The Passing of Lindaa

Thanks to all for the condolences.  Linda took it hard when she read posts of others passing as she was always concerned for others before herself.  You all have my utmost admiration for standing up to this horrible disease and coming here to share your stories or gain strength from others during your trials.  This board proved to be an invaluable resource for Linda because of all I tried to do for her I could not share the perspectives of someone fighting the same battle.  She would often relate stories here of your struggles with oncs or insurance as well as take joy and encouragement from survivors and women whose treatments were working.  She continued to read here for as long as she was interested in the internet but posted less and less, as when she had no good news to share she tended to withdraw so as not to be a burden.   I thank you all for not onlly the support now but for what she received from you while she was here.

Linda would have gone to Peru or anywhere else if there was the chance at an alternative treatment.  Alternative therapies was one of her great frustrations.  We moved her treatment to Dana Farber last December and they did not have much in the way of alternatives.  Besides the first round of Taxol/Avastin/Carboplatin she was treated with A/C, Ixempra and Gemzar + a Merck clinical trial drug.  When the scans showed progression after the second week of the trial she was removed and told we needed to resolve tumors on her kidney and a brain met and then her onc would consider Eribulin.  At that point we went doctor shopping locally and got the same determination from one of the best locally recommended oncs we could find.  She contacted MD Anderson but was too weak to make the trip to Houston. The last onc we went to was at an MD Anderson affiliated hospital although so far I can't figure out how the affiliation thing works or how useful it is.  The kidneys took three separate hospitalizations to resolve and by her last discharge she had become too weak from deconditioning in the hospital and progression to be able to do radiation for the brain met.  She passed 10 days after going into home hospice. Apologies if this is TMI but I think she would have wanted you all to know if it can be of any help. @Norma June: In Linda's research she found only three places that advertise any speciality in IBC: MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering and Dana Farber.