General update 7/31
Hi Folks,
So I thought it time for me to post another general update.
The last few days have had their ups and downs. Right now as I write this however, Mom is doing pretty well. She's been pretty comfortible since yesterday afternoon, and she is downstairs reading the newspaper with Dad.
Tomorrow we start the raidiation treatments to keep the tumor in check. The main goal is to ideally shrink the tumor, or at leat keep it from getting larger. If it gets larger, it will cut off her digestion, and that would be bad. According to the radiation oncologist, if the treatment goes well, Mom should have a good 3-4 monhs of stability. That's what we are hoping for. However, there are never any guarantees one way or another, as everyone's situation is unique. The doctors are always careful to offer caveats specifying that they don't know how things will go one way or another.
Looks like the type of cancer she has is actually rather rare. Initially it was thought it might be pancreatic cancer, but it looks like it's an Ampillary adenocarcinoma. That means it started outside of the pancreas before it spread to the liver and lungs. Unfortunately since we have caught it so late, surgery is not really an option. At 86, it's not clear if Mom would survive the procedure anyway. The standard procedure for this is called the Whillpe Procedure. It's rather risky, even for healthy strong young people. Even the less invasive laproscopic surgeries have not been shown to extend the lifespan, since the cancer has already metastisized.
So this leaves us with the radiation and possibly chemotherapy. However, our concern with the chemo is that might also kill her, and/or make her remaining time quite unpleasant. She will be re-evaluated by an oncologist in another 3 weeks as she ends her raidiation treatment, but it's quite possible that chemo will not be opted for unless there is a strong chance of survivability.
Finally, there is the idea of treating WHILE the readion is ongoing with chemo as an adjunctive therapy, but it has the same problems as above.
So, we're looking into hospice care options through both the VA and through Palm Beach county.
Although this is a lot to face, Mom and Dad are staying as optimistic as possible, and still hoping for the best. Dad is breaking out all the possible home remedies that might help with cancer to see if any have an effect. Who knows, and it doesn't seem like any of it would hurt her, and can only help.
Thanks to our dear friend Dr. Sue, we are also going to run her case past the Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, FL and see if we can get an alternate opinion from them. They seem to be the regional experts in this type of cancer. Today I fill out the information forms to send to them to review Mom's case. We feel that once we hear from them, we'll have run down most of the avenues for her best possible treatment.
I am here for another week and a half, then I go back to LA for 2-3 months, and then probably I will be back again to help Mom and Dad for another 2 months. Thanks to R&H, I have so much vacation time to spend in this type of family emergency. Similarly Michelle is also trying to decide when she can visit to help the most. We are all trying to stay in close contact, especially now.
As a friend of mine said to me recently, these are the times that have some of the best memories as well. Even now I find out little details of things I didn't know before about both Mom and Dad, even though I have spent countless hours listening to stories from them both. I've always like that though, hearing their stories, as I feel that brings us closer. Also, of course, I love a good story. Tat is part of the reason I've started recording Mom's stories now as well. I hope to get a few more of those in the next week or so.
That's it from here. I'll post more as I am able.
So I thought it time for me to post another general update.
The last few days have had their ups and downs. Right now as I write this however, Mom is doing pretty well. She's been pretty comfortible since yesterday afternoon, and she is downstairs reading the newspaper with Dad.
Tomorrow we start the raidiation treatments to keep the tumor in check. The main goal is to ideally shrink the tumor, or at leat keep it from getting larger. If it gets larger, it will cut off her digestion, and that would be bad. According to the radiation oncologist, if the treatment goes well, Mom should have a good 3-4 monhs of stability. That's what we are hoping for. However, there are never any guarantees one way or another, as everyone's situation is unique. The doctors are always careful to offer caveats specifying that they don't know how things will go one way or another.
Looks like the type of cancer she has is actually rather rare. Initially it was thought it might be pancreatic cancer, but it looks like it's an Ampillary adenocarcinoma. That means it started outside of the pancreas before it spread to the liver and lungs. Unfortunately since we have caught it so late, surgery is not really an option. At 86, it's not clear if Mom would survive the procedure anyway. The standard procedure for this is called the Whillpe Procedure. It's rather risky, even for healthy strong young people. Even the less invasive laproscopic surgeries have not been shown to extend the lifespan, since the cancer has already metastisized.
So this leaves us with the radiation and possibly chemotherapy. However, our concern with the chemo is that might also kill her, and/or make her remaining time quite unpleasant. She will be re-evaluated by an oncologist in another 3 weeks as she ends her raidiation treatment, but it's quite possible that chemo will not be opted for unless there is a strong chance of survivability.
Finally, there is the idea of treating WHILE the readion is ongoing with chemo as an adjunctive therapy, but it has the same problems as above.
So, we're looking into hospice care options through both the VA and through Palm Beach county.
Although this is a lot to face, Mom and Dad are staying as optimistic as possible, and still hoping for the best. Dad is breaking out all the possible home remedies that might help with cancer to see if any have an effect. Who knows, and it doesn't seem like any of it would hurt her, and can only help.
Thanks to our dear friend Dr. Sue, we are also going to run her case past the Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, FL and see if we can get an alternate opinion from them. They seem to be the regional experts in this type of cancer. Today I fill out the information forms to send to them to review Mom's case. We feel that once we hear from them, we'll have run down most of the avenues for her best possible treatment.
I am here for another week and a half, then I go back to LA for 2-3 months, and then probably I will be back again to help Mom and Dad for another 2 months. Thanks to R&H, I have so much vacation time to spend in this type of family emergency. Similarly Michelle is also trying to decide when she can visit to help the most. We are all trying to stay in close contact, especially now.
As a friend of mine said to me recently, these are the times that have some of the best memories as well. Even now I find out little details of things I didn't know before about both Mom and Dad, even though I have spent countless hours listening to stories from them both. I've always like that though, hearing their stories, as I feel that brings us closer. Also, of course, I love a good story. Tat is part of the reason I've started recording Mom's stories now as well. I hope to get a few more of those in the next week or so.
That's it from here. I'll post more as I am able.
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