Finding Out
My mom had her first chemo session a week ago today, January 9. She had to be admitted to the hospital for the first one, the Doctors wanted to be able to keep a close eye on her, she stayed for 2 nights. It went well, they keep her loaded up on fluids and nausea medicine. The reason for the hospital stay was so they could watch her kidneys.
Almost 4 years ago she had to have surgery on her right kidney, because the ureter had scar tissue wrapped around it. Her kidney was so damaged that it was barely working. She was relying on the left kidney, until last year she had the same problem with her left kidney. Her left kidney was not as damaged, but not fully functioning either. Her Urologist said she needed to be very careful with her kidneys, not to harm them in any way.
So when she found out she had cancer her Oncologist, Dr. Lyn, was very worried about what this would do to her kidneys. Mom had some scans done to see how well they were functioning, and the Oncologist sent her to see a Nephrologist. A Nephrologist is someone who works with people who have kidney diseases, needing dialysis and kidney transplants. The Nephrologist told her that the chemo would put her into kidney failure, and she would be put on dialysis just after 2 chemo sessions. And that she would have to do dialysis for 5 years, to make sure she was still in remission, before they would do a kidney transplant.
All of us were very upset by this news, it was like one thing kept piling on top of the other, and it was never ending. Her Oncologist was also very upset by this and told my mom she was going to do everything possible to keep her off of dialysis. After consulting with the Tumor Board and the Nephrologist, she decided that my mom would go ahead with the chemo, she adjusted the levels of medicines in the chemo and admitted her to the hospital.
The Oncologist will run a CT Scan after she has had three sessions of chemo. Her first CT Scan, done in December 2012, showed that it was in her bone marrow in her hip. They did a bone marrow test and it came back negative. The Oncologist was very surprised by this, because she was 100% sure that it had spread into her bone. She said not to get or hopes up about the bone marrow, because mom is either very lucky or the bone marrow results were wrong. Hopefully mom is just blessed and it is not in her bone marrow, we are still praying for the best!
Almost 4 years ago she had to have surgery on her right kidney, because the ureter had scar tissue wrapped around it. Her kidney was so damaged that it was barely working. She was relying on the left kidney, until last year she had the same problem with her left kidney. Her left kidney was not as damaged, but not fully functioning either. Her Urologist said she needed to be very careful with her kidneys, not to harm them in any way.
So when she found out she had cancer her Oncologist, Dr. Lyn, was very worried about what this would do to her kidneys. Mom had some scans done to see how well they were functioning, and the Oncologist sent her to see a Nephrologist. A Nephrologist is someone who works with people who have kidney diseases, needing dialysis and kidney transplants. The Nephrologist told her that the chemo would put her into kidney failure, and she would be put on dialysis just after 2 chemo sessions. And that she would have to do dialysis for 5 years, to make sure she was still in remission, before they would do a kidney transplant.
All of us were very upset by this news, it was like one thing kept piling on top of the other, and it was never ending. Her Oncologist was also very upset by this and told my mom she was going to do everything possible to keep her off of dialysis. After consulting with the Tumor Board and the Nephrologist, she decided that my mom would go ahead with the chemo, she adjusted the levels of medicines in the chemo and admitted her to the hospital.
The Oncologist will run a CT Scan after she has had three sessions of chemo. Her first CT Scan, done in December 2012, showed that it was in her bone marrow in her hip. They did a bone marrow test and it came back negative. The Oncologist was very surprised by this, because she was 100% sure that it had spread into her bone. She said not to get or hopes up about the bone marrow, because mom is either very lucky or the bone marrow results were wrong. Hopefully mom is just blessed and it is not in her bone marrow, we are still praying for the best!
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