Update on Star

Recently, Star was moved to Abilene, Tx., in order to stay with my brother and his family while her house in Lake Charles is repaired. The house was severely damaged by Hurricane Rita.

When she got to Abilene, my sister-in-law Tammy took her to the hospital for an evaulation. Star had been without any form of medical care for more than a week, so Tammy - who's a nurse - thought Star needed to be checked out. The doctors at the hospital took one look at Star and admitted her into the Oncology ward. Her doctor is reportedly the best oncologist in the region.

Dr. Hurst ordered a full body scan for Star to see the extent of the situation. Several more lesions were discovered on her liver, new lesions were found in the lungs, in several more bones, in her shoulder, and a tumor was found in her neck against the spinal column. The neck tumor is putting pressure on the spinal cord, which is causing her to lose feeling in her arms.

The doctor stopped several medicinal treatments that had proven to be ineffectual, and started a very aggressive regimen of chemo and radiation. He said that we should start to see the results of the treatment sometime within the next week. So far, though, the only treatment that has produced any results is the radiation.

According to the doctor, she is very bad off. If the tumors do not react to the chemo, then any further treatments would be a lost cause. When I asked if there was a time frame if treatment failed, he was very hesitant to say. I pushed him for it and he said if treatment failed, then Star had three months - on the outside.