staying postive just got harder to do

Staying Positive is hard
Sorry to her about your husband. I too am in the same boat you are. My Dale has cancer of the vocal cord. He was having trouble breathing so we went to the ENT yesterday. Not good. The tumor is growing. There are no treatment options. Dale decided in July to go for quality of life. The choice yesterday was call hospice and make him comfortable or get a trach tube to help with breathing. This will let him breathe more comfortable and may give him 6 months. Next Friday he will get the trach tube. I hate to see him suffer, it just hurts me so. You're right , the months ahead will be tough for everyone. Little did I know, that when I retired in June what God's big plan was. Try to be strong, we can do it. God bless you.

will continue to pray
Cunicorn, We will continue to pray for you and your husband. My husband is part of the same club as you, junklady, and bailey1459. Stage iv....sugery is not an option. We were given 2 options, very agressive chemo or to be sent home with hospice care...he was given 2 - 3 months. Thank the Lord, he has responded well to the chemo. He is in his late 50's so maybe his age helped him tolerate the chemo....and he was healthy before all this started. He is in remission since May and we thank God every day. We don't know how long it will last but we are trying to make the best of this time. He is finished with his 4 rounds of chemo and now he is on Xeloda (pill form) and is doing well on it....so I assume he will be on that indefintely.
Hang in there....try to stay positive....believe me, I know it is hard. My husband is just starting to believe he may see the end of this year (he actually talks about where we will spend Christmas this year and it was not that long ago that all he spoke about was getting his affairs in order) and the change in attitude has helped us both.
I hope you have family and friends to help you through this difficult time.
God Bless you both.
Jane

emg09 said:

I'm so glad to hear he's in
I'm so glad to hear he's in remission!!! That's great. Please do keep your faith, only God knows what the final plan will be and this could be your answer and possibly that for the other families?? What chemo was he on, that got him into remission. My dad is in a clinical study in Pittsburgh, the chemo is working, but slowly and he's been very sick. They are talking about switching the Study chemo to something else. At this point I want him on something that is kind of a known chemo, you know what I mean?? I'd love for them to learn something about this cancer that will just stop it in it's tracks, but not at my dad's expense. I feel so selfish for saying that, but that's how I feel!! He's still not a candiate for surgery since the tumors are shinking so slow.

Everyone, please keep your faith and trust in God!!! Prayers for all!!
Erika

chemo
Erika,
My husband Charlie had 4 rounds of 120 continuous hrs of chemo....Cisplatin, Taxotere, and 5-FU....the Cisplatin and Taxotere were for a couple of hours at the beginning of each treatment followed by 120 hrs of 5-FU. First round was awful....he had all his chemo in the hospital and when he came home from the 1st round he was so sick...nauseous, mouth sores, thrush....couldn't eat anything...could barely speak. 3 weeks later he was ready for the next round. They lowered the dose...didn't want him to be so sick but they ended up cutting that round short since he started with side effects too early in the cycle. 3 weeks later another cycle...was able to complete that one. We took a break inbetween cycle 3 and 4 so we could visit family and friends up north (we retired and moved to FL from NJ 2 years ago.) Round 4 was in July. In Aug the dr suggested taking Xeloda (5-FU in pill form) to possibly keep the cancer in remission. Charlie is almost at the end of his first cycle and is doing well on it. He takes it for 2 weeks and is off 1 week. When we start the next cycle we are going to up the dose since he is doing so well.
I know what you mean about using a drug that is known to work...but of course everyone is different.
Ditto...keep your faith and trust in God.
Jane

we were also told there was no hope
Cunicom, My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 in Feb. His initial round of radiation and chemo went well, cancer went into remission, however a couple of months later there was a small spot on his brain, which needed radiation before he could have chemo for a few spots that had re-occurred in his body. By then tumors had shown up in his liver which are now consticting his ducts and causing his billirubin level to be very high. His local oncologist said chemo won't work while his billirubin is high, and the local hospital would not do the procedure necessary to help lower it( too risky). We went in search of a second opinion and found a Dr that has a different chemo protocol that he thinks might work. I hope you have an option to do that, if you really want to continue to fight, I know it is hard. My husband continues to say he wants to fight but his demeanor lately does not say that, he has limited eating capabilities, and it is hard to get him to try to eat anything. This is the hardest thing we have ever been through, and it is even harder for him, and parts of the fight are his on his own. I hope you find strength and peace and a second opinion if you want one!! Keep strong!