Thank you to all for your responses...this has just been the most frustrating week! As my mom's "go-to" daughter, I am the "rock", so I have to handle all this, so writing it all out sure does help!
Pat-my mom's surgery began in Madison, Wisconsin, and this past January ended there when we saw an Oncologist who only wanted to push the trial drugs that he was working on for Bladder Cancer. My mom was not comfortable with that, so we did return home to Appleton (just south of Green Bay), and met with a local Oncologist. He would be the one who, in January, told my mom to go home and die basically. THEN, we sought a 3rd opinion at CTCA, and have gone there since February for treatment. It really is only a 2 1/2 hour drive, (2 hours and 20 minutes if I speed) but last week friday there was no way my mom was in any shape to travel. If this would happen again,however, she would not allow me to take her back to our local hospital, that's for sure! The only other time that mom was pretty bad was when she began radiation...we had been driving back and forth every day for the 10 minute treatment. That wore her out, and she spent 7 days out of the 7 weeks as an inpatient at CTCA. After that she bounced back like there was no tomorrow! My mom is 50 going on 20. When she is not feeling sick, she is still working 8 hours a day, and still taking care of her 2 kids who are still at home, they are 16 and 14, and her husband, (whom I will not comment on right now because there is way too much I could say about him, but just need to sleep sometime tonight!). You can't just tell my mom to go home and die. It just ain't gonna happen.
Currently mom was to undergo 2 rounds of chemo to keep the 2 new tumors just discovered from growing. The IMRT radiation she had over the summer shrunk the largest tumor by over 3 cm's already, probably more by now, which is awesome! They did find the 2 new tumors growing but still no spread to any organs or bones...all in lymph nodes centralized between her kidneys and pelvis.
As far as the doctors and their treatment, or non-treatment here...I did contact a lawyers office, however have not heard back from them yet. I am going to check out the patient advocacy website also as soon as I have a chance...just got out of work and I have to be back at 10am so I have to sleep fast, but I just wanted to get back to you and thank you so much for your responses so far...