Chemo "lite" for my mom who is still in ICU?

Hi everyone---I wanted to let you know that my mom is still hanging on in ICU. She has been in ICU on mechanical ventilation for three three weeks now. We had a phone conference with the MD's today. Her pulmonary status has been stable for the last week on 40% ventilation. She is no longer on paralytics but continues to be on a lot of sedation. The recommendation was to move forward with the tracheostomy in hopes that sedation could be lessened and that eventually she could come off the ventilator. The oncologist is recommending a type of weekly chemo that would help reduce the plural effusions in her lungs. I could not clearly hear the name of the drug but I did her her say platinum. It is not one of the traditional big boys like Taxol. I'm not sure if she is strong enough for this but the oncologist seems to think so. She has been so sedated for weeks now that we have not been able to communicate with her. She has not opened her eyes in several days. The pulmonologist said that even with the trache, it will be hard to avoid wrist restraints again and this really bothers me. She continues to have fevers but does not have an infection. Lastly, her liver enzymes are now elevated and the MD states this could be due to a "sluggish liver" in the ICU. I'm not sure how to emotionally process these plans of moving forward with more interventions. It feels like I have been mentally preparing for her death for weeks now. However, it is difficult not to be hopeful when the MD's still have things they want to try and talk about getting her into remission. At times I think the MD's feel like my mom is Steve Austin on the Six Million Dollar man..."We can rebuild her...we can make her STRONGER." I feel that as long as they think her brain is intact they will move forward with whatever it takes in hopes of repairing her body.

The oncologist told me that she didn't have cancer cells in the pleural fluid---yet I was told by her and at least three others that there were cancer cells in the fluid. She said she didn't "think" so and would have to look back through her chart. I wanted to slap her through the phone "...you don't THINK so!!!---I have had my head wrapped around this for weeks now and this DOES appear to be her MAIN problem" She responded--"Well stage 3 or 4--doesn't really matter--they are both advanced." Well it mattered to me when you told me. I just couldn't believe it.

So who knows...if my mom recovers from this with a fighting chance of surviving this it will be amazing and I will really believe that you do need to go down fighting until the end.

Thanks for all your support on this board--you don't know how I appreciate it. BTW--Does anyone know the name of this type of chemo med??? I'd like to research it if I could.

Wendy