My MOM with cancer

suelee

Hello, My mother had breast cancer 6 yrs ago. She had a lumpectomy. 1 yr ago we found out she has a tumor behind her breast bone. months of radiation and then chemo, finding out that the chemo done nothing.( except make her sick and lose all her hair) Now she is getting chemo once a week. My mom is 62 yrs old and was very active, shes not like my mom anymore at all. I cant stand seeing her this way. She did not even know what was going on because she told her doctor to only tell her what she needed to know as far as treatment. I called her doctor the other day to find out that it has spread on her ribs and down her spine. My mother has NO insurance and she is between the ages of getting medicare and makes 50.00 to much over getting medical assistance.
I tell her not to worry about the money , we will figure something out. My mother is on some kind of steroid and she is pretty much a small person and now she is so bloated that she looks as though she gained 50 lbs.
She is so tired all the time that sometimes she dont even get out of bed. If there is anyone out there that has any of the same problems...... Please talk to me. her doctor told me that it is a quick spreading cancer and if this chemo dont work, they will try another. Please help, I am so lost and dont know what to do...... Thank you, sue lee

lgraz

Hi Sue, I am an adult childhood bone cancer survivor. I also happen to work for the American Cancer Society. We have soem wonderful books on pain, fatigue, caregiving etc, that would be helpful to you. We have a series of guides and/or a program called I Can Cope that is called Money Matter, We also have a program called Reach To Recovery that matches breat CA survivors with survivors - that would be for your mom, and it sounds like she may not be interested in that but it would be worth the try. I'm happy to get the material to you and talk to you if you'd like. You can email me at lynne.graziano.morin@cancer.org, or you can callme at 509-270-4723. You may also want to go post on the caregiver section.

Please hang in there, you are a wonderful daughter and your mom is very lucky!

prayerangel

Money is a horrible thing to worry about when you are in the midst of all this. I went through a similiar ordeal years ago. Here in NH we have fund raisers for people who need medical money. Have you thought about that? Do you belong to a local church? Also, at your local hospital you can ask for the Social Worker. She can give you ideas. Are they giving her plenty of meds for pain?