Cancer treatments

[Bob Sanders]

Here we are, Charlie and me at Vanderbilt medical center. Mom is having her bladder removed. This won't be convenient for her, but maybe the end of the cancer. Best case, she will be able to sleep all night without getting up to pee, and dad and I will be shooting again soon.

 

[foghorn918]

Bob,
Best wishes and prayers for your mom.

 

[shootingbuff]

Hoping for the best for the entire family and a speedy recovery for your mother.

Keep thinking positive.

 

[Jeffrey Hite]

I just down the road if you need anything. Just call and I'll be there friend.

 

[Bob Sanders]

Doc said it couldn't have gone better! Thanks for all your kind thoughts!

 

[dennishoddy]

Good to hear it went well. Hoping for a speedy recovery.

 

[shootingbuff]

That is good news indeed.

 

[Tuflehundon]

Glad to hear your Mom is doing OK.

My Wife had Stage 3B Hosgkins Lymphoma. Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of her remission. The worry never goes away, but it does get better. The stress returns every time she has to get a scan. At first she did a scan every 3 months, then after a year it was every 6 months which she will do until 5 years. Then it will be once a year for the rest of her life. It was a tough fight for all of us, but we are stronger because of it. Got me back into shooting to since it was something I could do to get away from things.

Lost my Dad to cancer 9 years ago. They gave him 6 months, and he made it 26 years.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

Glad you got through your ordeal. Now it's my turn. I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma last month. They did surgery to remove it from my head. The lab report came back and said that they didn't get it all and I've been going for daily radiation treatments since the stitches were taken out.

The thing that concerns me is that the Dr said that there was no way to tell if the radiation killed all the cancer without cutting into me again. Other than that we will just have to wait and see if it reoccurs again and if it does, repeat the whole process.

 

[Tuflehundon]

Once you go through chemo and radiation PET scans no longer work as it will give you false positives, and CT scans won't work on your brain. That's why they would have to cut you open again. Good luck man.

 

[Wildcat]

Tufle...could you please give a source for your statement? 80% of PET scans are following treatment to determine staging. Prior chemo and radiation have only a minor effect on the scans.

 

[Tuflehundon]

Every Dr I have talked to during and since my Wifes treatments. And all the Dr's at the Clearwater VA, and St Anthony's when my Dad had cancer.

PET scans are generally done before treatments to determine staging, and then sometimes in the middle of treatments to verify that the treatments are working. Staging is done prior to treatments so they can know how bad things are and what type of treatments to use. Niether my Wife of Dad had any treatments before they were staged. From initial diagnisis that she may have cancer in the ER to PET scan and bone marrow testing to stage was only 2 weeks. then she had the port installed, and 3 weeks after that she started treatment. Once treatments are complete, they use CT scans instead because of the fact that it gives false positives.

 

[Wildcat]

I'm not going to get in an argument, but for the sake of people reading, please talk to your oncologist and don't take advice or believe 100% in what you read about cancer treatments on a shooting forum. Every form of cancer is different and what might be the true in some cases is not true in many others.

 

[Tuflehundon]

Please don't take my statements as being argumentative. Tone is hard to get across online. I was just stating what the Dr's told us.

Best advice is to talk to your Oncologist. Treatments are very complex.

 

[Wildcat]

Agreed! (My wife is an attending physician on a cancer ward)

 

[Bob Sanders]

Just to let everyone know, mom got through surgery with flying colors! She is home, doing very well and we have good pathology reports. No one wants to have to wear a bag, but it's better than pushing up daisies, and she says it's nice not to have to get up and pee several times a night. Now, back to making bullets and shooting! Thank you to everyone that said a prayer or offered a kind thought! Dad and I really appreciate it!

 

[dennishoddy]

Glad you got through your ordeal. Now it's my turn. I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma last month. They did surgery to remove it from my head. The lab report came back and said that they didn't get it all and I've been going for daily radiation treatments since the stitches were taken out.

The thing that concerns me is that the Dr said that there was no way to tell if the radiation killed all the cancer without cutting into me again. Other than that we will just have to wait and see if it reoccurs again and if it does, repeat the whole process.

Larry, lets hope your treatments work to get you back on the range.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

Thanks Dennis.