abeswife's blog

Can't start next treatment until pain is under control

2009-01-25T12:19:46Z

Abel had a tough night with pain last night. It was learned about 10 days ago that he has secondary liver pain and blood clots in his lungs. He is taking Lovenox injections 2 times a day. They increased his morphine to 30 mg every 12 hours and if any pain in between to take morphine 15 mg every 4 hours. We had a very quick appt. to go over this with the oncologist and were really quite upset as we were told we would be seeing the pain management doctors but their schedules did not allow them to be a part of the meeting. We have an appt. this friday with the oncologist and pain doctor. The doctor had said that if we can't get the pain under control that he will not be able to start a new chemo treatment. Ofcourse, this is upsetting to us and now we have so many questions about this! We are afraid that the cancer is spreading because of the pain. Has anyone ever experienced pain while going through treatment? Not pain from side effects?? This is unsettling to me because I feel so helpless and scared!

NEED SOME HELP PLEASE for Dr's appt. Tues. Questions to ask

2009-01-19T12:23:27Z

Hi: Please excuse spelling errors, just going to wing it with out checking for errors. Abel is scheduled for an appt. tommorow with his team of doctors. I wanted to ask for help on being prepared for this meeting. Quick update on to what has transpired. He was diagnosed in sept with esophogeal cancer and we learned in Oct. that it had gone to the liver and lympth nodes. Surgery was no longer an option and the game plan had changed to control. He started a clinical trial in Oct. which would be for 6 rounds of treatment, a total 18 infusions. It was tough with the side effects and having to wear the pump 24 hrs a day. Last week he started having pain in his liver area with a back ache. We saw the dr. before his infusions and he ordered a cat scan. He was scheduled for a routine one on Friday so they moved it up. They gave us a wet read of the results and it was found that he had 12 spots on his liver. When first learned of liver involvement there were only 3. He was pulled from the clinical trial which is a normal protocol for a trial if there is advancement of the cancer. We also learned on the next day when the full report came back that there were blood clots in the lungs. They put him on Loveolox injections 2 times a day. They did say they would resume treatment in 3 weeks to give his bone marrow and side effects to ease up. We will learn the plan on Jan 30th. I have a list of some questions but this is an important meeting and want to be as organized as possible. Here are some questions that we have. Can you think of any others? 1. Want a pet scan ordered before the 30th appt. to avoid any delays 2. He has been having headaches Most other questions are involving his side effects. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! xoxo MB

Pulled from clinical trial

2009-01-17T13:00:39Z

My husband Abel was in a clinical trial for metastasis esophegal cancer. It was a very intense trial. It was to be 6 rounds with a total of 18 infusions. He was to complete the 4th round last week but was experiencing a great deal of pain in what he thought was his liver area. The doctors moved up his cat scans and it was detected that he had 12 spots on his liver. ( that was the wet read) He could no longer finish the trial and they unhooked his pump. They have decided that he needs a rest of at least 3 weeks to rest his bone marrow and side effects. His mouth, lips and hands were extremely bad but was still and continues to eat and swallow well. The next day we received a call from the hospital that they found he had blood clots in both his lungs and that we had to return to the hospital to learn how to inject (a blood thinner) Loveonox. He is taking morphine for pain but does not take it during most of the day as he wants to drive and be busy. He has not missed a days work all during his treatment which is more than I can say for myself! The only days he missed were Tuesday for his treatments. The morphine makes him sleepy and we are seeing the pain management team on tuesday to get him on a plan. We are also meeting with his team of doctors to discuss what has transpired up until now. We are going to be asking them some tough questions and I am so afraid for their answers but my husband wants to know. Does anyone have any experience with esophegal cancer that has gone to the liver? Thanks in advance! xoxo MB

All I want for CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-14T12:25:57Z

The house is just about decorated and Abel has put up his village which takes up 2 large banquet tables. He has been playing the Christmas music since before Thanksgiving and for the first time we don't complain about the music. I am really not looking forward to Christmas because all I want is not going to be under the tree! I know I should be more upbeat but its really tiresome trying to remain up and positive with my family but really just my household. I feel like my shoulders are very heavy! I will stop the pity party for myself and encourage Abel to eat some breakfast.