May the good Lord's healing hand be upon Scott, his family and his friends as he embarks on a trial not sent by God but of this world. May they find peace and contentment in the grace and peace of our Lord as we all pray He delivers Scott from his illness.
Amen.
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geez, as if one thread about cancer wasn't enough...
...I have a question for those of you that have had a family member go through chemo/radiation or if you yourself have gone through it. My friend Scott is doing pretty well, he's responded well to the chemo treatments and hasn't been spending too much time in the hospital after them. They say the tumor has shrunk to about a third of it's original size and is mostly dead cells, although they won't surgically remove it because they'd have to remove 6 ribs and lots of muscle tissue. And really I can't notice a difference in him we hang out a lot and he just seems like the same old Scott to me, Anyhow... to my question. They are starting him on radiation this week I believe it is. I'm asking how that affects people differently, if it's more intense than chemo, or what? Will it take more out of him? What affect will it have on the tumor? etc., etc.
any info you could provide would be great, I know some of you guys have gone through this with spouses/friends and what have you. I've looked into it on Wikipedia and some other sites, but it's all a bit confusing to me, just looking for an idea of what's changing between the chemo and the radiation, thanks again guys for your prayers.
Definitely in my prayers. I can't say that I know what it's like to have a close friend have cancer, because I don't know what that's like, but I'll absolutely pray for him. Best of luck to him and everyone close to him.
Sorry to hear that man. I'm going through the same thing with my friend too.
As for your question I really don't know. I'd GUESS chemo takes more out of them, but I know they both suck and shouldn't have to be undergone by anybody. I really don't know how to answer that though.
Prayers are with you and your friend. Treating him normally helps a lot, I think.
Hey, FFG. Good to hear that your friend is responding to the chemo. On a scale of badness radiation is typically less bad than chemo, but that's like saying getting run over is not as bad as falling out of an airplane. You're still going to get messed up some from it. Putting a patient through those kinds of treatment is weird; the effects of either are probably worse than 50% of the things a doctor typically treats a person for anyway.
The radiation could cause his hair to fall out again, assuming some has grown back after chemo ended. He'll be sick, weak, lethargic, no appetite - the whole gamut - just not as bad as chemo. If chemo were a 10, radiation would be about an 8.5 or so.
He'll be sensitive to heat and cold and light may bother him, too. My wife still has a "tan" from her radiation, and she stopped treatment three years ago. I think it lasts a good long time. Oh yeah - his skin is going to be irritated as all hell, but not exactly like a sunburn. It's going to be burned-like, sensitive, and sore, but just different than a typical sunburn. It's hard to describe.
I'm sorry to hear that they won't operate on the tumor. Unfortunately that could mean that it will never really go away, and this whole process could just be a "buying time" effort. My wife had radical surgery after chemo and prior to radiation, so they nuked her tumor, got it to shrink considerably, then still went in and removed her breast, the first muscle in the chest wall underneath the breast, and a fair portion of her lymph nodes down under her armpit where the cancer had spread. The hope is that they got all the cancer out and it won't grow back, but you never know. Same thing goes for your friend, and it could be that he goes through this again in the next several years, or the tumor could just die on its own. It's hard to say.
If you will, just tell him that lots of guys here are praying for him, and that he just needs to stay strong and trust his doctors, and that he needs to hang on a few more years. Advances are coming, and a cure could be right around the corner. You never know.
knapplc wrote:Hey, FFG. Good to hear that your friend is responding to the chemo. On a scale of badness radiation is typically less bad than chemo, but that's like saying getting run over is not as bad as falling out of an airplane. You're still going to get messed up some from it. Putting a patient through those kinds of treatment is weird; the effects of either are probably worse than 50% of the things a doctor typically treats a person for anyway.
The radiation could cause his hair to fall out again, assuming some has grown back after chemo ended. He'll be sick, weak, lethargic, no appetite - the whole gamut - just not as bad as chemo. If chemo were a 10, radiation would be about an 8.5 or so.
He'll be sensitive to heat and cold and light may bother him, too. My wife still has a "tan" from her radiation, and she stopped treatment three years ago. I think it lasts a good long time. Oh yeah - his skin is going to be irritated as all hell, but not exactly like a sunburn. It's going to be burned-like, sensitive, and sore, but just different than a typical sunburn. It's hard to describe.
I'm sorry to hear that they won't operate on the tumor. Unfortunately that could mean that it will never really go away, and this whole process could just be a "buying time" effort. My wife had radical surgery after chemo and prior to radiation, so they nuked her tumor, got it to shrink considerably, then still went in and removed her breast, the first muscle in the chest wall underneath the breast, and a fair portion of her lymph nodes down under her armpit where the cancer had spread. The hope is that they got all the cancer out and it won't grow back, but you never know. Same thing goes for your friend, and it could be that he goes through this again in the next several years, or the tumor could just die on its own. It's hard to say.
If you will, just tell him that lots of guys here are praying for him, and that he just needs to stay strong and trust his doctors, and that he needs to hang on a few more years. Advances are coming, and a cure could be right around the corner. You never know.
Chin up.
thanks man, and as far as them not going to operate on the tumor, that's as far as right now, he still has to go through treatment until may or june I believe and they gonna get it to shrink more before they operate, trying to remove as little muscle tissue as possible and having to remove, then replace as few as possible ribs. It's not like a totally radical surgery or anything (from what I hear), they just want to cause as little extra damage as possible.
again guys thanks for the thoughts and prayers, he seems to be doing very well.
a "buying time" effort
he needs to hang on a few more years
man, when you put things like that it just sorta puts things into perspective like that, I don't like to think of anything like that (because he's doing so well) but it's just hard to hear it like that almost, but I thank you for almost bringing me back to the reality of it.
FantasyFutballGuru13 wrote:man, when you put things like that it just sorta puts things into perspective like that, I don't like to think of anything like that (because he's doing so well) but it's just hard to hear it like that almost, but I thank you for almost bringing me back to the reality of it.
I know. I'm sorry to be that way, but that's the reality. Advanced cancer patients have a very high risk of recidivism. It's almost better to expect it and function on the premise that it's going to return than to expect that it won't. The shock of return is lessened, and often people are better equipped to cope with the return to treatment.
But again, all news is not bad. There are exciting advances in cancer treatment all the time. There is no cause to give up hope at all.
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by Omaha Red Sox » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:11 pm 
