What is the name of your state? Utah
My mom recently died of lung failure due to the side effects of her chemo treatment for breast cancer. Even though she was in her early 70's she was prescribed a more aggressive approach due to her good health. No indications were found that the cancer had spread beyond the breast and a few lymp nodes.
She developed a reaction to one of the cancer drugs (cytoxan) which caused severe lung damage. The damage was irreversable, but she continued on with her treatments (no longer using cytoxan) despite being vey weak and on oxygen. A few days after taking her next treatment phase drug (taxol) she developed an infection due to her compromised lung and immune system. A week later she died.
Originally we were told she had a good chance to live ten years or more cancer free. The whole topic is still very painful for the family, but we are convinced that if a less aggressive approach was taken, the side effects would have been detected sooner and her treatment could have been modified. Continuing chemo despite being on oxygen and very weak seems (in retrospect) excessive. We also know that we were fighing to keep her from having the cancer spread and cause a painful death.
Could the drug manufacturer or doctor have any culpability, or is this just one more example of how challenging the fight against cancer is? None of the family wants to relieve the trauma over and over again, but we continue to question ourselves whether we did all we could do and if what was done was appropriate for her situation.
Any thoughts would be appreaciated.
My mom recently died of lung failure due to the side effects of her chemo treatment for breast cancer. Even though she was in her early 70's she was prescribed a more aggressive approach due to her good health. No indications were found that the cancer had spread beyond the breast and a few lymp nodes.
She developed a reaction to one of the cancer drugs (cytoxan) which caused severe lung damage. The damage was irreversable, but she continued on with her treatments (no longer using cytoxan) despite being vey weak and on oxygen. A few days after taking her next treatment phase drug (taxol) she developed an infection due to her compromised lung and immune system. A week later she died.
Originally we were told she had a good chance to live ten years or more cancer free. The whole topic is still very painful for the family, but we are convinced that if a less aggressive approach was taken, the side effects would have been detected sooner and her treatment could have been modified. Continuing chemo despite being on oxygen and very weak seems (in retrospect) excessive. We also know that we were fighing to keep her from having the cancer spread and cause a painful death.
Could the drug manufacturer or doctor have any culpability, or is this just one more example of how challenging the fight against cancer is? None of the family wants to relieve the trauma over and over again, but we continue to question ourselves whether we did all we could do and if what was done was appropriate for her situation.
Any thoughts would be appreaciated.