Liver Cancer
Lorena
Previously Lorena, 50 years old, had many biopsies to confirm her very advanced pancreatic and liver cancer. In March, the scan showed 6 cm pancreatic cancerous tumor and many liver lesions. Her doctors told her that there were no options for her, none of the previous chemo treatments worked, they told her to contact hospice for the remainder of her time left. Previously, she was told that she had no choice but to take chemo to add time to her life, she was given a short time to live. Because of her intense pain, she was taking daily: 60 mg Oxycodone, Morphine, Fentanyl patches, plus muscle relaxers. She had no appetite and lost so much weight that she was down to between 75 - 80 pounds. She lived in Vancouver Canada, her sisters went up to help her. After a week at dosage 6 - 8, she was feeling better and could walk, she came down here. By May, she was off the Morphine and Fentanyl patches and reduced to 10 mg Oxycodone every other day. By June 15, she totally weaned off all pain medications.
May 5, the PET scan was done at Roosevelt/St. Lukes Hospital in NYC, it showed that the tumor reduced from 6 cm down to 1.4 cm during that 5 week period. The doctor at Roosevelt was a true gentleman, he was also confused and told the family that he never saw anything like this happen before because pancreatic cancer is aggressive.
Today, she continues to improve and is living her life the way she knew it previously.
UPDATE - 6/30/08 - She is fine today.
