besides doing nothing) that I have read
> about.
>
> bobert (SCLC survivor) 5 yr dx coming up 5/29/08 or 29/5/08 depending
> on
> where you live.
> --
> After four decimal places, who cares?
>
> Bob in Central California

My friend's brother jusy had his whole right lung removed. No cancer
showing anywhere else in his body. Hackensack Hospital in No. Jersey.
This is still experimental. He is home doing really well. He did have
some leakage from the bronchi area but that has cleared up. They did
minor surgery to make sure. He is 45 or so. Quite healthy and doing
fine.

BetsyB

Figgertoes <agent01413@my-deja.com> wrote in
news:Xns99E3E6CE69B58agent01413mydejacom@216.168.3 .44:

A follow-up: The immediate cause of death was heart failue, secondary was
pulminary hypertension. The underlying cause was lung cancer. They are
still in the process of determining the type of cancer & other details.

Laura never smoked but her parents did & her mother is a lung cancer
patient.

At the time of death, a procedure was in progress where they were inserting
a tube into I think an artery - some place near heart. They wanted to
administer a medication that required precise dosing. The device they were
inserting would have monitered her responses to the medication for 36
hours, at which time the device would be removed with proper dosing
established. The precedure is done while patient is awake with some
medications given to relax.

Her death is so shocking & sad. Besides quilting, Laura was a Master
Gardener & she had single-handedly created lovely beds around her new home
that were still georgous yesterday. Now my sister will help Laura's
daughter identify the various plants (which are annual/which perrenial etc)
& plant the bulbs Laura had bought. Several of the quilters gathered seeds
yesterday to perpetuate Laura's garden in their own yards.

Fig

Figgertoes wrote:

> Figgertoes <agent01413@my-deja.com> wrote in
> news:Xns99E3E6CE69B58agent01413mydejacom@216.168.3 .44:
>
> A follow-up: The immediate cause of death was heart failue, secondary was
> pulminary hypertension. The underlying cause was lung cancer. They are
> still in the process of determining the type of cancer & other details.
>
> Laura never smoked but her parents did & her mother is a lung cancer
> patient.
>
> At the time of death, a procedure was in progress where they were inserting
> a tube into I think an artery - some place near heart. They wanted to
> administer a medication that required precise dosing. The device they were
> inserting would have monitered her responses to the medication for 36
> hours, at which time the device would be removed with proper dosing
> established. The precedure is done while patient is awake with some
> medications given to relax.
>
> Her death is so shocking & sad. Besides quilting, Laura was a Master
> Gardener & she had single-handedly created lovely beds around her new home
> that were still georgous yesterday. Now my sister will help Laura's
> daughter identify the various plants (which are annual/which perrenial etc)
> & plant the bulbs Laura had bought. Several of the quilters gathered seeds
> yesterday to perpetuate Laura's garden in their own yards.
>
> Fig

Sorry about your friend, Fig.
Hugs
J

"Figgertoes> At the time of death, a procedure was in progress where they
were inserting
> a tube into I think an artery - some place near heart. They wanted to
> administer a medication that required precise dosing. The device they
> were
> inserting would have monitered her responses to the medication for 36
> hours, at which time the device would be removed with proper dosing
> established. The precedure is done while patient is awake with some
> medications given to relax.

Sounds like it was a Swanz Ganz cath, her pulmonary hypertension must have
been very severe.
>
> Her death is so shocking & sad. Besides quilting, Laura was a Master
> Gardener & she had single-handedly created lovely beds around her new home
> that were still georgous yesterday. Now my sister will help Laura's
> daughter identify the various plants (which are annual/which perrenial
> etc)
> & plant the bulbs Laura had bought. Several of the quilters gathered
> seeds
> yesterday to perpetuate Laura's garden in their own yards.
>
> Fig

Interesting and sad that cancer had grown to cause pulmonary hypertension
that was fatal.

This may double-post. If so, blame Google.
I'm sorry to hear of your friend's unexpected death. I'm sure that,
aside from those who have responded here, many others in ASC have you,
your sister, and the quilting group, in their thoughts. It is
surprising that the GP couldn't tell there was anything wrong with her
lung, but many things have surprised me wrt cancer & health.

---
CSM

csm7532@hotmail.com wrote in news:1194999976.229180.224790
@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

> This may double-post. If so, blame Google.
> I'm sorry to hear of your friend's unexpected death. I'm sure that,
> aside from those who have responded here, many others in ASC have you,
> your sister, and the quilting group, in their thoughts. It is
> surprising that the GP couldn't tell there was anything wrong with her
> lung, but many things have surprised me wrt cancer & health.
>
> ---
> CSM
>
>

At first I wondered if the GP should have picked up on this, but many
specialists had difficulty figuring out what was wrong. However, none had
difficulty determining that something was seriously wrong. Don't know. I
don't think my pcp would dismiss as stress.

Fig