Mom just diagnosed with an early stage IV

NGSa

Hey everyone,

I'm a medical student living nearly 1500 miles away from my Mom. I'm dealing with a lot of strong feelings about all this, and feel like my education has been of no help when it comes to my mother. She lives alone (all 3 of her children are in school at least 300 miles away) with only a few family/friends living close by.

She was diagnosed a few weeks ago with an early stage IV triple negative ductal carcinoma and has completed a several week course of radiation. Her oncologist is "very happy with her progress." I wish I could be there to ask all the questions I want answers to on a more medical level but all I get is what they say to her.

The original plan was to go from radiation to IV chemo but now he's saying he'd like to start her on Capecitabine. I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what to expect and what I can do for her to get ready for this treatment? (I can, and have, read a billion journal papers about this but I'd like to hear peoples real life experience).

I'll be going home for 2 months and am considering taking a year off to take care of her. What kind of things should I have in the house for her?  As a caregiver what is there that I can do to make this as easy as possible for her? What kind of progress have people seen on this drug?  I'm optimistic about how well the radiation went- is this an indicator of how well the rest of the treatment is going to go or am I lulling myself into a false sense of security?

Thank you all for your time and input! I feel like I should know a lot more going into this but I feel lost in all the information.

marywh

I would think if you are going to be there for a couple of months, that would give her time to see what types of side effects she is going to have. I was on xeloda for a time and it worked well as far as treatment went, but I had 1 bad side effect, hand and foot syndrome which was not at all pleasant. Over all side effects other than that were pretty doable. Some nausea but not too bad. and fatigue, but still was able to do day to day things. The one good thing about it is it being pill form, no infusions, unless they are using a double agent. Stay away from doing too much research until you know exactly what her treatment plan is, you'll be able to plan much better once you know. These boards are wonderful answering questions, so feel free. Good luck to you and your mom.