Fortunately before my mom was diagnosed with cancer her employer had several different options for insurance and she took the PPO so all of her surgeries and all treatments have been done quickly and with little hesitation on the insurance companies part as to whether or not they will pay. She also bought the short and long term disability from work and was very fortunate to get close to her salary the whole time she was off work.

I will prepare her for the thrush. So far she was lucky to get away without any problems from thrush thus far but I will tell her about it so she can be prepared. I know from how everybody talks about it, it would be something that would frighten her by thinking it was something else.

Thanks again,
Dani

I am so glad to hear short term and long term disability working for someone. I had both and was on the short term for about 3 months when the employer stopped paying (self-funded) and when I filed the long term they told me they made a mistake and should have excluded this cancer when I signed up last September. I told them they sent me a letter and approved me. I am now trying to at least get my premiums paid refunded but they insist the insurance was for anything other than this cancer.

Ed

Hi Dani,
I'm glad you are feeling better and wish your mom could get past this infection. I had no problems getting my insurance company to pay 100% for the HBO treatments as it was deemed medically necessary for the extraction of teeth. With her having bone exposed and an infection, I would imagine it will be approved.
Take care,
Minnie

I tried psoting this yesterday and wound up with a web error so will try again.

There are a whole host of drugs and supplements you need to take at different hours than you take your Cipro, these include things like Calcium which was mentioned on TV, iron, magenesium, antacids, etc. Check the medline website under prescription drugs. http://medlineplus.gov
The list is very lengthy.

Also be aware that now you have adjusted the hours you take your Calcium, etc that this may have an effect on othr drugs you take like synthroid which also isn't supposed to be taken at the same time as calcium. I spent somuch time on Cipro this spring, I wound up going lsightly hyperthyroid because the calcium was no longer interfering with the synthroid.

As for hyperbaric treatment, U of P offered me 2 free treatments before last surgery. I turned them down because I am too claustrophobic and this chamber which seats 8 people looks like a giant oil tank left over from WW II. They would have to drug me get me in it.

Hope this post makes it this time.

Eileen

Dani -- just wanted to say congrats on your mom's negative PET scan... great news indeed...

Dani: Good news on your mother's scans. Doesn't that feeling make you feel about as good as anything in this life? The doctors also seem to be delighted when they get to give patients good news like that. And, of course, we all love positive, good info like this as we get enough of the other kind. Thanks for sharing with us and as always, will be praying for you and mom.

Dani
just to sya am really pleased for you all...
sunshine..love and hugs
Helen

Thank you everybody for your kind responses. I haven't felt this normal for over a year. I feel like I can finally breathe. I'm sure my mom is pretty relieved with all the good reports but she still feels only about 70%. Now to battle this infection....

My mom just switched over to the Cipro and she will see her Chemo doctor today to get some blood tests done. She says that her mouth still hurts which we are sure is related to the infection in the bone. Both her dentist and ENT are closely monitoring her infection to make sure it starts to heal up. If it doesn't heal up her ENT will explore other options as he wants to rule out that it is not cancer that is causing the infection. So we are waiting for the infection to heal and then we will probably look into the HBO treatments because from what I've read they will help a great deal with the way her mouth feels. Out of everything her biggest complaint is the way her mouth feels so completely different than it used to and the pain hasn't helped. She still has to take pain medication orally when it starts to hurt and she is no wimp when it comes to pain. She gave birth to my little brother with absolutely no pain medication and when I tried to go that route once those contractions started coming I was begging for the epidural. So I know that her pain is pretty intense.
Has anybody else experienced this infection in the bone and was it extremely painful? When her ENT ran all the tests for clean margins after her second surgery (which he got all clean margins) he also sent the bone samples out to be tested and they were clean (no cancer). I'm just a little concerned because of the what if's that the ENT and dentist are throwing out there.....

If anybody has any input as always it is greatly appreciated!

Dani

Dani,

I can't give you any insight into the bone infection question, since I didn't experience that. However, on the subject of how different your mom's mouth feels, I can understand that. As you start to wean yourself off of pain medication, you begin to feel more areas that are still recovering. Some of them stay numb for awhile and then gradually develop sensation over a long period of time. Also, there can be tightness where the surgery was done. Finally, you have to get used to using your mouth differently for eating and speaking over the long term, depending on what works best.

It can be a series of major adjustments, but hopefully she's on the way to recovery.

Cathy

Dani-
I'm so happy your mom had such good news. Take heart. Because of your experience with your husband's bouts with diverticulitis, you pretty much know what to expect with thrush and what they do to help avoid/combat it! Diflucan and flagyl (which your hubby had) are essentially the same thing. My Ed (Uptown) had MONTHS of fighting it. Talk about a pain in the butt. Since he's been plagued with issues with his liver, the diflucan had a serious impact on how it functioned as well as his fatigue level (because of the liver not functioning at top speed). I don't want to insite a riot by commenting on an alternative therapy, but our experience was such a nightmare before we found this odd little stuff! We searched for something that would not be so potentially damaging and had the good fortune to find this stuff called three lac. We figured what the heck - it couldn't be any worse - so he tried it. He'd let it disolve (that was a trick because of the xerostomia) in his mouth three times a day and dang, what a miracle - nothing else changed but he's gone two months without the ugly/uncomfortable thrush! WoooHooo!

I pray for all posters on the OCF forum (and our own family) daily. Mostly asking for help in staying grounded and encouraged - despite some pitfalls in treatments and cures as well as our fears. I will say a special prayer for you and your mom tonight.

Thank you for being the kind of daughter every mom wishes they had. One of compassion and commitment to keep fighting for your family and being generous with your time and love to be part of the cure. Blessings to you. Hang tight!

Susan