Sudden deterioration

-
After the rather good news during the latest consultation with Penang GH's oncologist, my dad complaint of back pain about 5 days later, with worsening bloatedness. He consulted his usual doctor at a government clinic and she recommended he went for a endoscopy.

Coincidentally, my sister was going for a follow-up appoint with a private specialist on her H.Pylori case and so my dad consulted him. Although previously told that there was no more slot for the scope on the day of my sister's follow-up appointment, the specialist arranged for one, presumably labeling my dad's case as urgent. He, however, stated that the bloatedness is unlikely causing the back pain. Instead, it can be due to
  • muscle pull
  • deterioration of bone as a result of chemo
  • possible worsening of cancer at pancreas or kidney bed
He also advised my dad to stop taking lactulose as it causes the bloatedness (hmmm) and to take Fibre instead to deal with his constipation.

The result of biopsy would be available in a few days time but the very next day, he started feeling pain in his leg again, despite taking oxycodone. It was emanating from the top of his left leg and down to the knee, occurring 2 to 3 times a day and lasting about half a minute each time. So we made an appointment to consult Dr D.  On the day before the appointment (in the afternoon, whereas the result of biopsy was in the morning), the pain worsened: it stretched to his shin and lasting nearly an hour, and so he needed to take the breakthrough dose.

On the day itself: no H.Pylori. Nothing was wrong with the stomach. Something about his "muscles" at fault. Huh? Unfortunately, neither my sister and I was with him and so we don't know what that was all about.

As for the session with Dr D,
  • she said it's normal for tumour marker to rise when not undergoing chemo
  • what to look out for is sudden increase in tumour marker e.g. from 50 to 120
  • she couldn't detect lumps on my dad and that the cause of back pain and stomachache were unlikely due to sudden growth in cancer
  • she believed that the backache was merely muscle ache and so taking paracetamol would be sufficient
  • since dad felt less "gassy" now that he was on Fibre (and off lactulose), she recommended that he continued with that
  • as for his leg pain, continue taking the breakthrough dose till such a time it doesn't help, at which point he should consult the GH's oncologist (on appointment date, ad hoc consultation, or via Emergency dept) and get x-ray and/or CT scan for possible radiotherapy for the leg

Comments

Twilight Man said…
You should listen to your inner voice and be strong. Be brave for any sudden changes anytime and give the best care & comfort with love to your dad always. This is all he needs from you.
February 21, 2018 at 5:45 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - character build (Part 1)

-
Here are the character builds for my current run (with the help of Ban): Kyrie Fellblade/Marked Counter: Slow Secondary passives: Execute, Life Font Fellblade itself is a good class because of the various conditions it can inflict and most importantly they can inflict Sleep. Iirc, the only other human class that can do this is Gadgeteer. Their passive Malice increases the chance of landing it by 10%. Fellblade pairs well with Marked because both use ATK and MND in their offensive abilities. Also, Fellblade's abilities are mostly short range whereas Marked has some long range abilities. Execute for more damage. Life Font is for suvivability. Ban opined that with two healers, there's no need for Life Font but I discover that it enables Kyrie to survive just enough for a healer to heal her up, after having received massive damage. Ban advocated for Marked/Fellblade for superior Speed (1.00 vs 0.92) and defense (heavy armor). I resisted this for a long time because I
Read more

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - character build (Part 2)

-
(continue from Part 1 ) Yates Anatomist/Wizard Counter: Cripple Secondary passives: Blessed One, Smart Casting Anatomist is the best healer in game due to the passive Legendary Healer, which also then boost the amount of self-healing by Blessed One. Although Ban thinks Anatomist's Dark spells are sufficient in dealing damage and so he suggests Alchemyst as Yate's secondary class, I choose Wizard for the following reasons: Quite often, demonic creatures have Dark immunity and other creatures have immunity to other elements. So having Dark, Water, Fire, Earth and Thunder spells enable Yates to cast the most suitable spell, especially when the enemies are vulnerable to certain elements. Flexible casting :) Smart Casting is useful so that I don't need to worry much about the positioning of the enemies relative to my other characters when using Mass Healing and the area effect damage spells. As stated in previous post , there "are so many devastating Skill ba
Read more

Strange expectorant

-
Image
An expectorant cough syrup helps you to prevent phlegem from going to your lungs by expelling it via coughing or so I heard from doctors and pharmacists. That's why for cough that's caused by phlegm, it is not advisable to take suppressant cough syrup. Given that's the role, do you expect it to be drowsy? It should be non-drowsy so that you will be actively coughing out the phlegm, right? Not this Unizet expectorant. The doctor told me that it shouldn't be drowsy and yet some of his patients (including me) reported otherwise. I read the detailed information (on the piece of paper typically stuffed inside the box) and nowhere it indicated drowsiness as a side effect. Strange, huh?
Read more