Many of you were recieving updates from the begining of this craziness, but for those of you just recently joining us in "the situation" as mom likes to call it, here is the back story as to WTF happened.
Back in January we had a lovely snow storm here in Georgia. Due to cabin fever mom and I walked over to Cindys house in the snow one night. The next day and the days following mom developed some pain in her hips and neck (we attributed this to walking in the snow). The pain got worse so she went to her GP. She was then diagnosed w/ Bercitis and treated for it. Pain continued and got even worse. Now its the week of Valentines day. Mom was in pretty good pain and missing work. That Thursday she went to work and while bending over to put a vase down something "popped" in her hip to where she couldn't walk. I picked her up and took her to North Fulton Hospital. It was there that she was given her 1st catscans and x-rays. The ER Dr. said that she hadn't done anything to her hips but that there were multiple lyetic lesions on her sacrum (the bone at the bottom of your tail bone). He then added that these are 90% of the time cancer that is a secondary source. Soooo the next day we followed up imediately w/ moms GP who pretty much confirmed in her opinion that it was cancer and now we needed to find the primary source. We were very lucky to get the ball rolling that day. It was Friday the 18th. Mom and dad went that afternoon for a berium catscan. The GP called that night at 6PM (before mom and dad were even home from the scan). They had found multiple "spots" in her lung, liver and lymphnodes. Fantastic. On the following Monday mom went for an MRI of her brain. They reported 3 spots showing. Later that week she had a bone biopsy done on her sacrum to confirm cancer. Now we are into the next week. Mom had a full bone scan early in the week and then that Friday we had the Oncologist appointment. Mom, Dad, Scip and I all went together. Dr. Harvey Hamrick walked in and delivered moms shitty diagnosis. Stage 4 Metastatic Non-small cell Ando Carcinoma Lung Cancer. My ears literally were ringing at one point. There is no cure and the statistics suck. He showed us the scans and pointed out all the "spots". Right lung, lymphnodes in center of the chest, multiple spots on the liver, both adrenal glands, sacrum and pelvic bone as well as the 3 spots in the brain.
Despite the grim news Dr. Hamrick was able to add a positive spin by saying that agressive cancers like moms usually react well to chemo b/c chemo works when cells divide. The treatment he prescribed was radiation to the hips and brain to help w/ moms pain and to stop it in its tracks in the brain.
The following Monday we met w/ Dr. Phillips moms Radiology Oncologist. He decided on 14 treatments of radiation to her sacrum and pelvis. He said he wanted to leave the brain alone b/c it was considered "suspicious" rather than a confirmed lesion. Mom started her 1st of 14 radiation treatments that Thursday. She handled like the champ she is. No real side effects other than a little fatigue. So basically that brings us to the first update on the blog. As you can tell things have moved quite fast and moms Drs have been amazing and fast acting. Both Drs were very shocked to see that mom had NO OTHER symptoms other than pain in her hips. Her strength and over all health are very good and that will play a huge role in her kicking ass!
Back in January we had a lovely snow storm here in Georgia. Due to cabin fever mom and I walked over to Cindys house in the snow one night. The next day and the days following mom developed some pain in her hips and neck (we attributed this to walking in the snow). The pain got worse so she went to her GP. She was then diagnosed w/ Bercitis and treated for it. Pain continued and got even worse. Now its the week of Valentines day. Mom was in pretty good pain and missing work. That Thursday she went to work and while bending over to put a vase down something "popped" in her hip to where she couldn't walk. I picked her up and took her to North Fulton Hospital. It was there that she was given her 1st catscans and x-rays. The ER Dr. said that she hadn't done anything to her hips but that there were multiple lyetic lesions on her sacrum (the bone at the bottom of your tail bone). He then added that these are 90% of the time cancer that is a secondary source. Soooo the next day we followed up imediately w/ moms GP who pretty much confirmed in her opinion that it was cancer and now we needed to find the primary source. We were very lucky to get the ball rolling that day. It was Friday the 18th. Mom and dad went that afternoon for a berium catscan. The GP called that night at 6PM (before mom and dad were even home from the scan). They had found multiple "spots" in her lung, liver and lymphnodes. Fantastic. On the following Monday mom went for an MRI of her brain. They reported 3 spots showing. Later that week she had a bone biopsy done on her sacrum to confirm cancer. Now we are into the next week. Mom had a full bone scan early in the week and then that Friday we had the Oncologist appointment. Mom, Dad, Scip and I all went together. Dr. Harvey Hamrick walked in and delivered moms shitty diagnosis. Stage 4 Metastatic Non-small cell Ando Carcinoma Lung Cancer. My ears literally were ringing at one point. There is no cure and the statistics suck. He showed us the scans and pointed out all the "spots". Right lung, lymphnodes in center of the chest, multiple spots on the liver, both adrenal glands, sacrum and pelvic bone as well as the 3 spots in the brain.
Despite the grim news Dr. Hamrick was able to add a positive spin by saying that agressive cancers like moms usually react well to chemo b/c chemo works when cells divide. The treatment he prescribed was radiation to the hips and brain to help w/ moms pain and to stop it in its tracks in the brain.
The following Monday we met w/ Dr. Phillips moms Radiology Oncologist. He decided on 14 treatments of radiation to her sacrum and pelvis. He said he wanted to leave the brain alone b/c it was considered "suspicious" rather than a confirmed lesion. Mom started her 1st of 14 radiation treatments that Thursday. She handled like the champ she is. No real side effects other than a little fatigue. So basically that brings us to the first update on the blog. As you can tell things have moved quite fast and moms Drs have been amazing and fast acting. Both Drs were very shocked to see that mom had NO OTHER symptoms other than pain in her hips. Her strength and over all health are very good and that will play a huge role in her kicking ass!