update on my mom

Im sooo sorry. She has cancer?

Erin--
Yes she has esophageal cancer the tumor blocks her esophagus like a badly clogged drain pipe. Nothing goes down or at least not nearly enough. She may get down a spoon or two of something at any given time. Solid food is out of the question unless it's maybe mashed potatoes or pudding at best. She weighed last night and weighs 88.4 lbs

I know a guy who had throat cancer They put a feeding tube in
Him while he was going through surgery and radiation treatments and the food was like baby food used with a syringe, then he flushed the tube with water.

He also liked to take a shot of whiskey now and then and he just
Poured it into the tube. .

I am so sorry to hear about this post. I have a family member at home, who is also very ill. Tho I am not dealing with your stresses, I want to let you know I will be praying for you. Know that all the posters on this forum are here for you and they we will always be here for your support.

Keep your chin up. Sending all my love to you and your family in this time of trial.

Ok first from one daughter to another (my father has throat cancer as well) my prayers are with you. I contacted the cancer society and they put me in touch with some people that helped ALOT the feeding tube works! My father was wasting away and I made them put one in If you need help with paying for it there are a few hospitals that will do it at little or no charge. Another piece of advice is get a patient advocate they can work wonders. Now this is the hardest part YOU set in that er or dr office untill something is done if its not done by you leave you go back and you set there and you look them in their eyes and make them see you as a person not a #. Last if you ever need to talk or anything feel free to email me anglofthenite27@yahoo.com also if you do get the feeding tube in her and you need the food you let me know and if posible I can give you the charity that got a bunch for my dad including the bags. My prayers and thoughts are with you be strong so that she can be strong and don't give up

Just a quick update:
I have my mom in the hospital, she's been there since Tuesday. They finally did a ct scan and they also did another scope and took more biopsies. We found out that she has very advanced emphysema on top of everything else. We won't know the results of her tests until Monday. They are also going to do an ultrasound of her stomach on Monday. They couldn't do a feeding tube because her stomach is how the doctor described it "like hamburger" it would not handle the surgery or the tube placement. At this point her prognosis is grim we just take it day to day and hope for the best.

Ah, more bad news .

It's still good to hear that she has finally had that scan and other examinations.

I can only give my sympathy to you and your mom. We're here ready to listen whenever you need to discuss over that.

Update:
On Aug 3 my mom was finally admitted to the hospital in OKC. The first five days were hectic and they did not let her have anything to eat or try to eat pending tests. She had the CT scan done on the 10th, and they put in a pic(sp?)line so they would not have to keep sticking her to draw blood or give medications. They also hooked her up to IV's and TPN ( nutrition in a bag that goes in through an IV line) then....they did another endoscopy and biopsy, the tumor had grown from the size of a walnut to a baseball since her first scope in May. They got her on medication to relieve the vomiting and she started looking a lot better...even gained 3.6 lbs Then the other testing started......
They would pull her off any food/nutrition for 12 hrs or longer so they could do a test that would get her potassium all out of whack and she'd start having chest pains so then they would have to medicate her for that.
It was a yo yo of on again off again and each day got progressively worse.
Last Wednesday they did a heart cath. She didn't have a blockage but said there was heart damage. Now for the kicker....
Thursday morning they told her "we have to get you out of here" after telling her they were releasing her they did a bone marrow test, had to give her 2 units of blood because she had bled from the heart cath the day before and then Thurs evening did a radiation treatment...I got up there at 7 pm to get her after I got off work, she told me they asked if she had someone coming to get her and she said her daughter why? They told her well if you don't then we can put you up in a hotel or shelter!!! Can you believe that??? OMG I was so pissed
The nurses had no idea what they were doing or why they were releasing her because she couldn't walk across the floor she was in so much pain from the bone marrow test and weak from them taking her off food for the last few days. At about 930 pm we are still waiting for her discharge papers and she starts having chest pains again the nurse gives her morphine, I asked her "what am I supposed to do if she goes into cardiac arrest on the way home? Pull into the nearest ER?" she said "She is already in the hospital I don't understand this"
Needless to say at 10pm they discharged her and I brought her home..At 6am Yesterday morning she was admitted to the hospital where we live and they are keeping her for awhile...her doctor is not happy at all with how they did her by basically giving her the boot with no guidance or direction on how to care for the heart cath area or bone marrow site. Let alone she has taken 10 steps back for every step forward she had made..
Time to email Senators again!

Ooh my gosh.. You are such a wonderful daughter..
I'm so sorry you and your mom have to go through this. How awful. I can't even imagine going through any of that. Just keep doing what you are doing and get as much word out as you can. You're doing wonderfully.

*hugs* Keep your chin up. We are all rooting for you here!

This is such a sad situation! My thoughts and prayers are with your mom and family! I can't believe that they are treating her this way! It's not fair and very heatbreaking!