Asking for a little prayer...

[indysteel]

Thank you for taking the time to update us, Linda. You and your sister have been on my mind and in my prayers a lot. I'm sorry that she's facing such hard decisions, but I'm glad she's being honest with herself, her family and her doctors about what's most important to her.

[solobiker]

I am very sorry to hear about this. My thoughts are with you and your family.

[azfiddle]

I too just want to send my thoughts to you and your sister. What a difficult set of choices she has had to make. I hope that this treatment option will work for her. Lean on all of us here whenever you need to- we're here for you.

[hebe]

Thoughts and prayers for you both from me too.

[Bike Chick]

Thank you for keeping us updated. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

[Brandi]

Thank you for the update. Healing thoughts and butterfly kisses coming your way! Keep up your faith that things will work! Don't ever give up. But I respect your sister wanting to live with the time she has left not feeling awful.

[wackyjacky1]

Keeping you both in my prayers.

Same here.

[nscrbug]

So it's been well over 2 months since I posted an update on how my sister is doing with her stage IV pancreatic cancer...so I thought I'd bring you all up to speed on what's been happening.

So she has completed 3 chemo cycles (3 months) and was due for a new CT scan last Wednesday to see how the tumor has been responding to the treatment. She went in for the scan in the morning and later that afternoon got a call from the hospital saying that she needed to go directly to their ER because the scan detected 2 pulmonary emboli on both sides of her lungs. I took her back to the hospital that afternoon. Before starting her on anticoagulants, they had to do a brain scan and MRI to determine if the cancer had spread to her brain (it hadn't). So they gave her an IV drip of Heparin and kept her overnight to monitor her. The next morning, they ran tests and noticed that her platelets had dropped quite low. They thought that perhaps she was having a negative reaction to the Heparin (many people are allergic to it) so they needed to figure out what was going on before sending her home with injections that she will have to give herself for the next 6 months. They tried a different blood thinning agent to see if that invoked the same reaction...it did. So they went back to Heparin (actually Lovenox, which is in the Heparin family) and after spending 3 nights in the hospital, her platelets finally leveled off and remained stable. I brought her home this afternoon...she was so happy to be home. So the good news is...the blood clot issue should be controlled with the self-injections of Lovenox. Apparently, it's a fairly common issue among cancer patients. However, the bad news is...the chemo is not working and the cancer has progressed. We don't know exactly how "progressed" it is...we find that out in greater detail on Thursday when we meet with the oncologist again. It looks like they want to try a different (more effective/aggressive) chemo regimen if she is willing. That is all we know for now. Thanks for the continued prayers and good thoughts!

Linda

[zoom-zoom]

Oh, Linda, I am really sorry to hear that. I hope this next round of chemo kicks that Cancer out for good!

[redrhodie]

Thank you for updating. I've been wondering how you're doing. It sounds so hard. I hope you both find the strength to get through this. Cancer sucks.

[indysteel]

Thank you for the update, Linda. I'm very sad to hear that the cancer is progressing. I'll continue to keep your sister and you in my prayers. I hope the more aggressive treatment works and that she can tolerate it--if that's the route she chooses. Hugs to both of you.

[smittykitty]

Linda, Thanks for the update. I found myself wondering about your sister just this week.

Sending you two many good thoughts as you learn about the next step in her care. Sounds like she is a very lucky lady to have you at her side.

[OakLeaf]

Oh man - thanks for the update, but so sorry the news isn't good. Thoughts and prayers to both of you.

[jyyanks]

My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your sister. Sending positive thoughts your way.

[Crankin]

I am sorry about this news, but you are an angel.
I couldn't do it...