Hi, All.
I’m new here, although, I sometimes read the messages here for hope and encouragement. This story is kind of long so please read it when you have time. I don’t know specifics like tumor size, etc.
My mother (58yr/olds) was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer on New Year’s Day 2008. She was really in pain and incoherent; so we took her to the emergency room of a small local hospital and they did a brain scan. They found multiple brain lesions and traced it back to her lung. They started whole brain radiation treatment immediately and gave her steroids for brain swelling. After 4 days she was seemingly back to normal mentally. I asked her doctors to tell us if she needed to go to one of the major cancer centers for a second opinion or for treatment. They said what she had they could handle and that she didn’t need a second opinion. They also said the plan was to give her radiation to get rid of the brain lesions and then chemo to shrink it in the lung, followed by radiation to get the rest. I asked them to let me know the second they saw anything they thought they couldn’t address and we would move her to a major cancer center.
The doctors decided to give her 15 whole brain radiation treatments and then start chemo (Taxol & Carboplastin). They gave her 3 outpatient chemo treatments, one each Friday for about 2 hours each day. During the chemo treatments she lost her hair and started becoming weak. She stopped eating and drinking and had to be hospitalized two more times. Her oncologist decided to stop her chemo (early February) and give her a chance to get stronger (or so he said). Her doctors re-staged her (early February) and said that the brain tumors were eradicated (they were never clear if they were all completely gone or what) and that her lung cancer had not grown anymore. My mother had other health problems including back problems. So, she had back surgery while recovering from not eating and now she can’t really walk until her back gets better. Unfortunately, when they prepared for her back surgery they said she had a suspicious area in her spine that they were sure was also going to be cancerous. Her doctors gave her 3 radiation treatments to her back (April). Her oncologist also tried to put her on hospice. Our family asked him if he thought she was not going to make it since he was putting her on hospice. He said the original plan for further chemo was still in effect and not to worry (April 4). He also said he was using hospice because they do a better job than home healthcare. I asked her doctor to give her something to stimulate her appetite and he seemed to only then realize that he could give her Megace (a hormone that stimulates appetite).
I told my siblings I didn’t trust this doctor anymore and that we should get a second opinion as I originally suggested. But it was not as easy as I had hoped. The places I called all tried to discourage me from interrupting her treatment. We live in Alabama and although I had called M D Anderson and even the Cancer Treatment Centers, trying the University of Alabama (UAB) seems to be the quickest option and they are nationally ranked. Anyway, on Friday, 4/11/08 her oncologist talked with me privately and indicated that her cancer had spread far more than he realized and that she had more cancer in her spine than he originally realized. He also said she had cancer in her belly (I guess her stomach). He said the radiation on her back hadn’t work and that the chemo hadn’t helped so he was not going to give her anymore treatments and wanted us to put her on hospice so she could be more comfortable. I asked him about trying other chemo drugs like Avastin or Tarceva, but he said he thought it would make her sicker and not really help her. He continued to tell my mother that she was doing well and was going to start her chemo as soon as she gets stronger (to keep her from getting depressed and giving up on eating again).
I walked back to my mother’s hospital room and sat with her. She is eating pretty well now and thanked me for suggesting the doctor give her the Megace. She was also talking about wanting to get better and how the doctor told her she was doing well. I tried not to start crying and let her know the truth just yet. She’s still bedridden from the back surgery and there’s no reason to have her stuck in bed and severely depressed. I’m making an appointment with UAB’s Kirklin cancer center to get her a second opinion. I read some pretty amazing stories here and pray that it’s not too late for my mother. She has Medicare and Medicaid administered through one of the HMO advantage plans which causes a delay in going outside of the state (when you have Medicaid you can switch plans on the first of each month if you need to). So, she could always switch to original Medicare and go almost anywhere if it was worth it. Everyday it’s bad news and she’s so young for all of this. I was hoping she would be one of the success stories (like you see on the commercials). If anyone knows of the best cancer treatment center/hospital for metastasis cancer I would appreciate any advice.