For those of you involved in that thread about my sister-in-law who needed help around the house, you were right and I was wrong. We finally got her to go to the hospital. Turns out she has bone cancer (we’ll know tomorrow if it metastasized from the breast). She’s apparently had it for around 2 years, but with no breast cancer follow-up, it has filled her spine, ribs, and pelvis.
The doctor seems to think that it can be treated with chemo and maybe radiation. I tend to doubt this prognosis, based on everything I’ve read on line, but was wondering if any of you have experience with this hideous disease. Some questions:
If they give her chemo and the most optimistic outcome is realized, do her bones repair and fill the areas that were cancerous?
Will she have the bone strength to lead a normal life once they kill the bad cells? Currently she has at least one fracture in her spine and they have her flat on her back to keep the pressure off the bones.
Will she eventually be able to graduate from total bedrest to a wheelchair?
As I said, I don’t hold much hope for a recovery, but maybe some of you have another experience?
I’m sorry to hear of your SIL’s diagnosis, but I would be too pessimistic just yet.
There have been great advances in cancer research and if the doctors are optimistic
then you should take a cue from them.
From what I recall of the other thread, her quality of life was deteriorating, so it’s
possibly that this could turn out to be a good thing.
I would guess that the cancer diagnosis would also make her eligible for some
assistance that wasn’t available to her before.
Good luck.
Yes, they are getting her into Medicaid now, which they had advised against before, due to the relatively minor issues she was treating.
I just can’t tell if this is typical optimistic response mode from the doctor or if they truly believe that Stage IV cancer can really be reversed. The sites I looked at gave a 17% to 23% survival rate of 5 years. They estimate she’s been malignant again for 2 years, so that trims the best case scenario down in my brain.
But you’re right…we started thinking that since her quality of life has been so shitty for the last decade, even if she only has a couple years left, if it could be better than the recent past, it can almost be looked at as a good thing. Funny how life can work that way…
You never know - my grandfather had multiple myeloma in his 70s, and supposedly had a 15% chance of surviving 5 years. I don’t know much about the specifics of his condition or treatment (believe it or not, he didn’t tell most of the family until after he was in remission, because he didn’t want us to worry about him), but he remained cancer-free for the rest of his life and died 10+ years later of something entirely unrelated. Stubborn guy, my grandfather.
Kalhoun, I’m sorry that this is happening to your family.
If she has severe bone pain, radiation can bring about an amazing relief of symptoms, no, it’s not curative, but she should feel much better.
I don’t think that realistically you’re looking at anything other than palliation (I could be wrong, listen to her doctor, who knows more about the case), but there are good palliative regimes for extensive bony mets, especially in breast and prostate cancer. They’ll probably add in some drugs usually used for osteoporosis to try and decrease the bone loss she is suffering.
That’s really good to know. She’s in terrible pain at this point. They have her on dulaudin (sp), doubled up on pain patches, and have one of those electronic thingies as well. The doctor mentioned chemo first, and maybe radiation, and also maybe surgery. They’re waiting for the results of the MRI that is zeroing in on the portion of the spine that may have tumors that are pressing on nerves, which would cause paralysis. So we’re hoping by maybe Tuesday or Wednesday they’ll have a game plan in place. They are also talking about osteoporosis, which may have been accelerated by her long-term use of steroids for her asthma.
Her spirits are so high (probably because so is she ). Her attitude is so pleasant that it’s freaking us all out. This is the first relief she’s had in at least a year of pain complaints. She’s polite, funny, and not at all outwardly stressed by any of this. They’re supposed to be bringing a pain management specialist to her team as well.
). Her attitude is so pleasant that it’s freaking us all out. This is the first relief she’s had in at least a year of pain complaints. She’s polite, funny, and not at all outwardly stressed by any of this. They’re supposed to be bringing a pain management specialist to her team as well.