Radiation for Spinal Bone Mets

DanNH

After a scan a few months ago we learned that after liver and lungs, bones are a common place for metastasis to land.

we met with the radiation oncologist who was fantastic! She came across as very confident and knowledgeable without arrogance. We knew we were in good hands with this woman.

We met with her in the morning and told her we were concerned about a delay in treatment because the last time she had a delay for Y-90 her CEA skyrocketed. She got us a planning session the same day in the afternoon.

Radiation begin a week later on a Wednesday. They were 10 days of radiation with weekends off. The treatments covered three weeks ending on a Tuesday. She had Wednesday off and Infusion the next day, Thursday.

The combination of radiation and infusion made her pretty sick with nausea and a swimmy head. as the days went on she developed an intense waves of pain in her intestines along the line with the radiation took place when food moved through

acting on the theory that the intestines were burned along the line of the spine from the radiation we treated her with oral aloe gel which she took first thing in the morning and just before bed. No food for an hour after or two hours before. This delivered results almost immediately. She also took slippery elm bark tincture during the day. It was easier to take than the powdered form in acted to soothe her intestines. We are so glad that we tried this!

The nausea was a constant issue. Odansetron which is normally very good for her would not touch it. She got some relief by rubbing acupressure points and with ginger and candies? Marketed to women who have pregnancy related nausea. These worked fantastic! They did have some sugar so she cut them into three pieces and would consume one piece at a time. Those were amazing!

she also had some terrible itching. Her energy healer had theorized that this was due to toxins trying to be purged from her body. She finally tried a coffee enema which reduce the intensity by a good 40%.

Pam was too nauseous and uncomfortable for her next infusion. Instead of an infusion she got a liter of fluids and some steroids. This cleared up many of the issues including the itchiness.

The symptoms were not completely eliminated but were greatly dissipated. One other thing that we experienced was a CEA spike. In the five weeks that it took for radiation her CEA jumped by about 37%. It was a heartbreaking lab. With the bloodwork for her post pone infusion the CEA dropped by a like percentage. This was unexpected and we were prepared for bad news. I cannot describe the feeling of elation and relief from a CEA drop of close to 400 points.

my reason for posting this is to let others know what our experience with radiation was. Others may experience lesser or worse side effects but this is what we experience and how we dealt with it.

Dan

BerniceOB

Dan,

what a strong couple that you and Pam are. You are such a caring and thoughtful caretaker and Pam seems so strong. I can see that she has been through so much. It’s probably not easy to share your journey as you have been doing but I am sure that it has been helpful to many. Sending both of you heartfelt positive thoughts and prayers.