Thursday, April 7, 2011

It's the C word

Thursday morning our super duper fun week took a dreadful turn when we were told our grandma has lung cancer. It was an unexpected blow since the day before they had told us she had bacteria in her lungs and a few weeks of antibiotics should clear it up...which apparently is also true. We (Kenny, Little Kenny, My mom, Brian and I) were all there when the oncologist came in to talk with grandma. The first step is to get a PET scan and determine if the cancer is localized to her lung or if it has spread. The scan will also help determine what stage the cancer is. Once he determines if the cancer is localized the best treatment option would be to remove that part of the lung. Unfortunately, that is not an option for my grandma and she will have to turn to radiation or chemotherapy if she decides to fight it. The Dr. also told us the treatments aren't as harsh as they used to be and have minimal side effects (grandma is very worried about losing her hair). At this point he is guessing she has had the cancer for at least 5 years and it is probably slow growing. 

We all got to ask our questions and I guess mostly the answers we want will come after the PET scan. Dr. Rakkar seems very nice, patient and we can understand him which is always a plus. 

Everyone is pretty shaken by the news but we managed to have a good evening together. The guys went and got Sonic for everyone because grandma was craving a hot dog : ) Uncle Rick and Aunt Mei-lan arrived tonight as well. 

1 comment:

  1. I'm sorry, Amanda. I hope that she gets a better prognosis after the scan...

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