Sometimes the hardest thing to write is the "Title" of a blog...

Mom got out of the hospital late Saturday.  She had been in there for a couple of days; taken there because of severe shortness of breath.  She had also been experiencing edema and extreme tiredness.  Mom recently had a pain medication implant put in, so the thought was maybe the shortness of breath was a side effect from that.  But they found fluid in her lung and needed to drain it.  They also found multiple nodules within the left lung.  Of course, the hope is the nodules don't do anything... just stay where they are.  She will also now be using oxygen 24/7.  I know she doesn't want to have to deal with that but it will help her.  Right now, she needs to recover from all of this.  And she will.  She would get right back out there even she had an anvil tied to her ankle... she'd drag it to work and throw it over her shoulder at meetings.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is m'mom.

and the UPDATE is...

Mom got the results of her first CT scan since returning home from Korea... and I have to say "we may never really know" if the treatments in Korea worked or not.  The CT didn't really show anything getting really worse.  The radiologist thought the top lobe of her lung looked a little better, but the bottom lobe looked a little worse. There is so much opacity showing in the CT in that lung and it can be collapsed lung, scar tissue from all the radiation she's had, or disease. No one can really tell. The distinctive tumors she had in the upper lobe can't be seen anymore because the entire area is so full of opacity now. They looked at the CT side-by-side to the one taken last August (before the last round of radiation here or in Korea) and it was really hard to see any difference. Mom says that there is a lot to be grateful for in that it hasn't gotten worse over the last 8 months, and that's huge. It didn't get any better either (at least that we can tell) and that's certainly disappointing.

Mom and her pal asked the doc if he thought the treatments in Korea helped at all. He said yes, because she was still sitting there and still working full time. He said most patients with her kind of cancer only make it a few months to a year. He also said he thought going was good for her psychologically and emotionally. He didn't think that she would do well just sitting around doing nothing. She asked what would he suggest next. He said there were a few drugs out there, but that she'd already done the big ones. There isn't a lot of treatments for people this long into the disease because there aren't that many of them, although the number is growing. He suggested naturalpathic treatments, and thought she'd do well trying the naturalpathic school in Portland.

So there you go. 

I basically told her this...

I just read about James Blue. I feel bad for his wife. You and he were so different though. He went to Korea in a wheelchair and hooked up to oxygen. And with or without all that treatment in Korea, your cancer hasn't spread. That definitely could have happened without going but it's possible it helped too. I guess there will be no real way to know for sure. So for your own peace of mind, you might go with the thought that maybe it did. Because if it just ended up being a very expensive vacation for you, it sure wasn't very fun. :-)



I think that you are going to be a testament to this fight with stage IV lung cancer. You are an example of someone who CAN keep fighting and working and living.

Whatever you are doing, Mom... keep doing it. You may not be 100% and maybe still right where you were 8 months ago... but to be where you were 8 months ago is pretty darn remarkable. Don't you think?


Yep, and that is that.  Mom is coming up on three years after diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer.  Still working 40 hours per week and still just as strong and wilfull as ever.  I remember Dr. Cho in Korea having a hard time too reading the CT scan because of all the opacity.

To me, this has been like walking into a really dark area where you have to feel your way around to find the way back out.  This new scan is still like walking into a really dark area, feeling your way around and still finding the same way back out.  After the treatment, it would have been nice to know that the area was filled with light.  However, I think we have to realize that the way out could have been lost forever.   Well, it's not.  It's still dark but there is a lot of hope that we can live with that and get used to feeling our way around and always find the door out. 

I love you, Mom.

Direct from Mom

Here is a verbatim quote from mom:


"Well this has been quite a week for me. Monday Emergency room and learning that the new hurt is a broken rib, then into work; Tuesday the Pain Clinic for a nerve block to try and slow down the rib pain then into work; Wednesday work all day; Thursday chemo from 8:00 to 4:30. A long day... My onc is trying to follow what I told him about the chemo I received in Korea (as well as the kind and dosage as provided by Dr. Moon). Boy the hydration sure had me running to the restroom a lot and I think they may have given me more benedryl than perhaps I needed because I nodded off and on for hours. They also gave me a couple of different anti-nausea pills and IV pushes. Today I don't feel so hot, still taking anti-nausea stuff and Tylenol for the headache I woke up with this morning and at work by 7:00".


The good news from this is that the nerve block she got last Tuesday is working and she's feeling much better now.  A broken rib (ouch!).  Also, the good news is that the Tykerb will be here in a couple of weeks.

One of the patients, Dawn, wrote on her CaringBridge, that her new scans show no evidence of cancer.  I asked mom what she thought about this and she said: 

"I did read Dawn's CaringBridge and I do believe it's possible. In other areas of discussion on the internet, I've seen it referred to at NED ( No Evidence of Disease). The trick now is to somehow kill all the little cancer cells floating in her bloodstream that are looking for a home".


I hope that she will continue to update even after she gets home.  She's a nice lady.

So, that's it for now.  Mom should have her scan end of this month/early April.  Will let you know more as it happens.

The Bold and the Beautiful

I just wanted to write a little about Jackie.  She is the one I wrote early on about, who is from Oklahoma and came to Korea with stage IV pancreatic cancer.  She has a rich Southern drawl and is an incredibly devoted Christian woman.  When she meets you, she has a heartful of love for you and a smile that doesn't wane.  She gave me a white blood cell stimulation shot, I put on her pain patch.  She worked on mom's skepticism and everyone's religious persuasion. 

While in Korea, we always wanted to know how she was doing.  She's been through the wringer, emotionally and physically (I don't think ever, spiritually).  After Cyberknife, various chemos, stem cells and gene therapy... her tumor has shrunk from the size of a small mango to the size of a nickel.  I keep up on her (and a couple of other's) updates through CaringBridge every day. 

There is nothing more inspirational than watching someone with a huge and mostly impossible battle before them... and see them do, fight and persevere every step of the way.  What is happening with her, seems to be doing some good.  She'd be quite the miracle if she actually beats her cancer (especially being that it's pancreatic).  I know that Dr. Moon cares a great deal about her and I know that he is doing everything he can pull out of his brain to get her into remission.

Speaking of inspirational... we got to Skype with mom last night.  She looks GREAT.  Really good.  Still struggling with the pain issue, so she's going back to the pain clinic next week... but she just looked like normal mom.  She'll be going in for a chemo treatment at home of Avastin and Cisplatin.  I'm so glad her oncologist is going to continue the plan for her here.  As far as Tykerb, insurance will not pay for it so it seems it will need to be purchased from Canada.  Mom's scan should be in a few months.

Keeping you posted from coast-to-coast.  Signing off (for now)....

A Taste for Mandarin Oranges

They were plentiful at Novotel and now mom is craving them back at home.  Yes, back at home! 

She is feeling okay except for the persistent pain and being tired. She had another nerve block in a different place but it has had no effect thus far.  Mom has seen her oncologist and was very cooperative although a bit tongue-in-cheek about the Korean adventure.  Since Tykerb is not approved for lung cancer here in the States, she may have to order it from Canada.   Now, why would the same drug here in the States be TWICE as much as in Canada?  Yeah, there is nothing wrong with American pharmaceutical companies either.  Alrighty then.

Mom's oncologist has set her up to continue the other Chemo drugs per Dr. Moon's schedule.  It will (unfortunately) be awhile before she does a CT to see if there's any noticeable change.


Welcome back, Mom!