Dearest Mary,
Thanks for the reply...you are right...sometimes you want to snatch them
bald-headed.
How is our Angelo doing?
love, sylvia-Lizabeth's friend
Mary Furfaro wrote:
> Dear Sylvia,
>
> You are one terrific friend! Lizabeth is very very lucky to have you!
> Doesn't that just tick you off when the doctors rush in and out of
> the room like that? You just want to yank them by their hair and say
> "Wait just a minute here!" As far as the ativan, my husband Angelo
> was on that when he was taking chemo and the first chemo session
> He was taking it every 4 hours and he got really confused and was
> sort of hallucinating. I called the Onc. and she said to cut back
> on the ativan and when we did I noticed a big improvment. Now I'm
> not a Dr. so I don't know if this is what is causing Lizbeth to act
> that way. I would definatly suggest a MRI or CAT SCan just to be
> sure that the cancer hasn't spread to the brain.
>
> I will keep you and your friend Lizbeth in my prayers. You take
> care Sylvia.
> Love, Mary
> >
> > Dear ones,
> > I am running on two hours of sleep since Saturday afternoon, so if this
> > doesn't track or make too much sense, just consider the source.
> > Lizabeth was hospitalized on Friday morning. She was incoherent,
> > rambling and unable to walk. Evidently for the past two weeks she had
> > pretty much stopped taking her steroids, antidepressants, etc. She had
> > been sleeping 20 our of 24 hours a day and not eating. In the past week
> > her nausea was so bad that even water made her gag and she refused to
> > eat. She has lost 60 pounds since May. On Tuesday of last week she saw
> > her onc and her daughter-in-law and sister-in-law told him that she
> > wasn't eating and was sleeping all day and he said that it was the chemo
> > and that he was going to stop the chemo for four weeks and let her body
> > rest. He did not seem terribly concerned about the weight loss, or
> > the loss of appetite. The family was very concerned and made an
> > appointment with her endocrinologist who promptly ordered a CAT scan and
> > chest (X-rays). (For those of you new to MOL, Lizabeth was diagnosed
> > with adrenalcortical in December of this year...very, very rare
> > cancer...so rare there are no clinical studies being done). She has
> > been on Midotane with Cisplacin (sp) and then a host of other drugs
> > including thyroid medication, antidepressant, nausea, etc.etc.etc.
> > Basically she just stopped eating and started sleeping.
> > I was in Houston for a meeting on Saturday and got into San Antonio
> > at 5:00 and went straight to the hospital. I came home this morning
> > (Monday) at 7:30 and went to work. But with the help of prayers and a
> > lot of determination she is doing better.
> > She calls me her "Food Nazi" because I make her eat. I have taken
> > the food that the hospital gives her and put it on tiny little saucers
> > so the amounts aren't so overwhelming. It took her an hour and a half
> > (10:00-11:30 last night) to eat 1/4 cup green beans, 1/2 cup spaghetti,
> > l/2 cup Jell-O and 2 small pear halves. But you would have thought she
> > walked on the moon when she finished because I was so excited. Her
> > night (our night) was interrupted it seemed every hour to be "weighed"
> > (3:00 a.m of all things), blood pressure, temp, iv changes, etc. She is
> > receiving IV Potassium Chloride and was receiving hydrocortisone iv,
> > but, since she hasn't thrown anything up since Saturday morning, they
> > are d/c'ing the cort by IV and starting oral cort. Her electrolytes
> > were totally whacked and of course her cort levels were destroyed. On
> > Saturday when they gave her the cortisone she became extremely agitated
> > and they came in and gave her ativan by iv....she zonked out and became
> > pretty "out there" talking about people being in the room that weren't
> > there, asking one question five or six times, etc. She sounded like she
> > was on the last leg of a five day drunk...slurring words, etc. I was so
> > worried because it seemed that the meds they gave her to counteract the
> > effects of the steroids were causing more trouble. At 7:00 a.m. this
> > morning the second "substitute" doctor for her endocrinologist came
> > bouncing into the room "how are you today Mrs. Tschirhart?', everything
> > O.K. ? Of course Lizabeth didn't have a clue who he was and what he was
> > doing there. I had made up a list of questions that her husband and I
> > had regarding medication and when he started to leave I said "wait, I
> > have some questions"...no sooner than I finished a question, he answered
> > and changed the medication I had questioned...either d/c'ing, changing
> > to oral, adding or changing to "as needed". This blew me out of the
> > water because he never once asked who I was and what my connection to
> > Lizabeth was...for all he knew I could have been a goofball that preyed
> > on sick individuals...I am so angry and frustrated I could throw him
> > across the room...anyway he was there a total of four minutes and
> > waltzed out and told me her "'real" endocrinologist will be back in town
> > on Wednesday and the rest of my questions would have to be answered by
> > the oncologist and he didn't know when he was coming.
> > It is 3:00 p.m. Monday, Texas time, and I am going to run by my
> > house, pick up a change of clothes and head on in to the hospital to
> > relieve Mike. My questions to my friends on MOL:
> > 1) could this dementia like behavior be caused by the lack of level
> > of her electrolytes and the dehydration? and if so, since she is
> > receiving iv potassium and voiding, shouldn't it be better?
> > 2) could the slurring of words continue for a length of time after
> > the med (ativan) was discontinued and supposedly out of her system.
> > 3) will a CAT scan show if the cancer has spread to the brain.
> > I ask each of you to pray even harder for Lizabeth and I promise I will
> > check the line tomorrow.
> > With love to you all,
> > Sylvia-Lizabeth's friend
> >
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