george

My mother-in-law tripped over her dog 2 months ago and bruised her ribs. She
went to a doctor, they sent her for x-rays and found she has a tumor on her
lung and small spec's on her lympnodes! What she finds hard is she feels
great.
My mother-in-law is 77 years old and in great shape, this is so sad. Her
husband died of lung cancer 7 years ago, my mother died of leukemia 6 years
ago. God I think we have went through enough shit!
Wednesday she is meeting with her Cancer doctor to discuss Chemo. She says
that if she will only live one year she would rather do without Chemo! This
is a hard call for her.

carolyn

Hi George,

I'm sorry to hear about your in-laws and your mother. I am 32 years old and
I have a brain tumour, discovered a year ago. I have been told by the
doctors that there is no cure, and that with radiotherapy (along with all
its risks, including blindness in my situation) I will live 2 years, but
without it only 1 year. I have refused all medical treatment - I figure if
I'm going to die anyway, why go throw all that pain and trouble just for an
extra 12 months? I would rather enjoy what time I've got. Like your
mother-in-law, I feel great too. I am glad that she has made her own
decision and not been pushed by the doctors to do it their way. As for
myself, I am trying other approaches with nutrition and alternative
therapies.

Good luck to you all.

Regards,


Carolyn.

--

mike radcliffe

It's good to hear people making choices and not just being swept along with
the medical current.
MIKE

alayne

I am very sorry to hear about your mother-in-law, and that your family has
been touched with cancer so many times in the past.

Life can be so cruel, there is no reasoning.

I send you my warmest wishes and hugs.

Alayne

j

Hello George,
I'm sorry to hear that your family's had so many losses due to cancer.
It sometimes comes with aging..
I don't know what specks mean on lymph nodes but I imagine if they're referring
her to an oncologist, they're pretty sure it's a malignant tumour.

I'd want to know the staging (whether other organs are affected or not) before
discussing treatments and especially, the location of the tumour.
Location, in case she becomes symptomatic, and radiation therapy is a
possibility..although not without risks/side effects and possible even if she
decides nothing aggressive and/or in palliative/hospice care at home.

Since she feels so well at the moment, she may have all kinds of things she
wants to do before it might get to that point, but may want to ask ahead as to
what's available for possible future purposes. Oh and do make sure she's got
her affairs in order..will, advanced directives, power of attorney of care,
power of attorney and all that bureaucratic stuff.

If she's in Quebec, I don't think she'll be pressed for chemo, it might just be
a formality to make sure she's made aware of her choices. Perhaps you or
someone else in the family can help her to compile a list of questions to ask ?
There's may be prompters here http://www.cancersupporters.com/asc/part1.html
Steph wrote these Questions to Ask http://tinyurl.com/vh34

Hopefully someone will be going with her to support her and take notes and not
pressure her to take aggressive chemo if she's not interested.

We'll be here for you also, even if you just want to post to vent.
keep in touch and let us know if we can be of assist and/or how it's going.
Best,
J

j

Hello Carolyn, I'm sorry to hear about your tumour.
I see in the newsgroup archives, you had some surgery - May 02?
Is that when they told you 2 years? Is it a slower growing type of brain
tumour?

I guess radiotherapy and/or surgery are "tricky" for brain tumours.
I wouldn't want to lose my sight either.

I've changed the subject line, so you can have your own thread and in case
others with brain tumours are watching for such

Keep in touch and let us know how you're doing.
Hugs
J

carolyn

Hi J,

Yes, I had surgery in June, and that's when they told me I have 1 year.
They expected it would be as benign tumour, but it turned out to be a Grade
III malignant tumour (anaplastic astrocytoma). It is supposed to grow
relatively fast, but I have not noticed any change in a year. There are
people all over the world praying for me, so it must be doing some good!

For now I'm doing well, except that I have some numbness in my fingers -
maybe related, maybe not.

Carolyn.

--

george

My mother-in-law had her appointment today with her new Cancer doctor. He
seemed concerned about the headaches she has been having for the last month,
and she has a small bump on the back of her head.
Before going further with treating her Lung cancer he would like to verify
the above mentioned things. Her family doctor had told her it was her sinus
congestion causing her headaches. We are hoping that is what it is.
The whole process with doctors is brutal, doctors in Quebec are so
overworked that they tend to lack sympathy for there patients....I guess
this is another issue.

George


not


going.

j

I'm glad the cancer doctor picked up on that and is checking it out
George, that doesn't sound good, unless when she tripped she fell and bumped her
head?
If not the latter, that could may well impact on her decisions about treatments
...
Are they rushing the tests? CT scan? various x-rays?

I'm sorry about the doctor situation. Same here, if any of us can even find
one..

Please get lots of rest as you can, if/while in wait mode for the tests.
Things might get very busy, very fast.

Keep in touch as you are able.
Best,
J
..

george

Yes they are rushing the tests.She meets the doctor next Wednesday for a
treatment for her cancer. The decision will be hers. She is a very strong
women.

Thanks
George