Just Me

I am 28 years old and have suffered from migraines for half of my life so far. I've been to numerous neurologists. The first one fired himself, saying he's tried everything he knows. The second one insulted me and had no interest in treating me and the third is " stumped", referred me to a colleague who does Botox injections (who I am scheduled to see tomorrow).

I have also been having gall bladder attacks where I have mild to severe pain in my right abdomen, sometimes radiating to my back. The pain severity depends on what I ate. I had a hysterectomy a year ago and my gyn, who I never mentioned this pain to, said my gall bladder looked large when he was performing my surgery. I thought the pain was probably ovulation and shrugged it off until then.

There seems to be a link through personal experiences I have read on medical blogs but doctors insist there isn't one.

Before I subject myself to needles in my brain, I'd like to get real life experiences and opinions. Is there a possibility that removing my gall bladder, IF it is need of being removed, could stop my migraines?

I am currently a stay at home mom of three children, waiting for my youngest (2 1/2 years old) to start school and then I am going back to school with the dreams of becoming a cancer registrar.

There is a training center in my area that offers 30-38 week courses (depending on major) and its FREE. Finding out about this place is like my dad opening a door for me to help find a cure for the cancer that quickly and tragically took his life.

There are 3 majors they offer in the medical field and I am not sure which one is best suited for what I want to do. They are:

*Medical*

eMA: Electronic Record Medical Assistant

Medical Claims Processor

Medical Coder

I do understand I will need more education than this alone, but this will get me ready for what I need afterwards.

I would greatly appreciate words of advice on where to start. Thank you.

I have an appointment with a neurologist to seek help with my migraines (that I've had for 14 years so far). This will be the 3rd doctor and I'm half dreading it because I'm afraid they won't take me seriously.

The first doctor, in 2010, basically fired himself, saying he's tried everything he knows and there's nothing more he could do. The second doctor, in 2014, insulted me on my age/young looks and asked me why I didn't go to the headache clinic instead.

I've looked up reviews on the new doctor and some are great, some are awful. Advice??

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at forty four years old, 17 years ago and still fighting. Her and my (older) sister had the BRCA test done and the results were negative but we all know that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

My dad was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer, thymic carcinoma, which accounts for approximately .2% of all diagnoses per year. Unfortunately, it was discovered too late and he passed within 3 months of being diagnosed.

My mom's mom and sister both died from cancer (different types) as well as my dad's dad and his multiple siblings (again, all different types).

In cases where cancer is so prevalent in the family history, what are the statistics of a diagnosis in my future?

My dad passed away 2 months ago and he is due to get a federal tax refund. The check is made out in his name but obviously he cannot sign it. There is no estate money/bank account, all of his bank accounts were joint and have been closed already.

As the administrator of his estate, am I legally able to sign it and cash/deposit it?

My husband and I have been saying how badly we want a hot tub and now we are in the financial position to get one. However, as I'm reading/researching them I want to make an informed decision. Most of my concern is maintenance and upkeep.

I read that they need to be drained and refilled every 3-4 months. Is that true?

We inherited a large above ground pool when we bought our house 2 years ago and have since given it away, due to the headache it caused. (Could never get it clear, even with help of our neighbor who owns a pool store.)

We live outside of Pittsburgh so the hot tub will be used in winter where it will be down to below freezing. How hard will it be to keep the water levels and chemicals balanced, especially during those times?

Any other advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I mailed (via USPS) documents to my deceased father's mortgage company. Included in the envelope was an original, sealed/stamped copy of my short certificate for his estate. It is a raised but not colored seal which does not show up on a scan. They are refusing to speak with me because it is invalid and are mailing it back to me.

Without them being able to see the seal, which will never happen if they go by the scanned document, I won't be able to have his house reclaimed like they said they would do last week when I called and informed them that he had passed away.

I have no idea what to do. Help!

The only property in the deceased's sole name is a (mortgaged) house. Is the executor legally required to put it on the market/sell it or can it be let go back into the hands of the bank for foreclosure?

My dad is very ill. He has had a very short but difficult battle with a rare and aggressive cancer, and is expected to pass soon. He has no will/living will. The only debt is a mortgage where he is the sole mortgagee and there is a paid-off vehicle that is also only in his name.

There are two bank accounts, both of which I am a joint account owner.

My sister and I are equal 50/50 beneficiaries of his retirement plan.

The beneficiary of his life insurance policy through his employer is in my late step mother's name and according to that company, it will be split between my sister and I since she is no longer living.

Can anyone point me in the direction of finding out what happens after he does pass? The said house still has a mortgage balance of over $55k and my dad wants it to "go back to the bank". Aka no one in the family wants it or is in any position to move in, become a landlord, etc. In that situation, does the bank take charge and try to sell it or what?

According to the CT (without contrast) report, "It (the mediastinal mass) appears to be displacing and possibly invading the trachea and esophagus." The said mass was diagnosed as stage 3, nonresectable thymic carcinoma and is approximately 11cm x 9cm.

Due to a medical implant, the patient is unable to have an MRI. What type of test or scan would give accurate results as to whether the mass is just pushing against the other organs or has metastasized?

My dad had an MRI in October for pre-op testing where a mass in his mediastinum (behind the right lung) was incidentally found. The biopsy of this mass showed malignancy; a poorly differentiated mass with hepatoid features.

His official diagnoses is stage 4 thymic carcinoma. It is a large mass, it measured 12cm x 9cm x 6cm two months ago. However, the oncologist said the PET scan showed no metastasis.

Can someone please explain to me how it is stage 4 if no metastasis were found?

My 6 year old daughter first got sick in September. The 6th to be exact, it was my son's second birthday. Fever topping out at 102.7°, cough, runny nose, fatigue. I figured it was a back to school cold, like many of her classmates had, and it would go away. Within 5-7 days she was seeming to get better except for the cough but I know that coughs can linger so I kept an eye on it.

Well she has had this cough since then with fevers every few weeks/month. I took her to the pediatrician 6 weeks ago when it got bad again and he said it was probably walking pneumonia and gave a script for azithromyacin in case it has turned bacterial. She started feeling a little better, except for the cough.

Once again, she kept having fevers and was extremely tired so I took her to the emergency room on New Years Day. They did blood work and a chest x-ray which showed negative. Diagnosed her with bronchitis and sent us home. Her stomach muscles and throat hurt from coughing so much and I don't know what to do anymore.

I take her to see the pulmonologist at Children's on the 22nd, their first opening, but I don't know what to do until then. She is exhausted and miserable. Advice?

My dad was complaining of frequent (every hour all day and night) urination last weekend. I called his oncologist Monday morning and informed them he may have a UTI. He was scheduled to be there in an hour and she would look into it. He gave a urine specimen while he was there and no one said anything or called.

I looked at his results online Thursday night and it showed bacteria in his urine, which I informed him of Friday morning. He goes to see his oncologist later that morning and the doctor had no idea he had any type of infection. My dad told him I called and said he did... So which the doctor goes and checks, comes back and said yeah you do. Gave him a script for Cipro.

Now, since it went so long untreated my dad was taken to hospital via ambulance because he is now septic, secondary to a lower UTI. The ER doctor said that the chemo made it worse because it made it impossible for him to fight the infection.

Should have he received chemotherapy when there were signs of an infection?

A mediastinal mass was discovered during an MRI that my dad had as pre-testing for surgery. Given the amount of (severe and permanent nerve damage) pain he was in, we all agreed to wait until after his neurostimulator implant was put in to do a biopsy. Good thing, since his lung collapsed due to the biopsy.

The biopsy came back showing malignant but poorly differentiated cells. He's had a PET scan, tons of blood work and literally more ct scans than I can honestly remember. Just had one Monday and is having another tomorrow.

At first we thought it may be lymphoma but that was ruled out. That left lung cancer as our next guess.

The oncologist told us 2 days ago that he is diagnosing and treating this as lung cancer, even though the most recent ct report says no convincing primary lung lesion. The radiologist today said it is not lung cancer, there is no lung or lymph node involvement and to wait to see what the second opinion biopsy results are (which we hope to have next Wednesday).

This is all very frustrating, my dad is only getting worse each day. He is down to 98 pounds and he just wants to start chemo. He'd rather be sicker and taking action then sit and do nothing. We don't even have a stage or prognosis at this point, so he lays wondering at night how long he has.

Advice?

My daughter first started getting sick in the beginning of September. Fever, generally tired and just not feeling good. I figured it was a cold, like most kids get when school starts after hearing that 2 of her classmates were out sick. About 10 days later it finally went away but she kept having coughing fits at night. And then before I knew it she was sick again. And then got better, and then sick again.

I made her a doctor's appointment for last Friday but she insisted she was fine and wanted to go to school. After taking her temp and it being normal, I let her go to school and told her that if she is sick over the weekend I am taking her Monday.

She was fine all weekend and Monday. Tuesday she wakes up coughing pretty bad and has been sick since. She was in bed until 4pm today. Then she was ok, came down to have dinner and visit the family and then all of a sudden around 11pm she was crying, sick.

I am calling the doctor in the morning and bringing her to be seen but I can't think of why this keeps happening. My dad was just diagnosed with cancer so I've been worrying about him and taking him to 3-4 doctor appointments a week and I feel like I've been neglecting my own daughter.

Any ideas on what we might be dealing with here?

My dad had an MRI three weeks ago for a surgery he is having next week. It was clear for what he is having done (a neurostimulator implant for severe nerve damange pain) but there was also a mass found in his mediastinum, deviating the esophagus and trachea. A CT scan 2 weeks later showed the mass had grown transversely 5mm to be 9.1 cm by 6.1 by 4.7. He is having a hard time swallowing food, night sweats, and severe weight loss (he is down to 108 pounds) on top of the nerve damage. They are suspecting either lymphoma or lung cancer and supposed to do a biopsy while he's there for the surgery.

I've been handling his finances since his wife, my step mother, passed away in January of cancer and now he's basically put me in charge of his medical stuff as well. I have permission to speak with his doctors and complete access to his test results online. After reading them myself, I suggested we call his surgeon's office to find out his results and he doesn't want to know. He is scared to find out. I'm not a doctor or nurse so its not my place to be telling him results when I'm not 100% sure what they mean. But I know they aren't good.

How do you help a loved one get through a surprise cancer diagnosis, just months after their spouse died from it? So lost and not ready to lose my dad yet.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 44 and she is now 60. For at least 10 of the past 16 years she has been on some type of chemotherapy and been through 3 different treatments of radiation for metastices to the lungs, bone, colon and liver with a second occurrence of bc in her opposite breast.

She is currently on herceptin (only). Three more tumors were found in her liver, again, and she will be starting another round of chemo next month. The insurance company denied the treatment plan her doctors wanted to start so it will more than likely be Taxol again, which she is dreading.

She has been having alot of nausea and vomiting lately and nose bleeds. I understand nausea/vomiting is common during chemo but not typical for her while on herceptin only. The nose bleeds and constant drip are also concerning to me.

She lives 300 miles away and refuses to move in with me, as all of her doctors are there, she still works full time and has a life of her own where she lives. I respect her decision but it makes me worry about her even more.

Can the vomiting and nose bleeds be due to the new tumors in her liver?

I am 27 years old and had a hysterectomy 12 days ago, removing my uterus and cervix but keeping my ovaries and tubes (which were cut/tied in 2012).

Through all my research and talks with the doctor, I have found that I will most likely go into menopause around "normal" age. Maybe a few years earlier.

It would be possible for my ovaries to shut down in 2-3 years but with my young age its hard to get accurate statistics.

Either way, my mother in law, *the queen of knowledge*, insists I will be having hot flashes and night sweats any day now. And there's no telling her different.

How can I shut her up??