Wanted to say HI and update all.. - Neuropathy Message Board

Too Sweet 74 · 10-10-2006, 11:16 AM

Hi everyone,
Just me Sherri K. I know it's been a long while since I wrote anyone. My life has been turned upside down since my last post. Lets' start with the big news first..... my husband found aout a month ago he has C2 Stage 3 colon cancer. He had his rescetion 2 and a half weks ago. They found he had 6 of 16 nodes positive for cancer. He had a port put in yesterday and we see cancer docs on thursday about chemo ect. He has been treating me and the kids better since the diagnosis. Guess it scared the bejesus out of him and he realizes what he has maybe. He told me yesterday that things would have fallen apart without me being here. That was a really nice thing to hear. All my focus has been on him and my boys.

I did go to my nuero finally after a few reschedulings...

. It did not go well. As you remember maybe I have damage to my neck from an EMG that was done for my arm. Leaving me with headaches everyday for 19 months now. I also had a incidental finding os cervical spondylosis(arthritis pretty much) in about the same area as my neck mass from the EMG. Well this idiot walks in says his name and immediately starts tell ing me that it's "normal" to have "aches and pains" because I have a 41 year old neck with arthritis .... I asked him if he SAW THE MASS on my MRI ? I said I have a lump on my neck from the EMG damage. Then he looks at the back of my neck.....

Then I had to repeat my story about how I got the damage and what it does to me every day. HE said he thinks it is a trigger point that won't resolve itself....That he has never seen damage like mine before from an EMG.... Gee I think I've heard that a time or two. He tells me that he sees no obvious nerve impingement . Then he says that my only options are to have a myelogram done or have a botox injection in the trigger point to see if it will relax the muscles. He says the myelogram is risky and may not even show anything more than they know. If they do find something it may not be fixable. So my pain doc is seeing about the botox. Takes a month to get it I guess because of the amount of it needed for a large muscle. Till then he is going to try the trigger point injections again next week cause all my muscles are so tight they are as hard as a bone in my shoulders. He is putting me on darvacet and cymbalta in a few weeks to see if it can help me feel better. He knows how stressed I am with my husband sick and dealing with everything. Pretty much everything is on me right now. We are only recieving half my husband's pay at the moment and things are extremely tight now. I need to make some money to help . Just trying to figure out how. The internet business seems to be one of my only options,something from home so I can still care for hubby. Chemo starts in a few weeks and he will need me here. I don't know where to start though.
One the plus side my boys are fine. My youngest is enjoying kindergarten alot. He is such a little sweety. He kisses my hand when we say bye in the morning so I don't miss him. My oldest is being a teenager.

spending time with his best friend. I think he is more upset about his father being ill than he lets on. He watched both his grandparents(hubby's parents) die from cancer when he was the age my youngest is now. He loved his grandma very much and we all miss her alot still. All he has is my Mom and she isn't a grandma to him really. Never has anything nice to say and is negative all the time. Her and I had a falling out and haven't talked in over a month now. She doesn't care about my husband and wanted me to leave him because he was ill and I just couldn't do it. Turns out he has woke up and is better to all of us now.Not saying it will keep when he is better but I'll deal with that then.
So I'm stressed out of my mind most of the time and my pain has been bad. Not wanting to even leave the house if I don't HAVE to.Comp may be over with soon. The lawyer said the time is ripe for settling .It'd be awesome to have the comp idiots out of my life. My pain doc feels really bad because he hasn't been able to help me over this whole year I've seen him. He has tried valiently and I told him that. I couldn't ask for a better more caring doctor than he has been to me. I'm hoping to take some time and catch up with everyone here's posts. I spend alot of time in the colon cancer threads now because of hubby's health. I hope everyone is taking great care of themselves. I've missed hearing from you all here.

Love and hugs, Sherri

duttin · 10-10-2006, 08:56 PM

Sherri,

Its great to hear from you.Wish you were felling better.I hate Drs. that use an age from bodies falling apart.
Hopefully the botox works.Cervical mylograms can be risky and are unpleasant.I have had several lumbar mylograms.

I wish your hubby a speedy recover,its a shame that a disease like cancer has to happen to sweeten him up.He has finally seen how much you do and care for him.Your mother should be happy that you are kind hearted and caring to take care of your hubby,even though he has been an uncaring jerk in the past.

Your oldest son will come around when he is ready,its an age thing.Glad that your little one likes school.Thats a precious age.

You have your hands full with your health and your hubby's you both are in my prayers

Toni

Too Sweet 74 · 10-10-2006, 09:23 PM

Hi Toni !!!!

It's so great to hear from you, how have you been ? Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Really missed talking to you and everyone. Please fill me in on how you have been doing....

Big hug, Sherri

duttin · 10-11-2006, 06:04 AM

Sherri,

I'm doing okay,kids are keeping me busy.Between football games and cross country my week is pretty much consumed with that.
My 17 year old daughter was in a car accident 3 weeks ago.I had to go to Indiana to pick her up.She's recovering well.Nothing was broken,just deeply bruised from head to toe.
I'm dealing well with the MS.I still have a great deal of numbness in my leg.Right now I'm losing my hearing in both ears according to the ENT.I will be having a balance test on monday.I'm keeping pretty much up beat about it and busy to not think about it.Monday I could of gotten really depressed after I heard the news but my 20 year old daughter was with me,so I dealt with it.
I have an appointment with my GP today,I've had a terrible cold,I've tried to fight off for 2 weeks and its still here.Its time for intervention.I guess if I wouldn't sit out in the rain and cold at football games.Friday nights game its suppose to snow.Long Johns here we come.The things we do for our kids.

Take care,I'm off to the store,gotta buy salad fixings for a 100 kids(boys)I have no clue on how much lettuce to buy!!!!We have feed the team tomorrow night.

Toni

riveter · 10-11-2006, 08:28 AM

You said you didn't know how much salad to buy to feed 100 kids? I have always figured it this way -- one nice sized head of lettuce with 3 or 4 add'l ingredients such as shredded carrots, ch. broccoli, cauliflower or cucumber make a pretty and tasty salad and feeds 15-18. I never put in a tomato because the salad doesn't hold up as well. Six heads of lettuce and six of the 16 oz. bottles of dressing should be plenty.

I think salad is such a good healthy food to serve kids, and there's a much better chance for them to eat it if they're in a large group. They can see other kids eating and enjoying it, so they might try it where they wouldn't at their own home. Good for you for serving healthy food to young people.