I am a 50 year old,non-smoker who was diagnosed with Stage IV NSCLC March 22, 2005. Mine was an incidental finding on a CT of my abdomen as the tech went a little higher and lower than most do. On this he found a 2cm mass in the right lower lobe of my lung. I went through alot of testing with CT of my chest, PET scan etc. I saw a pulmonologist and a cardiothoracic surgeon who did surgery to remove the mass and subsequently found alot of smaller masses throughout my right lung and after sending these to pathology this put me at Stage IV due to the angiolymphatic invasion. I work at an Oncologist's office so three weeks after my surgery I was immediately started on chemotherapy (Carboplatin/Taxotere) every 21 days for 6 cycles. My first chemo was awful due to nausea but they soon got my antinausea medications straightened out so the last few chemo treatments were not so bad. I have been off of chemo since June 28th and I have been scanned every 6-8 weeks and so far my cancer is "stable". To say that I am not scared is an understatement but I have alot of love and support from my family, friends and alot of the patient's that we see. I just did return to work full time 4 days a week. I joined this so I can get more support and information from others who have the same disease as I do. My motto is to "Be strong" and "Stay positive" although hard to do on some days, for the most part I do.
