Want to give an long over do update.. Hubby's last treatment (chemo & radiation) were 12/23. He was supposed to finish radiation 2 days sooner but had complications with neck burns; they had to get his pain under control. I asked the radiation oncologist for the morphine pops again; this time he gave it to us but it was a 3 day wait for it to get ordered. I'd called pharmacies in both NJ & Philly; no one stocked it, not even hospitals. He ended up using a Fentynol patch for a few days; he was only able to wear it for a few hours as the Fentynol made him sick. They are supposed to be a 24 hour patch. The pain problem was a dry neck - he couldn't have the antibiotic cream on his neck for radiation because he'd fry; which meant he had to go from the shower, we'd wrap his neck in wet gauze & baby wash cloths plus an ace bandage then he'd unwrap when we crossed the bridge. He lost over 20 pounds, which he couldn't afford to lose anything. Healing was very hard on him. He did so well at 1st but his autoimmune kicked in about 2 weeks out to where his blood counts were really low. I ended up taking him to a natural Dr where he had supplements & a vitamin C drip which seemed to work; unfortunately, he needed 2 drips per week but we couldn't fit 2 into our life (it was an all day thing with ride plus waiting for the bag to drip) plus he did not like the way the girls stuck him or pulled the IV out. His body was still sore from all the needles in Philly, he didn't need more pain. Yes, we complained... He got very depressed because he wasn't healing quick enough. I could not get his mood changed. Different antidepressants were tried but nothing worked. What ended up working was our old neighbors came up from Tennessee on Valentines day (he didn't know); so that cheered him. Then we made the decision to have the feeding tube removed. The feeding tube was a huge source of pain; his intestines always hurt; he was usually found doubled up in pain. It was thought he had gas but from what I researched it could have been spasms. Any puree's that I made, he basically shut down & wouldn't eat them, nor would he eat by mouth because he had no taste buds and no saliva. To someone that likes to eat, this is very depressing. He'd tell me that the puree would sit in his stomach & not digest. We saw the radiation nurse practitioner and I was able to speak to her alone.. she backed me up that the tube needed to come out & that he needed to be able to sink or swim. Had he not started eating, they would either feed him via nose or another feeding tube. On 2/22 we saw the ENT surgeon & lied about how much he was eating by mouth; they pulled the feeding tube out.. yes, held a towel over it and yanked & out it came. 5 months after it was put in, it was taken out & he's been doing well eating. His taste buds are better; he's not complaining about the saliva as he knows he's going to have to drink water with almost every bite just to swallow it. Most food will suck up his saliva like a sponge. We knew our health insurance was going to get canceled & it did. He was going to start physical therapy 2 weeks ago when they called to say it was denied for lack of coverage. We've been on this since December, asking for Cobra forms but they never came. Thankfully I know the rep; he told me when it was sent out & when it did not arrive the following Monday & Tuesday (last week) hubby & I made the 2 hour drive to Port Newark to do it in person. We split the driving because neither of us drive that far. The insurance cost us a pretty penny until we are approved; then they will either refund the money, if hubby gets back to work before we use up our large payment or they will deduct the lower amount from my large payment until he does work. He had a PET scan on 2/4 - we were not supposed to get the results until the following week but the nurse practitioner called us the same day because she knew how depressed he was. He told me a week or 2 before the scan that he was not fighting any more nor was he doing this again if treatment did not work; so I was a basket case as well; especially since it was right before my dad's 4 year anniversary of being gone because of cancer. Had we not had my inheritance from my dad I don't know what we would have done to survive. We were very fortunate that we did move to where we are so he had better treatment options. After making the drive to North Jersey the other day, there was no way he could get treated at my original choice, where my dad had treatment; but he was able to get treated at a very large place; which I'm not sure he would have chosen had we still lived in the old house. So, everything has worked out. The next scan will be in 5 months; so we'll see. I'm not sure when he'll be able to get back into his truck to deliver cars; but hopefully he'll be able to do the yard van to drive drivers to their cars. Hopefully physical therapy will help.

Another placebo bites the dust. LOL! How true. Excessive amounts of vitamin C are simply excreted from the body. Pretty expensive pee! I'm leary of taking excessive amounts of vitamins. Now they're saying excessive amounts of Vitamin E can increase your risk of lung cancer. Even good things should only be taken in moderation.

I have read that they both got infected from another worker. If another worker at the field hospital was not noticeably sick, they may not have been wearing protective gear around them. The CDC is apparently investigating. But for those concerned about this, keep in mind the vast differences between America and rural Africa. The CDC and WHO have said that a big problem is that the people there don't trust these medical workers and want to hide their family members who are sick and take them to traditional healers. All the while, they're caring for them and exposing themselves. We also don't wash and prepare the bodies of dead family members ourselves. There is a big difference in sanitation as well, since many areas there don't even have running water and certainly no hand sanitizer. The flu has killed many more people than Ebola. A lot of us have probably had or know someone who has had the flu, and most people just don't think about how deadly it can be because it's something we're used to. I think that even if a traveler were to bring Ebola to the US, we could contain it a lot more rapidly than they have in Africa. That is because of the cultural differences I mentioned above in addition to the fact that we have modern hospitals readily available, not field hospitals without running water. It is just not possible to have the same level of sanitation in a situation like that. We also have plenty of trained medical professionals who are used to treating deadly things like Hepatitis C and HIV.

A few years ago my son Michael went to the local ER for pain in his lung area, he has no known pulmonary issues. They rushed him in for an emergency Thoracentesis, they removed more than a liter of fluid. Several days later he was released after we were told this probably won't happen again and they found no cause. He was 40 yo but I brought him home to watch him awhile. 6 days later after a night that he ccouldn't sleep he finially fell asleep on the recliner in the early morning so I covered him and let him be. Early after noon I could see his eyes open following me...I KNEW something was wrong, I ask him Michael what's wrong, he whispered mom I'm going to die taking deep breaths between each word. I called an ambulance. He was taken to the local ER where again they did a Thoracentesis and again more than a liter of fluid. He was transported to Presby hospital in Pittsburgh where he was rushed again for emergency procedure. This time a chest tube. For days we watched it pump fluids from his lung. Test after test and no known cause. They also found 7 blood clots in his lungs so he was started on blood thinners. The doctor told us at one point 24 hours and if the fluid is still building up we have to open his chest. Suddenly it stopped. 3&1/2 weeks later he was released to come home. He is 6foot 7 200 pounds normally, he lost 57 pounds that month. They found no known cause for the fluid and no cause for the clots. He was sent home with a Picc line to start 30 days of antibotic infusion. I did all the infusions but a nurse had to come to care for the line. I think each infusion took roughly an hour every 8 hours....so I'm thinking Anglophillia..all the travel time back and forth another hour at least for infusion + beginning and end flush....geesh should we all pack sleeping bags and camp out with you in the hospital parking lot.