Bone Cancer TREMINAL Any Help - Cancer: Bone Message Board

mesueminna · 04-10-2004, 02:04 AM

four years ago my FIL was DX with prostste cancer. They insister his was the best way to do it. But with in a year it has spread to his bones.
He was fighting it and taking each and every treatment they could think of.
But as of this year they have been told it was terminal. Sinced January when he stil could walk, Within a week he was in a walker then in a few day he was in an wheel chair. Now he is in bed full time and they had to put a catheritor in . They just brought him in a hospital bed.
I guess other then suppot. And I need to know if there is expermental treatment or it is just took late> Be Bulnt that is what we need at this point.
Melinda

suzey · 04-17-2004, 12:07 AM

Melinda,
We are going through a lot with my mom right now too. She was first diagnosed with a tumor on the lumbar spine, as well as widespread metastasis. She did go through the radiation for the tumor, but through many tests, it seems they cannot locate a primary cancer. We have watched her go down hill so much, and so fast, we are at the point of not knowing what to do either. From an oncology point of view, it seems they are focusing more on comfort/supportive care. It's a sad situation, and we all feel so helpless, as I am sure you do. I have no exact input on anything as far as hope,help,guidance, any of that. We seemed to have reached point of not knowing what to do anymore.
Susan

mesueminna · 04-17-2004, 12:44 AM

Thank You so much for your responce. I so know what you mean about being lost. My FIL's started as prostate cancer. Personally I think his doctors did not treat him aggressivly enough. He was told about it in June of 2000 and in July my MIL was told she had breast cancer. They treated her right away. A biopsey followed by a lumpectomy and then radiation. But my FIL was treated with hormone thearpy only. For over a year that is all they gave him. They kept saying they thought they could control it that way. In spite of his tumor markers going up each month. Then he had pain in a hip and they did a scan. So then they did localised radiation. Then his back was hurting, then it was his elbow his shoulder and knee and hip and spine and now they are doing his tailbone. He has bony tumors all over his head now. At this point he still has not had surgery for prostate or the bone thing. As clear as it was to me (had some medical training so I knew what I was looking at) it was not to his family or him and his doctors never said a word to him. Then last year he woke up one day and was seeing double and all sorts of things. Still all they did was treat what showed when it showed. But they came up here Christmas this past year. He looked so so bad and I knew right then it was terminal. My husbands family has this thing. As long as they dont say the word metastasis it wont happen. But I also know that the family is so close and if they were not going to ask then I needed to find out a way. We are Navy and live 3000 miles away. And my husband will be leaving soon for 6 months. So I started looking into a humaniterian transfer so he can be there. But in order to get it I had to have a letter from his doctors saying what his prognosis was. That was in January and it was the first time they found the courage to ask about it. But then she told them that yes he was terminal. But they could keep treating the spots that do show up. So that is what they are doing and keeping him comfortable. He has a surgically implanted morphine pump and then he takes pain pills when it is hurting so bad and the morphine has not helped it. Right now he is pretty much in hospiceat the house. Has a body lift to get him off the sheets to change them. He has a nurse that comes in 3 times a week to help bath him and check up and stuff. And they just got a van with a wheelchair lift so she can get him in and out for treatments. He hurts, he is swollen, his skin is like tissue paper. Sometimes I think if he was not all togethr there or in a coma it would be better. Or if it was a car wreck and it was something fdast. It is just hard to see him suffer day after day. But he knows everything going on and reacts to it. He talks and sometimes crack jokes. He is a wonderfal man I am I going to really miss him. My husband and I started dating when we were 17 and got married at 19. Andd we are now 36 years old.So I have known him being in my life for more the half of it. So he is a father to me. I just wanted to know if this is really the end or if there was hope.
I am really sorry about your mom. Please feel free to contact me if you need to talk.
Melinda

mesueminna · 04-23-2004, 02:45 AM

Thank you for the information. We are all game for alternative treatment. But I do not think it will help at this point. He is so sick now it is all he can do to talk on the phone.
When he first got sick he was doing hormone thearpy. And he started this regiment he researched. So he would drink orange juice, with peeled catus leaf and a dstalk of aleo vera. Sounds a little gross but it really was not bad at all. I always try everything once. I use to eat steamed or fried catus all the time growing up. But I could do without the aloe it is a little bitter.
Right now he can only eat cereal or drink a ensure. Some days he cant even do that. I think at this time we are just trying to keep him comfortable and not hurting.
But I am printing this out. Some of the other uses might be able to help us.
Melinda

timsworld73 · 04-27-2004, 07:56 AM

If I may ask a question from you. In the earlier stages when his tumor markers were going up and not down, did they try him on different kind of treatment. Was it his choice to do the therapy he did? My mother has liver adenocarcinoma and her tumor marker started at 6,000 and is now hovering at around 2,000 and we are happy about that, but if our oncologist said in the beginning that if her tumor marker did not start declining or started rising they would try different treatment options. Did they change his course of therapy as his tumor markers kept rising? My mother is now complaining of pain in her hip, but she has osteopnia already and fell out of bed about three weeks ago. It did not start hurting her until about 2 weeks ago. So now she is scaredit is in the bone. We were told that her declining tumor marker tells us that the chemo is doing its job and the last CT showed reduction in the tumor, but that if the treatment was working the chances of it metatasing(sp) was almost zero. That is what we were told. Was his tumor marker ever do down at all?