Joanne Hudson: Surviving Mesothelioma Patient in California, USA

Note: Names have been changed to retain the anonymity of the entities/individual.

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Joanne Hudson is a 58-year-old wife and mother of five children. She developed niggling pain on her right side in the fall of 1999. She generally perceived her situation as exhaustion from too much exercise. Joanne very well understood the benefits of remaining healthy and fit. Everyday, she pushed herself to remain focused on her tough exercise program that suggested her to eat right and workout for at least an hour. She endured the pain and remained loyal to her regime.

Joanne’s terrible episodes of pain ruined her good night sleep. In order to cope with the pain, she took pain relievers that did little good. Slowly and gradually, Joanne began to notice a swelling on her right side. This made her rush to the hospital to sought medical help from her primary care physician. On 23rd November 1994, several chest x-rays were taken from multiple angles that showed a large right-sided pleural effusion. After examining Joanne’s films, the doctor expressed his concerns and ordered Joanne to have a CT scan. The CT scan on 3rd December 1994 established the suspicion for pneumonia due to the presence of a large pleural effusion on Joanne’s right side. Joanne was immediately hospitalized for further treatment.

On December 5, 1994, a right-sided thoracentesis was conducted on Joanne, in which fluid was removed from her chest. The fluid was sent to the laboratory for cytological assessment and immunostaining, which concluded the presence of malignant mesothelioma cells. A chest x-ray taken on December 27, 1994 revealed reduction of the pleural effusion with abnormalities in the pleural nodules of the lungs. Joanne was then recommended an ultrasound-guided thoracentesis with a fine needle biopsy to further diagnose the situation. On January 10, 1995, doctors successfully sucked out 1.5 liters of fluid from Joanne which again came positive for malignant mesothelioma. However, the procedure did not conclude the diagnostic assessment.

Three weeks later, a right thoracotomy was performed on Joanne to obtain the tissue samples of the pleura. To prevent excessive pleural effusions, Joanne’s surgeon conducted a talc pleurodesis. This uncomfortable procedure left Joanne with pain, anger and an eight-inch scar. Again, the pathological testing of the tissue biopsy came as saddening news of her having cancer, pleural mesothelioma of epithelioid type, which was incurable. The doctors declared asbestos as the real cause of her disease that was a very shocking discovery.

But Joanne and her family did not lose hope. They stood firmly together in their struggle against the deadly cancer of mesothelioma. Joanne, then, sought medical intervention from an oncologist, who prescribed immediate chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But the Hudsons wanted a second opinion as the chances of recovery after therapies were grim.

Joanne and her family learned about Dr. Philip Walter of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. When they went to see him, he ordered Joanne some tests, including a CT scan. After reviewing the CT scan, Dr. Walter concluded that the tumor had entered the chest wall and thus, no surgery could be done to remove it. She was suggested to undergo chemotherapy as her last resort. Luckily, Joanne found an oncologist in her area who was permitted to use Alimta. On March 23, 1995, Joanne began her first treatment of Alimta/Cisplatin along with vitamins and B12 shots.

Joanne suffered immense pain and nausea after the first cycle of the chemotherapy, and was even hospitalized for three days. But she endured the pain. After taking three treatments of Alimta/Cisplatin, Joanne noticed that there were no major side effects to her health and her hairlessness decreased. Even her oncologist agreed that her condition was much better then, if compared to when she first started the chemotherapy.

Joanne, with high hopes, returned to Dr. Walter for a CT scan on April 28. Sadly, there was no change or decrease in the size of her tumor even after the painful cycles of chemotherapy. Both Dr. Walter and the oncologist agreed to stop the Alimta/Cisplatin treatment on her. Instead they suggested a more excruciating treatment of radiation with the combination of Taxol and Carboplatin chemotherapy. Joanne very well understood the amount of suffering she had to go through, but refused to give up. On May 2, 1995, Joanne began her new regime of chemotherapy and has ever since continued with the treatment.

Currently, Joanne is doing very well. Apart from the usual chemotherapy treatment, she is taking shots of Neupogen to rebuild her red blood cells. She also takes antinauseant, morphine and steroid tablets hoping to find a cure. With all the pain and struggle Joanne had gone through, it can be rightly said that she is a fighter. She is determined to fight hard and is beating the odds with the support and love of her family and the faith she has in her doctor’s prescription.