bunchofheather

Tag: lung cancer

  • April 25, 2019 – Still kicking

    I realized I hadn’t updated in six months. Not much to update when life is just chugging along! It will be three YEARS since his diagnosis in two weeks. He’s really been lucky is the course of his disease.

    M had his CT scan in January. His oncologist, Dr. K, told him there was nothing he sees as concerning on his scan. I read the radiologist’s report and that’s not the full truth as he noted a few concerning spots. M goes back at the end of May for his next CT and then has a MRI the week after that.

    Now, it hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns. The multiple MRIs seem to have side effects that worsen his pain. The neuropathy has not faded in the least but he’s added on full body joint and bone pain that seems to be tied to gadolinium toxicity from the contrast dye. M does NOT have a good track record with side effects.

    One thing that happened recently, M almost looks like he had a small stroke. His mouth has a small droopy twist on one side. I suggested we go in to Dr. L early but nope, he doesn’t want to do that. His memory issues definitely seem worse as well. So many conversations happen again and again and I’ll think he’s got it and then, nope, next day he’s either forgotten or has details all twisted.

    But all in all, M is as fine as someone with Stage 4 lung cancer can be. He continues to be “the healthiest sick person I know.”

  • November 24, 2018 – Another Clear MRI

    If you knew M, you’d know he’s the last person you’d expect to be a healthy sick person! But, he is! Wednesday he saw Dr. L for an MRI and his brain was clean!

    January he’ll have a CT scan for the lungs. So, continually monitoring but nothing needing done.

  • August 20, 2018 – Surprisingly Good News

    M had his CT scan last week and we got the results today. No change in his lungs. We are 2.25 years out from diagnosis and M is still damn healthy! Dr. K says the lab report indicates some increase and lymph node activity but that he sees nothing when he looks at it. We got a referral to palliative care so maybe we can make some inroads on better pain management.

  • January 16, 2018 – M’s Brain’s Been Zapped Again

    Last Thursday was Gamma Knife #4 treating brain tumors #16 & #17… all went well. M got tired Friday – Sunday but is back to pretty much normal again. Now we’re on reprieve until at least April / May barring any bumps in the road. May will be TWO years since diagnosis!

  • December 18, 2017 – Results

    No change in the lungs, one new brain tumor. Gamma Knife in January, we’ll hit our out of pocket max on Jan 11, two days earlier than last year. Last year he had his scan in December and had one and when we went back in January there were ten. Hopefully we don’t have that again.

  • December 9, 2017

    M had a CT scan on the 28th. We get the results Monday to find out what’s going on in his lungs. Waiting two weeks is torture. The wait is my fault, as an accountant it’s next to impossible to get time off for the first five days of the month so I had to change his appointment from the 4th to the 11th. Then he has an MRI on the 18th to check up on his brain.

    We’re at 19 months since his diagnosis. He’s still seeming relatively healthy but there are chinks showing in his armor… it’s worrisome but what can you do…

  • Fuck you and your opioid crisis

    I get so irritated when I see yet another story about the misuse of opiods and how access is going to be further restricted. M beats himself up about taking pain meds because he feels like a criminal. Watch your husband crumple in pain because he’s trying not to take another pain pill so he doesn’t run out before he’s “supposed” to and see how you feel about limiting access.

    I used to tell him, don’t worry, they aren’t talking about stage four, terminal cancer patients, they aren’t going to limit access for people like you… but now it looks like that isn’t going to remain true.

    So fuck you addicts, fuck you for making it so terminal patients have to live in pain for the limited life they get… your deaths should be as pain filled as your addiction has caused their lives to be.

  • May 7, 2016 – The diagnosis

    For weeks M had pain in his back, around the bottom of his right shoulder blade.  He thought he pulled a muscle sneezing.  Then the pain headed down the back of his upper right arm.  Still blamed the sneezing.  So, M said he’d go to the doctor, but he didn’t.

    Saturday, May 7th – I was getting ready to shower, as I was heading out for the day, M was mowing.  I heard the mower shut off, no biggie.  M came in, I was in the bathroom combing my hair, something sounded off and then I heard my nickname that M calls me.  Out to the kitchen and it’s very obvious something is very, very wrong.  M was flailing his arms and had very garbled speech.  My brain screamed stroke, he’d had one in 2014, so I screamed, “you’re having another stroke, we need to get you in the truck.” (Note: M is very opposed to 911, it’s not an option unless he’s unconscious and then he’d probably be pissed when he came to.)  Got him into the truck, said hold on, I’ll be right back.  Well, I didn’t have shoes on, was still in what I wore to bed, and needed to grab some things so we could go.  I ran back into the house, grabbed my phone from the charger, saw a bra on top of my dresser, grabbed that, stuffed it in my bag, looked out into the garage and M is flailing around in the middle of the garage.  I went out, screeched, “get back in the fucking truck or I’m calling 911” and went back in and got my shoes on, grabbed my bag and off we went.  M hit my hand away when I tried to help fasten his seat belt. As we drove, he’d try to get words out.  After about 15 minutes he started to be intelligible.

    We got to the hospital, I said stroke symptoms,  told them the times, and they had him whisked off to the back instantly.  I went to park the truck, came back in, and he was already hooked up to monitors.  We answered a bunch of questions, and the ER doctor stated he didn’t think it was a stroke, maybe the garbled speech was from anxiety. (WTF? Anxiety? This was the same ER doc that said he didn’t have a stroke in 2014 then the tests proved him wrong.) But he sent him for a CT scan of his head.  After M was back from that, Dr. Asshat came in, and said, “it doesn’t look like he had a stroke, but there’s some abnormalities, we’re going to do an MRI. It looks like there might be tumors.” And he left. (WTF?  How do you drop a bombshell like that and then just leave?) The MRI showed 3, possibly 4 tumors in M’s brain. They did a chest x-ray and yep, there’s a mass.  Thankfully Dr. Asshat was not the one to give us the rest of this news.

    M was admitted, essentially for observation. In working up the next steps, there was a snag. M takes clopidigrel, can’t go rooting around in his lungs until he’s off it for a week. So he was discharged the next day, with a bronchoscopy for biopsy scheduled for the 20th.  Preliminary diagnosis: likely lung cancer with brain metastases. New meds: dexamethasone and levitericeum.