Lori Quandahl

Teri, Good to meet you! You are very lucky they have found this early. Best of luck to you! Keep in contact. Thanks, Lori

Donna, Tell me more about your diagnosis. I am interested to find out what they did for you and where your tumors were all located.

Hi, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Lori Quandahl. I was diagnosed in March 2017 with Stage IIIB Adenocarcinoma NSCLC. I have never been a smoker, been very active, and otherwise very healthy. When tested for cancer the pathology report revieled that I had the ALK+ gene mutation. I started out doctoring at Lacrosse Wisconsin - Gundersen Clinic, but did get a 2nd opinion at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. My husband and I chose to change health care providers to Mayo Clinic in July 2017. My cancer started in the Right Lower Lobe of my lung and has spread to the lymph nodes in the chest region following the nodes pathway as far as the supraclavicular (collar bone) area on the right side and crossing over to that same region on the left side. Radiation was ruled out at the onset of my treatment due to the vast area which makes the risk to great. So instead, my treatment plan was to start on Xalkori (Crizotinib) May 2017 which is Targeted Therapy for ALK+ mutations. My restaging visit July 20th showed significant reduction to the lymph nodes and the tumor located in the right lower lobe of my lung. Today, July 31st, we revisited Radiology to see if the reduction of the tumors would warrant starting treatment in the form of Radiation to try to kill this thing. It was considered yet to be too risky, but we will have another consult again in 3 months. We discussed Proton Therapy, which is a form of Radiation with pencil point precision. This is newer technology that Mayo has on site and has been using with great results. Instead of damaging the good cells with the bad, Proton Therapy targets the bad cells leaving the good cells in tact. The plan as of today from my Oncologist is to have me change my TKI Medication over to Alenseca (Alectinib), which has been formulated to penetrate the blood brain barrier and prevent metastasis of the brain. It is known to have lesser side affects than Xalkori and the results on this TKI have been very positive. I am also a member in another group called "ALK I.E.S. Worldwide". This group has a lot of great information and people in this group are involved in the Clinical Studies for some of the newest treatments coming out. I wish everyone the best on their journey as we all strive for the same outcome!!! A CURE!!