Gita,

Sorry I missed your post the other day. I have found that if you can't go through all the new posts at once, you may not get to some since they are all updated as being "not new" when you exit the site.

By now you probably have received treatment options from your siter's medical team. I am not sure if any tests at this point would be conclusive and I am not sure how the doctor would know if the new tumor is responding or not.

There are some options on the nutrition side that would help her body tolerate the chemo. First, if she has some type of central access (i.e. mediport, PIC line, etc.) the doctor can order TPN feeding with a targeted caloric intake. It is usually administered over 8-12 hours via a pump and can be done easily at home. Second, if the chemo was reduced because of blood count issues, there are drugs to boost the production of white blood cells (Neupogen) and red blood cells (Procrit). They are both quite expensive and the doctors may be hesitant to prescribe.

I hope you are taking some regular time to wind down yourself. Things are getting pretty tense by now, I assume, and may even get worse as you try to help your sister battle this horrible disease.

I don't know if any of this helps but I will pray for comfort and healing for your entire family.

Ed

SCC Stage IV, BOT, T2N2bM0
Cisplatin/5FU x 3, 40 days radiation
Diagnosis 07/21/03 tx completed 10/08/03
Post Radiation Lower Motor Neuron Syndrome 3/08.
Cervical Spinal Stenosis 01/11
Cervical Myelitis 09/12
Thoracic Paraplegia 10/12
Dysautonomia 11/12
Hospice care 09/12-01/13.
COPD 01/14
Intermittent CHF 6/15
Feeding tube NPO 03/16
VFI 12/2016
ORN 12/2017
Cardiac Event 06/2018
Bilateral VFI 01/2021
Thoracotomy Bilobectomy 01/2022
Bilateral VFI 05/2022
Total Laryngectomy 01/2023