randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
no, not me. it's my friend fredericka.
she has lyme and was always smoking a ton. so she got lung cancer. they gave her chemo and her hair all fell out but they said you're doing ok.
she stopped smoking.
went in for checkup. they found something, said it was lungs and did a biopsy. well they collapsed her lung and she spent 3 days in the hospital!!
now they have told her that it's not in her lung that it is in the rib bones. but get this!! they told her "hey don't worry, we'll deal with it, no problem, just the bones."
she has lyme and now this....
but we're both freaking out because the doctors don't seem too worried. and she's going "it's in the damn bones, has it metastisized or what?" and they're going, no problem-o.....
so they said continue with lyme treatment, we'll deal with it.
meanwhile she's getting sick again.
i'm terrified that she's not really taking this serious enough and those dang doctors aren't telling her the whole story.
i mean c'mon, she had lung cancer and now it's in her bones...
how stupid do they think we women are anyway??
she's more worried about her lyme right now than the cancer and i'm more worried about her cancer and her life...
i'd say cancer first, then lyme....she's too weak to treat the lyme anyway...
what do you think?
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
Let me tell you a little story. Five years ago, a friend of mine from my old job felt a lump in her breast. She went to the doc and had a mammo done. The radiologist said "your mammo is fine....shows nothing, totally normal". Well, the lump was still there and she tried to "ignore it" as best she could.
She let it go another 5 months or so, until it started to feel like it was pulling her skin. So since her insurance would not pay for more than one mammo a year, she went and picked up her original films from 5 months prior, and took them to another doc to review.
Well guess what. He said, "your mammo is abnormal" and did a biopsy of the lump and it was cancer....and it was very advanced. My friend at the young age of 45, had to have her breast removed. She then went thru radition AND chemo. All she did for months was sit on the floor and cry and throw up. She battled it very, very hard.
She got a good report from her doc, the cancer was nowhere to be found and she then went ahead with reconstructive surgery.
Now fast forward 5 years later...to December 2007. The cancer has returned and it is in her bones. 8 Months later she is gone. She passed away this past Thursday at the age of 50. Her obituary is in the paper today.
Makes you wonder about these doctors.
Tell your friend to get a 2nd opinion as fast as she can.
-------------------- Corinne Posts: 529 | From Raleigh, NC | Registered: Jun 2006
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I agree with Cordor that your friend should get a 2nd opinion on the cancer treatment. With Lyme, we're used to avoiding university-affiliated doctors, but with cancer, that's a good place to get a 2nd opinion.
Also please know that it's possibl to treat Lyme and cancer at the same time. In May 2007 my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer. He did chemotherapy from July 07 to January 08 and continued his Lyme meds throughout (although nothing very aggressive). His Lyme and co. actually stayed pretty stable (and certainly did not worsen) during cancer treatment.
Also some of the supplements that we Lymenetters are familiar with can really help with chemotherapy side effects. The oncologists are not very well-versed in herbals/supplemements.
Finally, in some ways and sometimes, chemotherapy for cancer is actually more straightforward than Lyme treatment. Usually, once a chemotherapy regimen is going, there is a very predictable pattern of side effects. Not pleasant--but predictable. And we all now how stressful the unpredictability of herxing and med response is for Lyme.
Anyway, I hope some of this is helpful. Please PM me if I can lend any more perspective.
Take care, Viva
Posts: 532 | From southeast US | Registered: Oct 2005
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