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Coping with Asbestos Cancer

This site has been created as a forum where Mesothelioma patients and their family members can share their experiences and discuss how they have coped or are coping with this asbestos cancer disease. The site also provides practical advice on how to deal with the emotional and physical pain of Mesothelioma / Asbestos cancer as well as the various types of support you may need and how to get them.

The following was recently posted in our discussion forum:  

Mesothelioma Treatment Story posted March 18th, 2007, 4:01 am )

Hi everybody,
 
I had just accidentally stumbled onto your forum while doing research for my father's chronic constipation.  I've read some of your stories, or should I say tried to read them through my tears.
 
My father, 75 years old, has a recurrence of his prostate cancer and was officially diagnosed with Mesothelioma in his left lung on March 1, 2007.  His last psa reading on his prostate was 536 in Jan., 2007.  I'm not sure what stage the Meso is at..the Dr. didn't say and I didn't know enough to ask, and he didn't mention how long he had to live.  He had worked for US Steel for 30 years and was exposed to asbestos in their boiler rooms.
 
It all started about 6 months ago.  He weighed 175 lbs. then.  He was having constant shortness of breath so he went to his PCP who had sent him directly to the Emergency Room where they eventually proceeded to remove about 2 litres of a reddish fluid from his pleura.  There was more in there, but my Dad couldn't stand the pain.  He was then scheduled to have a pleuracoscopy to see why the fluid was continuing to build up.  They said it would be a 3-4 day stay in the hospital, it turned out to be 11 days.  The bottom part of the left lung was hardened and 1 litre of congealed fluid was removed.  They found no trace of cancer, but after the surgery, they did a needle biopsy in the upper part of the lung which confirmed that he had the Mesothelioma.  They had sent him home with Darvocet for his pain, which he is still on today.
 
I also want to mention that prior to this surgery, he had begun to lose vision in his left eye.  He now has no vision in that eye, and they can't figure out why.  He's been through every test imaginable including a temporal artery biopsy.  The same day, after the pleuracoscopy, that blind eye has now "wandered off" to the left.  His eye Dr. said it might be Sixth Nerve Palsy...

View this and other personal stories in the discussion forum

   


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