Cancer, heart problems and kidney issues: Balancing my mom's treatments

The doctors at MD Anderson not only diagnosed my mother's stage III breast cancer. They also diagnosed a heart condition that may have become quite serious had it not been found early.

Addressing heart valve leakage and kidney complications
Mom and I were impressed with Dr. Yeh and his nurse practitioner, Sheryl Murphy. They explained some of Mom's heart valves have a minor leakage called regurgitation. The excess fluid builds up and causes swelling in the extremities.

Since so much fluid is pumped into the body during chemotherapy, they prescribed a diuretic to help my mother expel this seepage. To us, this sounded like a fine solution. That is, until we went back to Dr. Giordano, who found that Mom's kidneys needed more fluid.

Basically, Mom needed more fluid for her kidneys and fluid drained for her heart, so a strong diuretic like the one Dr. Yeh prescribed is out of the question.

Why a multidisciplinary approach to cancer is best
What's great about MD Anderson is all their doctors can pull up a patient's chart anywhere in the hospital. Dr. Giordano's team talked with Dr. Yeh's team and found a happy medium for my mom's heart and kidneys before we even finished our appointment with Dr. Giordano. They will both continue to watch closely and discuss as a team should anything need to change.

As my mom and I are learning, it's important to go to a place like MD Anderson that can treat all your ailments when you're getting treated for cancer. Even if those health conditions don't seem related to cancer at all, I'm finding it all ties together. And, even if you don't realize you have those ailments before you have cancer, it's best to go to a place that can diagnose them and take care of them.

After all, as my mom and I have discovered, you never know what new health issues you might encounter during cancer treatment.