We got it....We got it.........we aint got it!

[Uben]

Just updating. I took Carol to the chemo doc today, and she said we were going to start chemo next thursday, prescribed some nausea medicines and steroids for possible allergic reactions. Good. Finally going to get some treatment to start fighting this crap.
Then, stopped by to get third radiation treatment on spine.

So, we get home and have a call from her surgeon (from original breast cancer 9 yrs ago) who wanted the liver biopsy done yesterday. He had received the pathology from the biopsy. The good news is that it's not primary liver cancer. The bad news is that they have no friggin idea what kind of cancer it is! The doctors had assumed that it was a metastases from the original breast cancer, but it's definitely not that. So, they do not know what the primary cancer is. That means the chemo is in hold till we find out what we are fighting. He said it could be colon or pancreatic, or ovarian, or stomach, or just about any damned thing.

So, we don't know squat, and obviously the doctors don't either! They'll have to take more tissue samples from some of the metastases to try to determine what the primary is.

I'm at my wits end. I can't stand to be sitting here watching my wife suffer and wither away and nothing seems to be getting done.
I know it's just my frustration and that they are trying to figure all this out, but it seems like everything is travelling at a snails pace.

Sorry, I just had to vent. Thanks for listening.

Uben

[elleng]

1. Thoughts and huge hugs, you and yours, Uben.

[Irishonly]

2. You and your wife are in my thoughts and prayers.

Let us know if there is anything we can do.

[KC]

3. Hang

In there. They have to find out exactly what they are trying to treat or any chemotherapy they'd give her would just be wasted and Carol wouldnt be benefiting from it at all. This is such a difficult time and the holidays make it even tougher!!
I'm thinking about y'all all the time and hate that she has to go through all of this!
And you too! I wish they would find a cure!

[JohnnyLib2]

4. Wow, what a wretched position to be in.

I sure hope more answers come quickly. And, that meds help her have better periods and some sleep.
Positive thoughts for Carol from another counselor.....

[Uben]

5. What the heck can you do?

Coincidentally, eight years ago, on Christmas day, my wife awoke to find her torso completely covered with a red rash. It was scarlet fever, the result of an untreated strep infection (she didn't know she had). The infection had attached itself to the implants she had received upon reconstruction after her bi-lateral mastectomy the year before. They had to come out. After going thru the trauma of the cancer, the healing of the reconstruction, now this! She decided to wait a year after the implants were removed to have another recon surgery. This was to give everything ample time to heal. She had the second reconstruction done, this time a latissamal flap, where they take muscle tissue from her back, shove it thru the rib cage, and use it to secure the new implants. It went well, and actually looked much better than the original reconstruction, which was basically a couple of balloons sewed in under the skin.

Christmas is not one of our favorite holidays.

[Irishonly]

6. I think of the two of you often

IMO, you and your wife of two of the bravest people in the world. The strenght of your love for each other will get you through this and your friends in this group will be here for you.

Cancer is horrible and no one should ever have to go through it. My Christmas wish every year for at least the last 12 years is to take what we spend on defense (banks are now included) and spend it on research to find a way to cure cancer, AIDS and all other horribe diseases. It is just plain wrong to spend billions killing people and treating corrupt businesses like they were God's gift to the human race when we could be making the world so much better.

I am thankful you and your wife have insurance and also can make the co-pays. So many do not. It's a blessing and I am thankful your wife will recieve the treatment she needs. Hang in there. Many years ago they used to sell a stress ball. When you would shake it the sound you would hear is shattering glass. It was a release.. Too bad they don't make them anymore.

[cmd]

7. Not knowing is so hard

Your imagination runs wild with multitudes of diagnoses from family, friends and the internet. Time either drags or races. You and your wife are in my thoughts today as I sit her rocking back and forth waiting.........
Now, let's go make this a wonderful Christmas for everyone. Peace, cmd

[jumptheshadow]

8. Hug her tight...

...once again, and let her know how loved she is, once again. Suspend the frustration for the weekend and pretend that you have met each other and are falling in love, once again. Warm greeting to you and her from the two of us here in Brooklyn.