Showing posts with label diagnosis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diagnosis. Show all posts
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Not What We Expected
We met with Mom's oncologist yesterday. He explained that 1) she does have cancer of the Bile Duct, 2) It is Stage Four BUT 3) instead of it being fast moving, like most bile duct cancers, hers is "low grade" or..slow moving. Basically, it is still fatal, and not operable, but because she "walked into his office, dressed nicely, did her hair, etc," he would like her to try chemo. He said one of three things would happen: 1) the chemo would work, 2) the chemo would not work 3) it could get worse. If it got worse, she would stop. He told her it was totally up to her, and if she decided that she didn't want to do any of the chemo, he would give her enough pain meds to make her comfortable, however long she has. He told her to take time and spend it with family, and make her decision. Aunt Elaine is coming in from Arizona tomorrow to be with her for a week. Sue is coming in on Thursday. I will be happy to have my aunt and sister here. It's nice to have other family helping with stuff for a bit. Bill and I are just exhausted. Yet...it's what you do for your parents. Period.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The first few days.
Friday July 14, 2011: Sue let us know that Mom was really yellow, and wondered if we had seen her. I said that we hadn't seen her in about 6 weeks.
Sunday, July 17, 2011: We all met at Mom's for Cory's birthday. She almost glowed in the dark. Her tan skin seemed the same, but every other part of her that should normally be white was flourescent yellow. We almost took her to the ER then, but she convinced us that she would see Dr. Kreider on Monday morning.
Monday, July 18th, 2011: Mom saw Dr. Kreider, who immediately sent her to the hospital to have a CAT Scan. Dr. suspected that with Mom's level of jaundice, that she had cancer of her bile duct.
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011: Mom heard from Dr Kreider that she had a "mass,' in her bile duct, and would need a laparscopic procedure to determine what should be done. Sue called Dr. Kreider, who explained that Mom had not heard all of her diagnosis, and that Cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct cancer, was suspected. Mom was believed to be in stage 4 or later.
Wednesday, July 20th (today). We went with mom to meet her surgeon who will do an ERCP on Thursday. He discussed frankly with her that this is probably inoperable, and most likely fatal. He advised her to get her affairs in order.
And that's where we are.
Sunday, July 17, 2011: We all met at Mom's for Cory's birthday. She almost glowed in the dark. Her tan skin seemed the same, but every other part of her that should normally be white was flourescent yellow. We almost took her to the ER then, but she convinced us that she would see Dr. Kreider on Monday morning.
Monday, July 18th, 2011: Mom saw Dr. Kreider, who immediately sent her to the hospital to have a CAT Scan. Dr. suspected that with Mom's level of jaundice, that she had cancer of her bile duct.
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011: Mom heard from Dr Kreider that she had a "mass,' in her bile duct, and would need a laparscopic procedure to determine what should be done. Sue called Dr. Kreider, who explained that Mom had not heard all of her diagnosis, and that Cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct cancer, was suspected. Mom was believed to be in stage 4 or later.
Wednesday, July 20th (today). We went with mom to meet her surgeon who will do an ERCP on Thursday. He discussed frankly with her that this is probably inoperable, and most likely fatal. He advised her to get her affairs in order.
And that's where we are.
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