<p>Radiation is not often used as I remember (don’t do oncology much now) but chemo is. Outpatient is very common, probably more common then inpatient. I have had several friends with various types of cancer and all but 1 (who had stage 4a lymphoma) had their treatment outpatient. The drugs used are more refined now and the protocols are different. I strongly suggest that a neutral person with less emotional attachment to the dx and people involved (a friend) attend the meeting with the oncologist. Their job is to write down notes, ask questions, help get other questions asked. I always, always suggest this and many friends have told me that it was the best thing possible. The people who are more involved simply do not hear the information the same way b/c they are overwhelmed. Also make a list of questions ahead of time. If the first appt. has already happened, do it at the next one. Also for the first few chemo tx its a help. A lot of info is passed on at those appointments. Tell your inlaws to accept meals no matter if its the 9th chicken dish to come at them. Those are so helpful. Get printed material from the MD and the cancer center too on chemo side effects and helpful hints. Like your other friends here, I will be thinking of you and saying some prayers (am not the best at that but I will make a concerted effort! 
).</p>
<p>I was just looking at this website to find out about the cost of a colonoscopy and looked at some of the comments of people who have paid for this test (with and without insurance). Whoa!!! We can afford $1000 but not $5000! Oh well, I will consult with my doc and see what can be done. Or perhaps a trip to Singapore is in my future!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.costhelper.com/cost/health/colonosocopy.html[/url]”>www.costhelper.com/cost/health/colonosocopy.html</a></p>
<p>I have a good friend who was diagnosed about 6 years ago, at age 56, with stage 4 colon cancer. Although her mother died from colon cancer, my friend never had a colonoscopy. She had surgery on her colon, but the cancer spread to her liver and there are so many spots on the liver that it is inoperable. She has been on chemo for 6 years and is doing quite well. The drugs have been changed periodically as they begin to lose effectiveness, but the disease is under control. So even though things may look grim, you should know that your MIL may do quite well with chemo. </p>
<p>I’m having my 3rd colonoscopy next week. I dread the prep but it’s a small inconvenience to prevent this disease. I’m fortunate to have insurance, but even if I didn’t, I’d forgo a few luxuries in order to pay for it. I’d rather pay to prevent it than pay to treat it.</p>
<p>It depends on the disease whether a patient has radiation or chemo. I had radiation but no chemo. It was on an outpatient basis, even though I had to go to hospital five days a week for five weeks. I was lucky to be living close to the hospital. Some patients rose at the crack of dawn and did not get home until late afternoon, traveling from out of state to get to hospital for what was a five minutes procedure.
I had a colleague, now retired, who had to have chemo. She was often tired but managed to come to work regularly. I saw her last year, many years after her retirement, and she seemed in great health. As far as I know, chemo is done on an outpatient basis. It would be prohibitively expensive to have the patient be in hospital for such an extended period. I only know of one case of in-patient chemo treatment, and it’s hard-breaking. A friend’s five year old nephew was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia last year. He’s had a number of grafts and they don’t seem to take. The prognosis is not good. He is in a hospital in NYC, not Boston, so his parents have had to move there to be with him, and have had to bring his other siblings as well.</p>
<p>A friend of mine had a colonoscopy last year and noticed that her doctor was paid a paltry sum – a few hundred dollars. Obviously, some plans probably pay more but it is ridiculous that people who don’t have insurance have to pay so much when some plans pay out so little. I was told by a drug company that sometime if you have no health insurance, you can ask a doctor if he has a reduced rate for cash-only patients. Some doctors will give a discounted rate – it saves them time and energy to not have to process insurance and they know what they really get for the procedure.</p>
<p>I am receiving chemo outpatient. Breast cancer and yes had my mammo. you go in they start an IV give you premeds, IV fluid, takes about 2 hours or so then home. For me one drug they just push in the other infuse over 45 min to an hour. The hardest part is the after effects managing the nausea etc… they give good meds to take at home. but it isnt easy.</p>
<p>I had to laugh at the name of the hospital in Thailand on the site yorkyfan mentioned</p>
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<p>^ cracked me up. Thanks for sharing. I didn’t notice that before.</p>
<p>^^Downtoearth…good luck to you. Sending positive thoughts.</p>
<p>I posted on the chemo to explain that the procedure is pretty simple on an outpatient basis. Of course i have no experience with the drugs for and side effects for colon cancer . GETTING the chemo is pretty simple procedure managing the HOME stuff is waht she may need the help with. I hope its not too bad esp once a week for six months is going to be a long haul.</p>
<p>Dear Bullet and Pima, double hugs to you. I’m so sorry to hear about your mother’s illness. I’m keeping you all in my thoughts.</p>
<p>bulletandpima,
Chemo is a lot different than even a few years ago. Better targeted drugs, better pain and side effect control, etc. I was diagnosed with leukemia 7.5 years ago and have not been checked into a hospital yet. All my meds have either been self-injectable or oral. A good friend of mine is an clinical oncology nurse and she says that more and more folks are able to go through this as outpatients.</p>
<p>Everyone,</p>
<p>Thanks again for the kind words. Spent the past two days with my parents. Days that have been ones of shock and fear for them, but the prognosis is encouraging. As has been mentioned here, this will also be rounds of outpatient chemo therapy for the next 6 months. Another battle, another hill to climb. But they’ll fight and climb together. Each day brought their spirits up a little, which is good because I see some hard days over the next half year. Constantly kept reminding them to take it one day at a time.</p>
<p>Stinks getting old, don’t it?</p>
<p>As to the chemo question B&P posted, my mom passed away in January after a nearly 5-year battle with ovarian cancer. During that time, she went thru 5 different forms of chemo. All of them were outpatient, and none of them was more than once a week. She also never had to be hospitalized for side effects of any of them, and my mom was scared to death of chemo because she got nauseaus fairly easily (OK, I give up, how do you spell nausea?) That’s not to say that Mom was some sort of amazing person - I think she was fortunate to have doctors who listened to her, who actively asked for her feedback on the side-effects she was having, and who did their best to tailor her dosages and provide appropriate medications to minimize the side effects. </p>
<p>For much of her 5 year battle, Mom had a decent quality of life. She was only house-bound for short periods of time. She learned to figure out the timing and side-effects of her chemo, and schedule her life accordingly (for example, one drug was taken every 3 weeks - she knew that from about the 3rd day to the 8th or 9th she would feel awful, then she would gradually begin to improve. She planned her life to have the most “activities” during the last week before the next chemo treatment.)</p>
<p>Sincere best wishes and good luck to your MIL, you, your DH and your, family. It is not an easy time, but you may find surprisingly precious and valuable moments that you will look back on, not fondly, but with appreciation.</p>
<p>Apropos of this discussion, I just received a call that a friend who had been diagnosed with colon/ovarian cancer just about 3 weeks ago died this morning. Apparently she had been suffering from bloating and so forth all summer, but was too busy to go to the doctor. Not that it would necessarily have done any good, of course, but by the time she went it had spread to her liver and was all over her colon. They weren’t sure whether it originated as an ovarian cancer or not.</p>
<p>This was one of those people who ate very healthily, exercised regularly, and all that. And a wonderful and creative woman, I might add.</p>
<p>It’s almost enough to make me shop around for a cheap colonoscopy. A friend and I were discussing the possibility of having one without expensive anesthesia. has anyone experienced that?</p>
<p>Bullet:</p>
<p>Hang on to that favorable prognosis!</p>
<p>Consolation, I’m so sorry to hear about your friend.</p>
<p>This is a good opportunity to remind everyone that Ovarian cancer is NOT silent, although most people think it is. If you suffer from bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, trouble eating or feeling full quickly, urinary urgency or frequency, and these symptoms appear almost daily for more than 2 weeks and are out of the ordinary for you, please see your GYN immediately and ask for a trans-vaginal ultrasound and CA-125 (blood test). The CA-125 by itself is not a good test for ovarian cancer, but combined with symptoms and an ultrasound it becomes much more reliable. Ovarian cancer in it’s earliest stages is 90% curable; sadly only 1/5 of cases are caught at this stage. By stage 3, the survival rate drops below 50%. A huge number of women with Ovarian cancer go undiagnosed for months, despite visiting one or more doctors, because it is often mis-diagnosed as a digestive disorder. That’s why you should see your GYN first to rule out ovarian cancer before continuing on for treatment of a digestive problem. Also, a pap test does NOT test for ovarian cancer - it tests for Cervical cancer. </p>
<p>Sorry to hijack your thread, B&P. Now back to your MIL and her colon cancer treatments!</p>
<p>As the OP I don’t mind at all if the thread is hijacked like you did lafalum84. I think it is great that everybody is sharing stories, because it reminds us all, as parents, that we are not 20 anymore and it is time to listen to our bodies. It also gives bullet and myself hope to realize many people have gone through this and have come out the other side just fine.</p>
<p>Thanks for the well wishes and we will keep you updated. She is to be released on Tuesday, will be given @ 2 weeks to recover and then start her chemo for 6 months.</p>
<p>how is your MIL? doing.</p>
<p>She has had her 1st 2 rounds of chemo, with good and bad days. Overall, she is doing well, thanks for asking…only 5 more months to go.</p>
<p>Is your MIL OK? My problem with all this testing is what if you have negative results and develop cancer in 2 weeks any way? Then what? Can you test every 2 weeks? It could relatelvely fast. And another though, can we test each and every possible part of our body for cancer? I wish it was a blood test that would determine if you have a cancer in general. And if it is positive, then there is a procedure to narrow it down what kind. I have read so many negative comments from MDs and statistics about testing not prolonging life significantly and actually lowering quality of life, so I made informed decision not to have tests. I am not saying that I am correct at all, I might be punished for that. But I can relate to your MIL.</p>