Please help - painful cramping

Adele0650

Please help my husband is having very painful intestinal cramping and wont let me call the doctor. I don't know what to do

Tina Blondek

Hi Adele,
Welcome and I am
Hi Adele,
Welcome and I am sorry that you and your husband are having this problem. His stubborness will not help him with this situation though. Sounds to me like he might be constipated. Try a laxative. My father was prescribed a laxative called Lactalouse. This did the trick! Does your husband have stomach cancer? Is he under treatment? I was a caregiver for my dad, he recently passed away from esophageal cancer with mets to his liver on 3/9/10. Hope this helps. A trip to the ER might be coming up for him soon, if he does not get better. Keep in touch.
Tina

Adele0650

Tina Blondek said:

Hi Adele,
Welcome and I am
Hi Adele,
Welcome and I am sorry that you and your husband are having this problem. His stubborness will not help him with this situation though. Sounds to me like he might be constipated. Try a laxative. My father was prescribed a laxative called Lactalouse. This did the trick! Does your husband have stomach cancer? Is he under treatment? I was a caregiver for my dad, he recently passed away from esophageal cancer with mets to his liver on 3/9/10. Hope this helps. A trip to the ER might be coming up for him soon, if he does not get better. Keep in touch.
Tina

Hi Tina,
sorry it has taken
Hi Tina,
sorry it has taken me so long to reply, we went for a 2nd and 3rd opinion last week and were on the road for hours. My husband has esophageal cancer with a tumor in his stomach. He was operated on last September and 3/4 of his stomach was removed. The prognosis sounded hopefull last year, however the tumor has come back. I did call the doctor and he prescribed Reglin (??) which has stopped the cramping, now if we could just help him keep his food down. He is currently on Xeloda, but that may change. We will be visiting the oncologist on Tuesday. I am so sorry to hear about your father, this has to be by far the worst cancer. They literally disappear in front of you. So far Jim's cancer has not spread but the doctors are expecting it to do so. Thank you so much for your advise. Please stay well.
Adele

Tina Blondek

Adele0650 said:

Hi Tina,
sorry it has taken
Hi Tina,
sorry it has taken me so long to reply, we went for a 2nd and 3rd opinion last week and were on the road for hours. My husband has esophageal cancer with a tumor in his stomach. He was operated on last September and 3/4 of his stomach was removed. The prognosis sounded hopefull last year, however the tumor has come back. I did call the doctor and he prescribed Reglin (??) which has stopped the cramping, now if we could just help him keep his food down. He is currently on Xeloda, but that may change. We will be visiting the oncologist on Tuesday. I am so sorry to hear about your father, this has to be by far the worst cancer. They literally disappear in front of you. So far Jim's cancer has not spread but the doctors are expecting it to do so. Thank you so much for your advise. Please stay well.
Adele

Adele!
I have been worrying about you! I check almost every day. I was so thrilled to see your post today. You are right this is a horrible type of cancer, and getting more popular by the minute. Hopefully the researcher will start examining this type more so. They do disappear before you, within a matter of months! Thank you for your sympathies. It is very hard, but I find it helps to stay on these boards and help others from my experiences. Dad was on Xeloda too. It worked great for the ec, but did nothing to the liver cancer. I am not familiar with Reglin, but I am glad to hear it has worked for the horrible cramping. You will both know when enough is enough. Listen to your gut feelings. Listen to your heart. Until then...keep forging forward, but after 3 opinions...what more can be done? At this point, what the drs suggest is to prolong their lives, not cure them. Good luck. I am here if you need me. You can email me through here too. Do not stay away so long next time! Hugs to both of you. Also, begin to watch Jim's quality of life. Quality outweighs quantity here. My dad no longer had a quality of life. Like I said, you will both know. Peace.
Tina

Adele0650

Tina Blondek said:

Adele!
I have been worrying about you! I check almost every day. I was so thrilled to see your post today. You are right this is a horrible type of cancer, and getting more popular by the minute. Hopefully the researcher will start examining this type more so. They do disappear before you, within a matter of months! Thank you for your sympathies. It is very hard, but I find it helps to stay on these boards and help others from my experiences. Dad was on Xeloda too. It worked great for the ec, but did nothing to the liver cancer. I am not familiar with Reglin, but I am glad to hear it has worked for the horrible cramping. You will both know when enough is enough. Listen to your gut feelings. Listen to your heart. Until then...keep forging forward, but after 3 opinions...what more can be done? At this point, what the drs suggest is to prolong their lives, not cure them. Good luck. I am here if you need me. You can email me through here too. Do not stay away so long next time! Hugs to both of you. Also, begin to watch Jim's quality of life. Quality outweighs quantity here. My dad no longer had a quality of life. Like I said, you will both know. Peace.
Tina

Hi Tina,
there just aren't
Hi Tina,
there just aren't enough hours in the day for me. It was so comforting reading your post. Jim is just waisting away. THe doctor will start him on another chemo on Wednesday and we'll see what happens with that. Why do these things happen to good people? I am having a meltdown right now. He is sleeping, this is my time to release the anger, hurt and just sadness I have in me. I'll keep you posted.
Jim is aware of his quality of life, he has always been such a happy go lucky person, always singing and very friendly, everyone knows him and they all love him. For his birthday (5/6) he received 160 e-mails, I am lucky if I get 10. There is so much sadness in his eyes which is unbearable. I am still holding on to a little hope that maybe this new chemo might help.
I'll check in soon.
Hugs and thanks to you as well.
Adele

Tina Blondek

Adele0650 said:

Hi Tina,
there just aren't
Hi Tina,
there just aren't enough hours in the day for me. It was so comforting reading your post. Jim is just waisting away. THe doctor will start him on another chemo on Wednesday and we'll see what happens with that. Why do these things happen to good people? I am having a meltdown right now. He is sleeping, this is my time to release the anger, hurt and just sadness I have in me. I'll keep you posted.
Jim is aware of his quality of life, he has always been such a happy go lucky person, always singing and very friendly, everyone knows him and they all love him. For his birthday (5/6) he received 160 e-mails, I am lucky if I get 10. There is so much sadness in his eyes which is unbearable. I am still holding on to a little hope that maybe this new chemo might help.
I'll check in soon.
Hugs and thanks to you as well.
Adele

Hey Adele,
So great to hear
Hey Adele,
So great to hear from you today! I was happy to see your name on the discussion board. You know, this cancer does not chose anyone, any age, any gender, it does not have a preferance, it just happens. It is unfortunate. Wow! 160 emails. He is popular! Happy belated birtday to him from me! I know very well that look of sadness in the eyes. It is like they are looking to us for an answer. They are looking at us and saying....when can this be over? when can I stop? Is this all worth it? With Jim already being in this frail, weak, state I do not think he will do well with this next chemo treatment. I have to be honest with you, I am sorry if this upsets you. Like I have told you before, the chemo treatment will not "cure" the cancer. It is just prolonging Jim's life. As long as Jim's quality of life is still good, then keep fighting! You will never know if you do not keep trying. Best of luck to both of you. I will be thinking and praying for you. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
Tina

liveinhope

Hi Adele,25years ago I had
Hi Adele,25years ago I had to see my father through this illness as a daughter and the closest doctor.last July my son at 30 was diagnosed with the same disease.He is well and busy at work after completing chemotherapy and inspite of our fears we are living as normal a life as possible.We have all got our gastroscopy done,my brother's and my family.That's important due to the possible inhertance if this gene.
I hope Jim is doing well and chemo stalls the disease.Take as much help as possible.friends and relatives want to be of use and often are happy to have a concrete suggestion.Sometimes you may just need a break.These are tough times but life goes on.Do tell me if I can be of any help.Lots of love Nisha