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St Michael

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Everything posted by St Michael

  1. Hi Katherine. I am so sorry to hear of your mothers diagnosis. My mother was diagnosed last October with stage 3a lung cancer. She received induction chemo which made surgery possible for her. The tumor was too large to remove at first. Chemo can reduce tumors and make surgery possible. She had a left lower lobectomy and then radiation after. She is currently NED, albeit it hasn't been a year, but me and my family are very grateful she is with us and currently in remission. Like tom and others have said, you are not alone and talking about the situation with your mom can be therapeutic. I would suggest, if it has not been done already, to have your moms tumor tested for mutations. My mom is EGFR positive, which I understand to mean there is a precision medecine available to attack her cancer should a recurrence occur. Feel free to message me anytime with any questions. God bless
  2. Good luck! It'll be over before you know it !
  3. Hope you're recovering well Jeff and thank you for your service. god bless
  4. Congratulations! Great news!
  5. Hi all. I hope everything is going as good as possible for everyone... Just an update....My Mom is still recovering from the radiation to her mediastinum post lobectomy surgery (and about 8 months after induction chemo). It has caused some inflammation to her lungs and she has been prescribed pregnisone (sp?) to combat that issue which has helped some. Prior to her lobectomy in her right lung, two small nodules were detected via CT scan in her left lung. This Was about 8 months ago and those two nodules remain to this day, even after the chemo. They did not illuminate via PET scan. They are too small to biopsy and her doctors are watching them closely, but don't seem too concerned. Does anyone have experience with a situation like this? I don't think they would have done surgery in the first place if there was a concern the cancer has spread to both lungs? Thank you all for any information on this. god bless
  6. Welcome ktamdgirl. I am sorry to hear of your mothers diagnosis. My mother was diagnosed with stage 3a adeno-squamous lung cancer about 6 months ago. She was first told she had stage 2 but when they found that one lymph node in her mediastinum was positive, they restaged her to stage 3a. Three total lymph nodes involved were positive. She is a non smoker. She received two months of cispaltin and pemetrxed chemo, which shrunk her 2cmx 2.5cm tumor enough to be removed via lobectomy. She had the three positive nodes and seven others removed during the lobectomy. She has the EGFR mutation. She received radiation after surgery for 30 treatments. She is sore from the treatments, but recovering and alive. My hopes are that she is and will remain cancer free and god forbid there's a recurrence, enough time will have passed for better treatments. My prayers are with you and your mother. Let me know if you have any other questions. god bless
  7. Hi jesslaa and welcome. I am sorry to hear off your mothers diagnosis. I went through the same thing a few months ago. I am unfamiliar with the Canadian medical system and the protocol it follows regarding lung cancer NsCLC staging. Although I am not a doctor, in the US they gave my mother a stage before surgery and before chemo based on Tumor size and lymph node involvement/node location. Did your mother undergo a medistinoscopy? God bless.
  8. Hi Amay. I am sorry to hear of your moms diagnosis. My mother was recently diagnosed with 3a adenoaquamous lung carcinoma. She had three chemo sessions then surgery (lobectomy vía VATS). She did respond to the chemo. She has not had radiation (yet). Did your mothers doctor explain why they couldn't do surgery on the tumor and cut out the affected lymph node in the mediastinum? Stay positive. Several clinical trials are underway which are combining immunotherapys now and are showing promising results. New advancements are being made daily as Tom said. Although your mom may have not have had a dramatic response to chemoradiation , she may to other treatments. Thank god there are additional options out there and more emerging. God bless.
  9. Hi again Tom and everyone else here. Just a small update, mom will be released from the hospital later today. It has been just under a week since her lobectomy. She had a slight heart palpitation that the doctor just recently got under control. They state that it can be a common issue after surgery. The pathology report also can back today. The doctor/oncologist report that they were able to achieve clear margins for her. Although they sampled many lymph nodes, only the two we already knew about contained any known trace of disease. We are very grateful for this news. Thanks Tom and everyone else for their support. God bless and Merry Christmas.
  10. Hi Just Chel and again congratulations with your year of NED. Did you receive radiation before or after your surgery? My mother just had VATS surgery and a lobe removed along with two infected lymph nodes. They classified her as 3a adeno-squamous lung cancer. They mentioned giving her radiation and chemo after she heals. She did receive neoadjuvant chemo which made surgery possible. She also never smoked. Curious as to your experiences. God bless.
  11. Thanks Tom. I hope you and everyone else here has a very merry Christmas as well. Will keep you posted on the pathology report. Today was a big improvement for her as far as pain goes. Sounds pretty crazy considering its major surgery. They have her walking around and everything. Something to be very grateful for indeed. God Bless.
  12. Hi Tom. Thank you for the quicks response(s). Apprently the surgeon started with the operation with the VATS to see how she would fair and felt during the surgery that she could stick with it, so she switched back to the original plan. We were happy to hear that. The surgeon mentioned after that she was able to remove the entire tumor and the two infected lymph nodes along with sampling several other nearby nodes by the tumor. She believed she obtained clean margins, but pathology will give us the final answer on everything. I am looking into the pillow reccomendation. She was in quite a bit of pain, but today was better than yesterday and she will be home for Christmas. I want to make sure she is comfortable (as much as possible). Her team mentioned that chemo and radiation may be in her near future after she recovers in attempt to destroy any micrometastis. What can I expect from her adjuvant therapy? She did respond well to chemo which reduced her tumor and lymph node involvement by 50%. Radiation would be a new addition for her. They mentioned saving precision medecine and immunotherapy as third and fourth line treatments. Your thoughts? God bless
  13. Hello all. My mom is having her lobectomy today along with the surgical removal of her two known positive lymph nodes. Her PET scan yesterday showed an additional reduction in tumor size and her lymph nodes slightly decreasing in activity on her PET. I am grateful to hear this and hopefully it is a indicator future positive results. Hopefully that's all she has as far as lymph node involvement and there are no surprises. Unfortunately the VATS surgery plan went out the window. She is having the older thoractomy surgery because her thoracic surgeon wanted to be overly cautious during the surgery because of the tumors location near her heart. She, I and my whole family are extremely nervous. Please keep us in your prayers. God bless.
  14. Hi tom. Thank you for the response. I hope all is well. Mom has now been scheduled for lobectomy surgery in two weeks for her 3a lung cancer. Her oncologist and thoracic surgeon met and decided that three neoadjuvant chemotherpy sessions were enough and that her tumor/lymph nodes were not likely going to reduce any further. She has two lymph nodes effected, one near her heart. This is melancholy news because she is very nervous for surgery and I and our family are nervous for her. I reassure her by telling her that surgery has a survival benefit. I have also read that tumor/lymph node reduction via neoadjuvant chemo prior to surgery is a good prognostic sign. In your research have you read anything similar? Thank you and God bless.
  15. Hi shlomit and welcome. My mother, age 64, was recently diagnosed with stage 3a adeno-squamous nslc about three months ago. She has never smoked, but was exposed to second hand smoke on occasion. She had breast cancer in situ a few years back, but her oncologist and surgeon don't believe that is the cause or related to her lung cancer. For now, two lymph nodes are involved. Her lung tumor is in the top upper left corner of her lung next to her heart. Surgery was not an option initially. She began a platinum doublet regimen of chemotherapy a little over a month ago. She started with cisplatin/pemetrexed and is now on caroblatin. The chemo treatment has reduced her Tumor by a third in size. It was originally 3.5 x 3.5 x 3cm. The doctors are continuing chemo for her for another month in hopes to shrink the tumor further. I have my fingers crossed. Surgery will now be scheduled in the near future thankfully. Side effects of fatigue and nausea occurred for her. She also has an EFGR mutation from the profiling of her tumor. They are holding off on the decision for radiation at this time. Very nerve racking indeed. We live in the north east. From her doctors and from what I have read here in the forum, stage 3a lung cancer is potentially curable depending on a number of factors. My hope is that immunotherapy and precision medicine are perfected in the next few years in case of a recurrence. How old is your cousin? Do you have Any particular questions? I'd be happy to try and answer them from my perspective. God bless.
  16. Congratulations! That is fantastic news. Your optimistic attitude is quite admirable. God bless.
  17. Congratulations! That is indeed great news. Here's to many more years of NED.
  18. Hi tom. I hope all is well with you and the family. Just a quick update - My mother just received a CT scan after completing her second round of platinum doublet chemo. The side effects have been rough for her. Very thankfully her lung tumor reduced by about a third, now making surgery possible for her. The thoracic surgeon and oncologist want to give her one or two more chemo sessions to try and reduce the tumor further to ensure clean margins are achieved with the surgery. They plan on giving her chemo and radiation after the surgery as well. Since she has the EGFR mutation, They mentioned immunotherapy as a second or third line treatment in case of a recurrence. Still a long road ahead, but we are steady as she goes. God bless.
  19. Donna g - what an encouraging post! Thank you for sharing. My mother just completed her second round of chemo for stage 3a lung cancer. Her tumor in her right upper lung reduced by a third, now making surgery possible. (Thank god). The thoracic surgeon and oncologist want to give her one or two more chemo sessions to see if the tumor will reduce further. I'll keep you posted. God bless you and your next 19 years.
  20. Jan. So sorry to hear about the situation with your husband. Being married 63 years is incredible, as is being a stage 4 ovarian cancer survivor. Chatting on this forum has helped me cope with the situation with my mother who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. People here are experienced and supportive. Is he being treated at a dedicated cancer facility? A candidate for any clinical trials? God Bless.
  21. Hello everyone. I hope you are all well and happily preparing for Halloween. Just a short update, my mother met with the oncologist to receive her second round of chemo last Friday. They will give her a CT scan in about 3 weeks to see if the chemo is effective in shrinking her tumor at all (fingers crossed). They did mention that her lung tumor has the EFGR mutation. The oncologist mentioned to her that the EFGR mutation is unique to her tumor and that she may be a candidate for immunotherapies (Opdivo) further down the line. The oncologist mentioned to her that the EFGR mutation is found only in her lung tumor and is not naturally forming elsewhere in her body/bloodstream. I was not with her during this meeting/treatment and was confused by that statement. Can anyone offer an explanation about the EFGR mutation being unique to her tumor and not her body and what this means? Would this typically make an immunotherapy more effective (some of my research seems to show that it would be). Thank you all for your insight. Have a good night. God Bless.
  22. Thank you both for your support and insight. I just spoke with my mother after she received her first chemo treatment in Boston. Its obviously very early, but so far she is only reporting some dry-mouth for side effects. For us, Dana Farber seems to be the most highly recognized and dedicated cancer facility in the Northeast area where we live, so we are placing our trust in them. I am impressed with their reputation and their multi-team approach to her situation. My mother seems very confident with them. I do get nervous because I know even at some of the most cutting edge facilities, modern medicine can only go so far for some. SKMCORNETT - Congratulations! I hope my mother can follow in your path after her induction chemo. It was quite alarming to learn during my research that lung cancer is one of the most serious/deadly cancers, however funding tends to go to other cancer research. Perhaps its the misperception that only smokers get lung cancer and are responsible for their situations? TOM - Her Oncologist was very positive and confident that her chemo doublet will reduce her tumor and allow resection in the next month. This was important to hear because I heard surgery is best for long term survival probability. If he is correct about this, he will have earned multiple points from me. The oncologist did discuss the 50% possibility of recurrence. He suggested that chemo and surgery should be a first line treatment followed by second line treatments of radiation and targeted therapies ect. Hopefully, if a recurrence does occur, it will be a few years down the line where some of these targeted therapies/immunotherapies are perfected. She is having her tumor genetically profiled for mutations in preparation for future treatments. I hope she won't need them. I wish you both a safe weekend. God bless.
  23. Hi Tom. Thank you for your response and the information. You certainly have been through a lot and your story is quite inspirational. From what I read, adeno-squamous lung carcinoma is listed to be rare and aggressive. I have not found anything to explain what vulnerabilities (if any) the tumor has in respect to chemo. Some of the clinical studies on neo vs. adjuvant chemo are confusing, but I am happy she is beginning her chemo and her fight. I pray that she can survive 13 years. I have heard many positive things about the nanoparticle generator and the potential it has with respect to cancer treatment. Have you heard of this?
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