To Mike, Bobmc, Others Re: Mom's Recurrence

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edited March 2014 in Lung Cancer #1
Thank you all so much for your replies. General concensus seems to definitely be a second opinion is needed here which is the plan in place for mom. I've been busy getting everything lined up and as a result, I know I have not posted in quite some time to again thank you all and to let you know what's going on.

Okay, Mom will be going to USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has an appointment there, which by the way is the same place where my husband is being treated, on February 6. We will take it from there but I just feel better knowing that like hubby, she is getting the best possible treatment that I know of how to get for her. She is so full of life and
although she knows there is no cure for her, perhaps she can get some good time out of her fight.

Just as a point of interest, the news we received on my husband for his colon cancer was mixed, to say the least. His CEA did drop to 6.0 from 7.7, but obviously there still could possibly be something going on and it is now definitely not a false reading. I know that some people, for whatever reason, will sometimes get an elevated CEA that seems to stay there even though
nothing is found on any of the scans. I pray real, real hard that my husband is one of them.

His CAT scan came back with nothing going on in the abdomen but all of a sudden, out of nowhere considering he had his last one in mid-November, it shows multiple 2-8 mm nodules scattered in both lungs that are too small to characterize. They don't know what they are. A few have been definitely identified as calcified and not a
threat...I'm thinking it's the larger ones. Hubby used to be a smoker....quit many years ago and this could be remnants...even the onc said that and it was the first things he asked when he saw in an attempt to explain these nodules. However, he is taking no chances and now definitely we will do a PET which is scheduled for February 2.

There is also a "nonspecific borderline" right paratracheal lymph node. If any of these nodules or the node is cancerous, the PET will tell us.

Once again I play the waiting game and pray with all my heart and soul that the very tiny nodules that the CAT could not define are also tiny calcifications.

Bob, you put it so eloquently when you said that the Lord has definitely given me crosses to bear...that he has and I don't know why but contrary to your compliment that I seem to be handling this okay, I'm not. I am functioning like a robot, putting one foot in front of the other and keeping up the best front that I possible can for these two people that I love so much and for my son, who desperately needs me as well.

No surrender! Right!

Fondly,
Monika

Comments

  • bobmc
    bobmc Member Posts: 47
    #2
    Hello Again Monika;

    Was just thinking of you as the "caregiver" and suggest you may want to speak to your own doctor about what your going through. I have quite a few friends that are caregivers over on lungcancersurvivors.org, and many have found it helpful and recieved medication.
    Also, those CEA readings arn't overly high either. From what I learned, normal is 2.5 for a nonsmoker and 5 for a smoker but my doc. dosen't get concerned unless there climbing and >10. Elevated readings can also be caused by Irritable Bowel Syndrom and bronchial / lung problems.
    God bless and be well, & my best with all the tests
    Bobmc - NSCLC- stageIIB- left pneumonectomy- 5/2/01, Brains mets 2 found- 2/18/03- presently undergoing WBR,
    "Absolutely insist on enjoying life today!"

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