(06-06-2020 06:39 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  So, I'll switch gears before this thread gets nuked. Disclaimer - long post so STOP here if you don't want to read it in its entirety. I've not shared this openly on the board prior but I feel the need to now...the COVID situation has not been on the forefront of my family's mind due to my wife's battle with cervical cancer. Last August she was diagnosed at Stage 2. The tumor was present in an area beyond just her cervix. This took us quite by shock but we were thankful that it wasn't a worse prognosis. The treatment plan was set for my wife to recieve 5 chemotherapy sessions [one per week] and localized external radiation for six weeks [5 per week or 30 total]. Once that was completed she was given 5 internal radiation treatments for 5 weeks [one per week]. All of this finished by the week of Thanksgiving and we were able to hit the "pause" button for several months. Through the miracle of prayer and mercy from God the cancer treatment side effects were "tolerable" with nauseau and weakness/tiredness the primary culprits. My wife did not lose her hair [thinned some] and was able to eat on a regular basis for the most part. We couldn't have made it without our friends and family helping with appointment travel and preparing meals for us. I have two teens still at home so trying to manage this without that support would've been difficult and stressful. We were also blessed that my wife was able to take the necessary medical leave from her employer so she could totally focus on her health. Another blessing was she took out a supplemental cancer insurance policy last year that absolutely saved us financially. She had this "feeling" to add the coverage and her intuition paid off. I would strongly encourage you to get this coverage if offered by your employer. We received $5,000 right off the top once she was diagnosed and we later received other direct payments to help offset many of the medical expenses.

In late February she had her first PET scan [post treatments] and the results came back with a "hot spot" but a follow-up biopsy confirmed no cancer cells. My wife went back to work and we were starting to exit on the "cancer highway off-ramp" physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. As I'm sure some of you know, cancer just comsumes your family where you are always thinking about it, talking about it, making decisions about it, living with it, etc. Last month my wife had her second PET scan and it again came back with a "hot spot." A subsequent examination and some feedback from my wife resulted in a "deep biopsy" outpaitent procedure that was done two weeks ago. This time the biopsy was not just a "scraping" of surface cells/tissue but needles were used to take the samples subsurface. We were "encouraged" that one possibility was the former cancer tumor was nothing but neucrotic [dead] tissue and my wife's body was reacting to consume/reject the tissue and this was causing the "red light" in the PET scan. Unfortunately, we got the results on Thursday that the biopsy revealed both neucrotic tissue and cancer cells. This definitely took the wind out of our sails even though we tried not to assume anything going in. What made it more difficult is the oncologists are baffled because the overwhelming majority of patients with the type and size of tumor my wife had we're able to kill the tumor through chemo and radiation treatments. For whatever reason it wasn't in the odds for my wife. Another thing that was hard was due to COVID-19 I was not allowed in the hospital to be with my wife. I had to park in a parking deck across the street waiting on phone calls to give me updates. That absolutely sucked.

So, we were given two options - the third to do nothing further was not a choice for us for obvious reasons - another chemo treatment plan or an invasive surgical procedure. The surgery is a major deal that involves taking out a wider swath of tissue due to complications from radiation treatment. A side effect of radiation is it weakens the surrounding tissue such that healing from surgery has too many potential complications. I'll spare you the details but among other things my wife may end up with a bladder bag and a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. There's just too many unknowns until the surgery happens but the minimum recovery time in the hospital is 10 days without complications. The other option is to try a different chemo drug that is stronger but potentially has more side effects than the chemo she had previously. She would get one treatment every three weeks and after 12 weeks they would do a PET scan and a biopsy. If the treatment is effective in killing the remaining cancer cells/further shrinking the tumor then they would continue for two more treatments. If the results were not effective then we can go on and schedule the surgery. It is most likely that surgery will be required regardless but it may not be as invasive if the chemo treatments work. After much prayer, discussion and thought, my wife chose to try the chemo first. She's really dreading the poison and going back through that process again. I hate it for her and I wish I could trade places.

A few months back after COVID ramped up we decided to book a beach trip to take advantage of the prices. We only had to put down a deposit and we figured if the pandemic shut down was long term we could get our deposit back. So, after all this cancer drama s_hit we're going to take the family to the coast of North Carolina in a few weeks and just try to enjoy ourselves and chill out before chemo begins. We were grateful the doctors recognized the need for our mental and emotional health and they worked the schedule around to accommodate us once we got back from the trip. Like Rag, I'll be another vacation COVID "guinea pig" and report back on my experience. Like I said, in my world I can't get too worked up about COVID-19 when my wife's cancer is the battle front and center. Thanks for listening...

(06-06-2020 09:39 PM)rosewater Wrote:  

(06-06-2020 06:39 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  So, I'll switch gears before this thread gets nuked. Disclaimer - long post so STOP here if you don't want to read it in its entirety. I've not shared this openly on the board prior but I feel the need to now...the COVID situation has not been on the forefront of my family's mind due to my wife's battle with cervical cancer. Last August she was diagnosed at Stage 2. The tumor was present in an area beyond just her cervix. This took us quite by shock but we were thankful that it wasn't a worse prognosis. The treatment plan was set for my wife to recieve 5 chemotherapy sessions [one per week] and localized external radiation for six weeks [5 per week or 30 total]. Once that was completed she was given 5 internal radiation treatments for 5 weeks [one per week]. All of this finished by the week of Thanksgiving and we were able to hit the "pause" button for several months. Through the miracle of prayer and mercy from God the cancer treatment side effects were "tolerable" with nauseau and weakness/tiredness the primary culprits. My wife did not lose her hair [thinned some] and was able to eat on a regular basis for the most part. We couldn't have made it without our friends and family helping with appointment travel and preparing meals for us. I have two teens still at home so trying to manage this without that support would've been difficult and stressful. We were also blessed that my wife was able to take the necessary medical leave from her employer so she could totally focus on her health. Another blessing was she took out a supplemental cancer insurance policy last year that absolutely saved us financially. She had this "feeling" to add the coverage and her intuition paid off. I would strongly encourage you to get this coverage if offered by your employer. We received $5,000 right off the top once she was diagnosed and we later received other direct payments to help offset many of the medical expenses.

In late February she had her first PET scan [post treatments] and the results came back with a "hot spot" but a follow-up biopsy confirmed no cancer cells. My wife went back to work and we were starting to exit on the "cancer highway off-ramp" physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. As I'm sure some of you know, cancer just comsumes your family where you are always thinking about it, talking about it, making decisions about it, living with it, etc. Last month my wife had her second PET scan and it again came back with a "hot spot." A subsequent examination and some feedback from my wife resulted in a "deep biopsy" outpaitent procedure that was done two weeks ago. This time the biopsy was not just a "scraping" of surface cells/tissue but needles were used to take the samples subsurface. We were "encouraged" that one possibility was the former cancer tumor was nothing but neucrotic [dead] tissue and my wife's body was reacting to consume/reject the tissue and this was causing the "red light" in the PET scan. Unfortunately, we got the results on Thursday that the biopsy revealed both neucrotic tissue and cancer cells. This definitely took the wind out of our sails even though we tried not to assume anything going in. What made it more difficult is the oncologists are baffled because the overwhelming majority of patients with the type and size of tumor my wife had we're able to kill the tumor through chemo and radiation treatments. For whatever reason it wasn't in the odds for my wife. Another thing that was hard was due to COVID-19 I was not allowed in the hospital to be with my wife. I had to park in a parking deck across the street waiting on phone calls to give me updates. That absolutely sucked.

So, we were given two options - the third to do nothing further was not a choice for us for obvious reasons - another chemo treatment plan or an invasive surgical procedure. The surgery is a major deal that involves taking out a wider swath of tissue due to complications from radiation treatment. A side effect of radiation is it weakens the surrounding tissue such that healing from surgery has too many potential complications. I'll spare you the details but among other things my wife may end up with a bladder bag and a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. There's just too many unknowns until the surgery happens but the minimum recovery time in the hospital is 10 days without complications. The other option is to try a different chemo drug that is stronger but potentially has more side effects than the chemo she had previously. She would get one treatment every three weeks and after 12 weeks they would do a PET scan and a biopsy. If the treatment is effective in killing the remaining cancer cells/further shrinking the tumor then they would continue for two more treatments. If the results were not effective then we can go on and schedule the surgery. It is most likely that surgery will be required regardless but it may not be as invasive if the chemo treatments work. After much prayer, discussion and thought, my wife chose to try the chemo first. She's really dreading the poison and going back through that process again. I hate it for her and I wish I could trade places.

A few months back after COVID ramped up we decided to book a beach trip to take advantage of the prices. We only had to put down a deposit and we figured if the pandemic shut down was long term we could get our deposit back. So, after all this cancer drama s_hit we're going to take the family to the coast of North Carolina in a few weeks and just try to enjoy ourselves and chill out before chemo begins. We were grateful the doctors recognized the need for our mental and emotional health and they worked the schedule around to accommodate us once we got back from the trip. Like Rag, I'll be another vacation COVID "guinea pig" and report back on my experience. Like I said, in my world I can't get too worked up about COVID-19 when my wife's cancer is the battle front and center. Thanks for listening...

Praying for the best
yours truly
Rose

(06-07-2020 12:10 PM)Nobones Wrote:  92 many thoughts and prayer for you, your wife and your family. Lost my Mother in-law to cancer. Wife had the genetic test done to see if she had the cancer gene. She does. So she went ahead and did some measures to make sure she had a fighting chance to stay around for me and our boy after and number of breast biopsies she had a total mastectomy and a total hysterectomy. Glad she did after the surgery's they found cancer in the tissues they took out. After many follow ups and still seeing a different Dr. every 3 months she is doing good. Good luck to your wife and I hope she is here with you and the kids for a long time.

(06-06-2020 06:39 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  So, I'll switch gears before this thread gets nuked. Disclaimer - long post so STOP here if you don't want to read it in its entirety. I've not shared this openly on the board prior but I feel the need to now...the COVID situation has not been on the forefront of my family's mind due to my wife's battle with cervical cancer. Last August she was diagnosed at Stage 2. The tumor was present in an area beyond just her cervix. This took us quite by shock but we were thankful that it wasn't a worse prognosis. The treatment plan was set for my wife to recieve 5 chemotherapy sessions [one per week] and localized external radiation for six weeks [5 per week or 30 total]. Once that was completed she was given 5 internal radiation treatments for 5 weeks [one per week]. All of this finished by the week of Thanksgiving and we were able to hit the "pause" button for several months. Through the miracle of prayer and mercy from God the cancer treatment side effects were "tolerable" with nauseau and weakness/tiredness the primary culprits. My wife did not lose her hair [thinned some] and was able to eat on a regular basis for the most part. We couldn't have made it without our friends and family helping with appointment travel and preparing meals for us. I have two teens still at home so trying to manage this without that support would've been difficult and stressful. We were also blessed that my wife was able to take the necessary medical leave from her employer so she could totally focus on her health. Another blessing was she took out a supplemental cancer insurance policy last year that absolutely saved us financially. She had this "feeling" to add the coverage and her intuition paid off. I would strongly encourage you to get this coverage if offered by your employer. We received $5,000 right off the top once she was diagnosed and we later received other direct payments to help offset many of the medical expenses.

In late February she had her first PET scan [post treatments] and the results came back with a "hot spot" but a follow-up biopsy confirmed no cancer cells. My wife went back to work and we were starting to exit on the "cancer highway off-ramp" physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. As I'm sure some of you know, cancer just comsumes your family where you are always thinking about it, talking about it, making decisions about it, living with it, etc. Last month my wife had her second PET scan and it again came back with a "hot spot." A subsequent examination and some feedback from my wife resulted in a "deep biopsy" outpaitent procedure that was done two weeks ago. This time the biopsy was not just a "scraping" of surface cells/tissue but needles were used to take the samples subsurface. We were "encouraged" that one possibility was the former cancer tumor was nothing but neucrotic [dead] tissue and my wife's body was reacting to consume/reject the tissue and this was causing the "red light" in the PET scan. Unfortunately, we got the results on Thursday that the biopsy revealed both neucrotic tissue and cancer cells. This definitely took the wind out of our sails even though we tried not to assume anything going in. What made it more difficult is the oncologists are baffled because the overwhelming majority of patients with the type and size of tumor my wife had we're able to kill the tumor through chemo and radiation treatments. For whatever reason it wasn't in the odds for my wife. Another thing that was hard was due to COVID-19 I was not allowed in the hospital to be with my wife. I had to park in a parking deck across the street waiting on phone calls to give me updates. That absolutely sucked.

So, we were given two options - the third to do nothing further was not a choice for us for obvious reasons - another chemo treatment plan or an invasive surgical procedure. The surgery is a major deal that involves taking out a wider swath of tissue due to complications from radiation treatment. A side effect of radiation is it weakens the surrounding tissue such that healing from surgery has too many potential complications. I'll spare you the details but among other things my wife may end up with a bladder bag and a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. There's just too many unknowns until the surgery happens but the minimum recovery time in the hospital is 10 days without complications. The other option is to try a different chemo drug that is stronger but potentially has more side effects than the chemo she had previously. She would get one treatment every three weeks and after 12 weeks they would do a PET scan and a biopsy. If the treatment is effective in killing the remaining cancer cells/further shrinking the tumor then they would continue for two more treatments. If the results were not effective then we can go on and schedule the surgery. It is most likely that surgery will be required regardless but it may not be as invasive if the chemo treatments work. After much prayer, discussion and thought, my wife chose to try the chemo first. She's really dreading the poison and going back through that process again. I hate it for her and I wish I could trade places.

A few months back after COVID ramped up we decided to book a beach trip to take advantage of the prices. We only had to put down a deposit and we figured if the pandemic shut down was long term we could get our deposit back. So, after all this cancer drama s_hit we're going to take the family to the coast of North Carolina in a few weeks and just try to enjoy ourselves and chill out before chemo begins. We were grateful the doctors recognized the need for our mental and emotional health and they worked the schedule around to accommodate us once we got back from the trip. Like Rag, I'll be another vacation COVID "guinea pig" and report back on my experience. Like I said, in my world I can't get too worked up about COVID-19 when my wife's cancer is the battle front and center. Thanks for listening...

(06-14-2020 03:08 PM)mlb Wrote:  I was in Gatlinburg the last couple days..
Nobody in town wearing a mask. On top of each other. I'm okay with things being open, but people need to be safe.

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