F*** You, Cancer! Catch all

Thoughts with you and your family Wordsmythe. Hope things go very well.

Internethugs flying her way. Hoping for a fast recovery!

((((((((Wordsmythe))))))))))) and to mama wordy too. Sending love and healing, positive vibes your way!!

I hope everything went well, Wordy.

My mom was under the knife as well today. She's in a room and already complaining they won't give her coffee.

Thinking of you too momgamer.

Well, the doctors were very frank with us and told us that we could pursue a clinical trial, but the possibility of success was close to zero. My mother has chosen to have supportive care until she passes. While I'm still devastated that she is not going to be around for more than a few weeks, I'm glad that her last days will be filled with quality time with her loved ones.

We're taking her back to her home country of Lebanon to be with her family until she passes. My brother has deferred from medical school for a year, and I quit my job today so I could go too.

Our flight leaves tomorrow, so we took her into the hospital today for 2 doctor appointments, and to get 2 units of blood and a unit of platelets before the trip. We were at the hospital from 7:30 this morning until 8:30 this evening. All very tired.

She has had a lot of visitors over the last few days. I think she was getting a bit tired from all of the attention, but it made me so happy to see how many lives she had touched so profoundly. I would start tearing up every time one of her/my friends would start to cry. You'd be hard pressed to find another woman that has been a second mother to that many people.

This week has been a blur trying to get ready for this trip on such short notice, but every passing day is a greater risk for her to fly. We fly out at 3:38 p.m. tomorrow. Actually, today now. I'm too tired to post much more about this now. Maybe when we land. I just pray that she does well on the flight.

Much love to you and yours, Dyni. *hugs*

Dyni, have a safe trip. So, sad.

sh*t, that sucks Dyni. Im so sorry.
Sadly I will need to deal with the exact same thing soon, I expect.
My wife's grandfather was responding very well to his chemo but recently was told that it was no longer doing anything for him. He's now in the same boat as your mom.

My mom will be there too.

I have a sad for you, and now for me too.

Hugs to you and your family.

Solidarity hugs, Dyni.

My mom's under the knife again right now. Screening last week indicates that it hasn't spread, which is a pretty big blessing.

Rough times. All of you are in my thoughts and prayers.

I don't want to commit to this being true, in case the doctor was wrong or something, but they think they got it all out without causing any permanent damage to her nerves or voice box.

This is really good news, and I'm super jazzed. Plus, I figure this thread could use more positive news, because cancer sucks.

That's potentially awesome, Wordy! Great could-be news!

fuc#youcancer

Very good news, Wordsmythe, these doctors, they usually know what they are talking about.

That's really good news, Wordy. I was afraid to ask.

And for more good news, my Mom is back out of the hospital again. She had an infection from that last surgery, and some of the reinforcements didn't behave itself when they pulled the drain. So far, so good. Now she needs to actually sit down long enough to heal, and work on dealing with what the changes to her scar made to her planned tattoo design. She doesn't have a belly button anymore, and she's quite surprised how weird that feels.

Yay Mom's Mom!

And no belly button, that would be weird, but an awesome party bet thing!

That reminds me of a question asked of my Dad in seminary - "Did Adam have a navel?" (Raising the interesting question of being made in God's image yet not having been born)

Congratulations both on her health improvement and for finally providing a possible answer to that question.

Wordsmythe - that is also terrific news!

momgamer wrote:

Now she needs to actually sit down long enough to heal

Amazing how hard it is to get someone to do this!

Grandma's transferring to a hospice soon.

Bonnonon wrote:

Grandma's transferring to a hospice soon.

It's tough to think about that. A few weeks ago my Uncle went home under hospice care, but that's what he wanted.

groan wrote:

sh*t, that sucks Dyni. Im so sorry.
Sadly I will need to deal with the exact same thing soon, I expect.
My wife's grandfather was responding very well to his chemo but recently was told that it was no longer doing anything for him. He's now in the same boat as your mom.

My mom will be there too.

I have a sad for you, and now for me too.

Hugs to you and your family.

Groan, I'm sorry that I've been a filthy skimmer of this thread but I think I saw that he has lung cancer, right? There is an extremely promising class of drugs being developed for advanced lung cancer that might be worth mentioning. We are opening several trials with them (I run a cancer research program) and I can't remember when I was more excited about a treatment for lung cancer. They are antibodies that basically "uncloak" cancer cells allowing the immune system to recognize and destroy them. There have only been phase 1 studies reported so far and they appear to be active in a number of cancer types although lung cancer appears where they are particularly effective. Unlike chemotherapy, however, they have almost no side effects and when they work, they appear to continue working. In a phase 1 lung cancer study reported in June, all patients who had responded have continued to respond which is completely unlike chemotherapy (or any of our cancer treatments to be honest). I just got back from a research meeting where we got to see some of the raw data from the first patients on the study and I have never been in a room of oncologists where I saw so many jaws drop. We saw scans of advanced lung cancer still in remission 4 years out.

The drugs are called PD-1 and PL-L1 antibodies. There are 3 in development and a 4th (the one we will be working with) going into phase 1 in January. I think I saw you are in Canada so not sure how things are there but you might ask your oncologist if there is a study nearby available.

I've attached a news report link:

http://www.physiciansweekly.com/anti...

Best wishes, don't want to raise false hope and don't know if this is an option but I think every patient with advanced lung cancer should know this is in the pipeline. I really think this is the beginning of the future of cancer treatment.

Thank you for the info Joe. It sounds really promising!
I'll pass this on to my mom but I think it's too late for my wife's grandfather. He's very close now, weak.

I stumbled across this the other day. Not sure if it's super popular and I just hadn't seen it, but it's definitely worth watching either way.

Yeah, that video has made it's rounds here in the past. I will not be clicking it since I can't even type this without getting misty eyed.

Bad news. Mom started having a bunch of pain again this last week or so. They went in and did a CT today, and it looks like there's another mass on her pancreas. They're looking at radiation; the intake appointment is next week.

I just got off the phone with her. She's got to call my crazy aunt; I expect a lovely exchange of phone calls all night. I tried to take it in the most supportive way I could, but I just can't even.

Harsh. Sorry to hear that, mom. ((((hugs))))

Very sorry to hear that.

F#ing cancer...

sh*tty, Mom. Just sh*tty.

My dad is in the hospital again this time with lung-filling pneumonia. also liquid building up around his lungs that his heart is failing to pump out due to it failing. His doctor is not expecting him to get past it this time due to his compromised lungs, overall health and lack of strength. He can't cough enough to expel the stuff in his lungs.

sh*tty.

f*ck YOU CANCER

Sorry, guys. Wish things were better.

My daughter returned to hospital today after vomiting a lot and having fever.
She only returned yesterday after 3 weeks and her first chemo treatment. We're are told that this is not unusual, rather a thing to be expected, but still - it's so hard. She was only 20 pounds when she first got into hospital, today she was down to 16.
She's the youngest of our four kids. We're still at the beginning of it all and the thought of what lies before us during the next year scares me.