Two years (20/11/09) passed after my mama's so called 'operation'. All of us suffered a lot since then. Mama even faced the threat of death several times. The first time occurred around last Chinese New Year. she started suffering more and more frequent atrial fibrillation and even ventricular fibrillation. Her doctors refused to do a second chemotherapy for her, due to her unstable heart condition and advised us to wait at home. We were so worried. We proposed to take Iressa (S$100/pill). But doctors said that medicine was not useful, it's simply a palliative measure for those that can afford. We insisted on taking it as we believed we must do whatever we could. After taking it for almost 2 months time, we went to consult her doctors again due to the unbearable side effects she was suffering. Fortunately at this time, her heart was back under control. So doctors performed chemotherapy again. Since then, we started half a year of treatment and she's getting better and better. In Sept, she was even able to accompany me to one of the shopping areas in Tianjin. In early Nov, when we thought everything was under control, her cancer had spread to her bone. She needed to take ten pain killer tablets including morphine. Doctors suggested her to take Iressa again, meanwhile, performimg linear particle accelerator and pamidronate disodium treatment on her. After more than 2 months of intense treatment, she once again said goodbye to Grim Reaper. However, this Sept her heart lost control again, her blood pressure became unstable. Not only was her heart beating irregularly, but her head also felt severely dizzy. Again, we were faced with the threat of death. After some careful research, we found that although Iressa was good for cancer treatment, it would lose it's effect after 6-8 months. So we decided to change to Tarceva (S$130/pill). Now she’s temporarily under the control again, though she still gets short of breath and occasional dizziness, nevertheless, her heart has improved tremendously. May all the gods bless us!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
两周年
到11月20日，妈妈做手术已经整整两周年了。这两年来我们经历了太多太多，妈妈也几次面临死亡的威胁。第一次是在去年的春节前后，她的心脏已出现房颤甚至室颤，医生拒绝为她作第二次的化疗，让我们回家等待，万般无奈之中，我们提出想吃Iressa（每片约S$100)，医生说这药没什么用，只不过是大款儿的安慰剂而已，但我们也想不出更好的办法，又不忍心看着她就这样去了，所以坚持要吃，吃了差不多两个月后，因为不能忍受其副作用，我们再次就诊，但奇怪的是她的心脏却好了很多，于是医生建议她继续化疗。就这样她开始了长达半年的化疗过程。与此同时，她的状况也越来越好，去年九月我去看她时她能还陪我一起去小白楼走一走。就在我们以为癌细胞已经被控制的时候，11月初她又发生了骨转移，治疗前，每天需吃10片止痛片，医生建议我们再度恢复吃Iressa，并作了直线离子加速器和帕米治疗，经过大约两个多月的疗程，再度摆脱了死神的纠缠。然而，在今年的九月，她再次发生心脏失控，且伴随有血压不稳，忽高忽低，除了心脏狂跳不止外，头也不停地晕，再度陷入了绝境。经过反复研究，我们发现Iressa这种药固然有它的抗癌作用，但如果连续使用超过6-8个月后便会失效。我们只能再次赌一把，把药换成Tarceva(每片约S$130), 现在暂时得到了控制，但她依然感觉气短，且咳嗽严重，然而心脏得到了很大的改善，也几乎不再头晕了。愿各路神仙都保佑我们！！！
Friday, September 25, 2009
New Findings / 惊人发现
Yesterday, Papa went to Tianjin Cancer Hospital for a second opinion. The specialist told him that my mama is suffering from squamous cell carcinoma, which is different from what we were told before. All the while we were told her disease was adenocarcinoma. Now we need to look for other solutions to treat her.
昨天，爸爸去肿瘤医院咨询了一位专家，据他鉴定妈妈得的是肺鳞癌，而不是之前说的肺腺癌。看来要重新制订治疗方案了。
昨天，爸爸去肿瘤医院咨询了一位专家，据他鉴定妈妈得的是肺鳞癌，而不是之前说的肺腺癌。看来要重新制订治疗方案了。
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
残忍的‘慈善机构’/ This Charity is indeed cruel
妈妈的主治医生告诉我们一个好消息，在服用了6个疗程的Iressa后，可向‘慈善机构’申请免费服药。原因是这种药实在太贵了，一片就超过人民币500元，而一个疗程要吃30片，这对我们这样的工薪阶层来说简直是天文数字。如果能申请到免费服药，无疑是找到了救星。于是，我们满怀希望地开始了表格的填写。
万万没有想到这竟然是一场恶梦。原来，表格一定要本人填写，且必须附有医生的详细诊断证明，且明确规定应为晚期患者，本人须知自己病情的每一个细节。妈妈读罢，当场精神崩溃，她表示不打算在继续治疗了，她说这一年多来她一直在说服自己不是晚期，可一看这表格再也无法骗下去了，而且还需要她知道每一个病情的细节，每次拿药都要亲自去，并向他们重复自己的病情，这无疑是对她的极大的精神折磨。我们能理解这药很贵，如果处理不当，会成为某些人牟取暴利的工具，而耽误了真正需要的人的治疗。难道‘慈善机构’就不能像一个更人性化的办法来解决这个问题吗？首先，我觉得让病人知道太过具体的病情对他们没有好处，这会使他们背负沉重的精神负担，从而影响治疗；其次每次的重复自己的病情更是惨无人道，这无异于你在精神上残酷的折磨着他，时时刻刻提醒他你活不了多久了，为什么做人要做到这么绝呀？另外，让一个晚期病人自己去取药也不现实，他们连出门都困难，怎么可能去给自己排队拿药嘛？妈妈说着‘慈善机构’根本就是在逼她死得更快些。于是我们决定宁可借债治病，也不向这所谓的‘慈善机构’提什么申请了。
该‘慈善机构’为中华慈善总会天津分会。
Mama's doctor gave us some good news. After completion of the 6th course of Iressa treatment, we can apply for free medication from the 'Charity'. It's indeed a wonderful thing because this medicine is too expensive, more than S$100/pill. One complete course is 30 pills. It's a huge amount for salarymen like us. If we can get free treatment, it means we have found our savior. So we started the long journey of making an application, full of hope for the future.
Who was to know that it would be the beginning of our nightmare? According to their rules and regulations, the form must be filled up by the patient him/herself with detailed diagnosis. It mentioned very clearly that all patients must be at their final stage. Patients must know every detail of his/her condition. After reading it, mama broke down immediately. She refused all treatments. She said that all the while she had tried very hard to persuade herself that she's not at the final stage yet. But after this, she just can't fool herself any more. And it's a great torture to let her know the details. She has already born too much burden even now. They also insist that she must personally attend every appointment for medication and provide a detailed report about her condition. This has caused a tremendous amount of unnecessary mental torment. We can fully understand that the medication is extremely expensive and if not handling properly, the goodwill may be abused. But can't they think of a more humane method to replace the current one? Firstly, I believe that it is not helpful for patients to know that they have been stricken with a terminal condition from which there is no hope for the future. It gives them unnecessary worries and affects their treatments; secondaly, what is the point of all the repetition and reviewing the condition agaian and again. What can it do besides reminding them that they have a terminal decease and their days are numbered while they are trying hard to forget all their unhappiness. Why so cruel? Finally, it is very exhausting for the patient and the familiy to personally go to the charity. Think about it. They are already at their last stage. Going out is already a huge problem, let alone queuing hours and hours for their medicine right? Mama said this so called 'Charity' is just forcing her to die faster instead of helping her. We would rather borrow money to give her treatment than applying through them.
By the way, this so called 'Charity' is China Charity Federation Tianjin branch.
万万没有想到这竟然是一场恶梦。原来，表格一定要本人填写，且必须附有医生的详细诊断证明，且明确规定应为晚期患者，本人须知自己病情的每一个细节。妈妈读罢，当场精神崩溃，她表示不打算在继续治疗了，她说这一年多来她一直在说服自己不是晚期，可一看这表格再也无法骗下去了，而且还需要她知道每一个病情的细节，每次拿药都要亲自去，并向他们重复自己的病情，这无疑是对她的极大的精神折磨。我们能理解这药很贵，如果处理不当，会成为某些人牟取暴利的工具，而耽误了真正需要的人的治疗。难道‘慈善机构’就不能像一个更人性化的办法来解决这个问题吗？首先，我觉得让病人知道太过具体的病情对他们没有好处，这会使他们背负沉重的精神负担，从而影响治疗；其次每次的重复自己的病情更是惨无人道，这无异于你在精神上残酷的折磨着他，时时刻刻提醒他你活不了多久了，为什么做人要做到这么绝呀？另外，让一个晚期病人自己去取药也不现实，他们连出门都困难，怎么可能去给自己排队拿药嘛？妈妈说着‘慈善机构’根本就是在逼她死得更快些。于是我们决定宁可借债治病，也不向这所谓的‘慈善机构’提什么申请了。
该‘慈善机构’为中华慈善总会天津分会。
Mama's doctor gave us some good news. After completion of the 6th course of Iressa treatment, we can apply for free medication from the 'Charity'. It's indeed a wonderful thing because this medicine is too expensive, more than S$100/pill. One complete course is 30 pills. It's a huge amount for salarymen like us. If we can get free treatment, it means we have found our savior. So we started the long journey of making an application, full of hope for the future.
Who was to know that it would be the beginning of our nightmare? According to their rules and regulations, the form must be filled up by the patient him/herself with detailed diagnosis. It mentioned very clearly that all patients must be at their final stage. Patients must know every detail of his/her condition. After reading it, mama broke down immediately. She refused all treatments. She said that all the while she had tried very hard to persuade herself that she's not at the final stage yet. But after this, she just can't fool herself any more. And it's a great torture to let her know the details. She has already born too much burden even now. They also insist that she must personally attend every appointment for medication and provide a detailed report about her condition. This has caused a tremendous amount of unnecessary mental torment. We can fully understand that the medication is extremely expensive and if not handling properly, the goodwill may be abused. But can't they think of a more humane method to replace the current one? Firstly, I believe that it is not helpful for patients to know that they have been stricken with a terminal condition from which there is no hope for the future. It gives them unnecessary worries and affects their treatments; secondaly, what is the point of all the repetition and reviewing the condition agaian and again. What can it do besides reminding them that they have a terminal decease and their days are numbered while they are trying hard to forget all their unhappiness. Why so cruel? Finally, it is very exhausting for the patient and the familiy to personally go to the charity. Think about it. They are already at their last stage. Going out is already a huge problem, let alone queuing hours and hours for their medicine right? Mama said this so called 'Charity' is just forcing her to die faster instead of helping her. We would rather borrow money to give her treatment than applying through them.
By the way, this so called 'Charity' is China Charity Federation Tianjin branch.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Summer Vocation
I went back to see mama from 15/06/09 to 29/06/09. She was a bit weak. So we couldn't go out often, especially couldn't walk far.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
First chemotherapy for this year
Today (5/3/9), mama has completed her first chemotherapy for this year. She was in a very bad mood these few days due to her low blood Calcium level. For this reason, she could not have her scheduled Pami treatment. As a result, doctors decided to change the sequence, that is, moved up her scheduled chemo treatment since, her white blood cell level was ok. So far, she's fine. She has not shown many side effects. After 2 days, the doctors will check her Calcium level again to decide whether the Pami treatment can be given.
This round of her treatment was not going well. After her chemo, her white blood cell level dropped to only 700, which was a dangerous level. The doctors gave her lots of injections to boost it up. Once it reached more than 20,000. She was discharged until it dropped back to about 7000.
This round of her treatment was not going well. After her chemo, her white blood cell level dropped to only 700, which was a dangerous level. The doctors gave her lots of injections to boost it up. Once it reached more than 20,000. She was discharged until it dropped back to about 7000.
She was recently hospitalized again, so that she might do her Pami treatment again. While waiting for the blood Calcium level report, she went to see some eye and throat specialists and she was found to have cysts both in her eyes and throat. That was an additional burden to her, simply because she suspected it had spread to her eyes and throat. She now had the one in her throat removed, and she is waiting for the biopsy report. After so many days of Calcium injections, she finished her Pami treatment today (12/04/09). She will be discharged, I think, in a day or two.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
