My Sister-in-Law Needs Prayers

[PegLeg45]

It's been a long week and I made mention in the "food" thread of my sister-in-law having just been diagnosed with cancer. Rastus mentioned a thread here so here it is.

Bear with me....I'll write this out in an itemized fashion because it helps me keep my thoughts in order.

-She went to the ER a couple days after Christmas in extreme pain ans was losing some use in her left hand (she'd been having issues and pain in multiple areas for months, but was being stubborn).

-The usual battery of routine tests showed two spots in her lungs and one in each breast which triggered more testing.

-She was having small tumors appear seemingly overnight including one on her neck at the base of the skull and on her arms.

-She had a couple of doctors who took extreme interest and practically ramrodded the testing schedule at what one could consider light-speed in the medical arena these days.

-In 48 hours she had a PET scan and biopsies from three areas.
PET scan showed multiple body-wide metastases (from neck to thighs) that lit up like Christmas lights.

-This triggered a need for a MRI brain scan (just like my b-i-l four years ago...he's still holding steady)

-The normal resolution MRI scan showed three lesions/tumors in the brain, but also told them that the tumor in her neck had not infiltrated the spinal column (a good thing).

-By now (matter of a week's time) she had lost the use of her left arm and the left leg was dragging when she walked and the doctors felt that this was from one of the spots in the brain based on the position shown in the MRI and recommended a radiation oncology consult for possible gamma knife treatment. Fortunately, we live 60 miles from one of the best gamma knife centers in the nation with top neuro doctors (they have presidential clearance). They worked her in for a consult that week.

-Pathology report came back showing Adenocarcinoma with "unknown primary" which means there is no cellular marker/indicator of where in the body the cancer actually originated.

-Wanting to move fast, her group of doctors (several of which our family has had close relationships with through treatment over the last nine years) did some juggling/scheduling/arranging and this past week was the culmination of that process.

They moved quick when my wife was diagnosed nine years ago, but they (I believe by God's hand) moved mountains to get my sister-in-law moving with treatment this week:
-Monday: consulted with surgeon for a LifePort IV

-Tuesday: Gamma knife radiation treatment on her brain...their high resolution scan showed seven spots altogether (four were too small to show on the original MRI) and they hit them all, so when we left that day at lunch, her brain was cleared of disease.... they will repeat scans later to see if any more develops like they did with my b-i-l.

-Wednesday: Surgery procedure to put in the LifePort for chemo treatments (Also had started her on oral chemo treatments)

-Thursday: First chemo treatment (five hours) which will repeat every three weeks.

And so, here we are...... the initial prognosis was three months survival with no treatments and nine months (average) with treatments (stating treatment, particularly the gamma knife, would give quality of life for the time she had left). I always have hope.... my b-i-l (her older brother) is four years out from his original diagnosis with lung cancer that had metastasized in the brain (three gamma knife treatments to date)......so it ain't over til it's over.

She is a widow who is also raising two of her grandkids (ages 12 and 3). Her son has really stepped up to the plate so far, but it has taken a lot of family support to get things done.

Those who are friends with me and/or my wife on FB have probably seen updates and such related to this chapter of life.

Her name is Vickie and she could use some prayers.

Thanks,
Chuck "PegLeg"

[Solus]

Will do, Peg

[Timothy]

Done!

[MikeBjerum]

You, she's, got em!

[Rastus]

She needs the prayers and the grandchildren need them too. 

Keep us updated.

[Sponsor]

[PegLeg45]

Thanks for the prayers.

She is having a tough go so far. The chemo is hitting her hard and she was already weak from the cancer itself. She is also taking a liquid form of oral chemo for ten days at home. (the pill version was $1100 and the liquid form was $42...which works out because she struggles to take pills).

Her grandkids are staying with various family and we are all taking turns cooking and such.

My wife and I have a neighbor who works with the hospital in what is called palliative care, which is an intermediate care that falls between hospitalization and hospice care. She and another nurse are meeting us at Vickie's place tomorrow to set up routine visits and provide some home medical care along with being an extra set of eyes for the oncology center.


Rastus, you are indeed correct that the grandkids need prayers too....they don't understand why they can't have normal contact with their grandma......and the whole grandkid situation is extremely complicated as well.

Thanks again for the prayers.

[MikeBjerum]

I can't be there to help, so I will help from here.  Please let her know that many that she doesn't know are with her in prayer.

[Rastus]

Amen brother Mike.

[Jim Kennedy-ar154me]

Pegleg I have lost family members to cancer and, at least to a certain point, understand a little of what you are going through. Please know that you, and your family, are in my prayers and I hope God watches after all of you through these difficult times.

[PegLeg45]

THanks all.


It's been a rough couple of months for family-wide health concerns.
My mom had a serious lung infection in conjunction with a bout with kidney stones and is now having thyroid issues.
One of my wife's brothers is entering his fourth year with lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain (he's undergone gamma knife radiation three times in three years) and even though the docs said they can't cure it they have kept the cancer in check.
My wife's 85 year old mother has heart issues and has had two caths in the last six months and was set to have a mitral clip procedure back in December but that fell through after she was on the OR table because the clip was too big. Then they tried to get her in for a clinical trial for a new type of valve insert but that wouldn't work either (all of these meant road trips to Macon and/or Atlanta) because it wouldn't fit properly. Her last option to prevent basically smothering to death slowly over the next six months is open heart surgery. The team in Atlanta didn't have a doctor on staff who specialized in doing that on an older person, as of January, and it would require going to Cleveland, OH. Since then they have put a new doctor on staff that has the skills to do it in Atlanta and the consultation with him is next week...so she has to decide what she wants to do.

Then in the middle of all this our older son (cancer survivor, five years out) started having issues that could possibly have been related to his prior cancer so he had to go through testing for that. Thankfully it was not serious and the urologist took care of it this past Monday via a scope.

We just got in from taking supper and a cake to my s-i-l and meeting with the nurses I mentioned in the previous post and then picking up one of the grandkids who is staying with our son and d-i-l for the weekend to play with their kids.

A lot of miles back and forth...... but I'm a firm believer in doing what you have the capacity to do.