From: Jason&Fern <ace@total.net>
To: cancer@via-media.com <cancer@via-media.com>
Subject: My mom was recently diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma
Date: Saturday, November 07, 1998 11:04 PM

Hi, my husband and I recently purchased this wonderful computer and we have just begun exploring the Internet. Tragically, my mom has been recently diagnosed with Stage 4 leimyosarcoma. She started off by having a medium-sized lump in her neck. This was biopsied and when she went back to her surgeon to get the stitches, she told him that she had lots of gas and was very swollen in her abdomen. This concerned me a lot as I am a medical secretary and am wary of bloated abdomens, etc.. The surgeon sent my mom for a CT scan. My sister works in the Radiology Department at the same hospital so we were able to get a CT scan within 2 weeks rather than the usual 6 month wait (God, only knows you could drop dead before you get tests taken-what a screwed-up system). The CT showed masses and I also managed to see a copy of her Pathology report that Friday several weeks ago. The results of the biopsy report are burned into my brain unfortunately. It said "malignant spindle cell tumor with leimyosarcoma". I knew it was bad but I had no idea how bad. I went and spoke to one of the neurologists who I work with. He called his wife who is a pathologist. He said to me that it would be better if my mother had a lymphoma and told me her kind of cancer was very rare and didn't respond well to chemotherapy. I went nuts that day. Since then, I have tried to be strong and positive for my mom's sake whom I love dearly and am very close to. My husband is very supportive and the whole family has pulled together: my sister, my mom, my dad, and my husband.

Right now, things are slightly optimistic. My mom is eligible for a clinical trial which they say is promising. It involves two medications, one experimental and one that is already used. Have you heard about something called "WF 10". It is a drug that I believe boosts up your immune system rather than attacking and killing the cancer cells. It is in Phase 3 I believe and is already being used on cancer patients. I know it is used on lymphomas but I don't think it is being used on patients with sarcoma. Their web site: www.dimethaid.com Check it out. Write me back. Ideas, thoughts, questions, comments. Thankfully, we now have the global village re the Internet.

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