diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer stage 3a non operable but on week 3 of chemo and radiation

[rick daniels]

 I have stage 3A non small cell lung cancer that is squamous and in the center of my left lung and is non operable. I am on week 2 of carboplatin and taxol chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

I am already having difficulty swallowing, nausea, pain, weakness and diarrhea.    I am on oxycodone 10 mg, Ondansetrone, Dexamethasone.

 

[Robert Macaulay]

Hi Rick

Have very similar condition and have just finished seven weeks of radiation and six treatments on chemo and each person has different reactions to both treatments.I was lucky very little side effects and felt fine except for fatique. Start chemo this week again with higher dose so they tell me.  lol.

Bob

[BridgetO]

Hi Rick,  I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis and that your having a hard time with chemo. My lung cancer was Stage 1a, so I only needed surgery. But another cancer that I had previously was Stage 3 and for that one I had concurrent radiation and chemo (cisplatin) and then addtional chemo with carboplatin and taxoterre. The concurrent radiation and chemo was pretty unpleasant. Nausea and diarrhea and I couldn't eat anything but low fat, no fiber, non dairy foods. (white bread, crackers and white rice, mostly). Your treatment sounds more difficult--mine was lower down, so I didn't have a swallowing problem

I hope you can hang in there. i am fortunate in having no evidence of disease (NED) on both my lung cancer and my prior one (7 years out). Treatment wasn' t fun and was sometimes worse than that, but  I survived a prognoses that was "dismal"--my doctor's word.

Are you talking to your medical team about your side effects? 

All the best to you.

Bridget O

[Susan Cornett]

Hi, Rick.  I had chemo and radiation last spring for a recurrence of my lung cancer.  I had some difficulty with swallowing due to radiation but my biggest issue was fatigue.  Make sure you share your swallowing difficulties with your radiation oncologist.  Most side effects can be well-managed.  

Keep us posted on your progress.

[PaulaC]

12 hours ago, rick daniels said:

 I have stage 3A non small cell lung cancer that is squamous and in the center of my left lung and is non operable. I am on week 2 of carboplatin and taxol chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

I am already having difficulty swallowing, nausea, pain, weakness and diarrhea.    I am on oxycodone 10 mg, Ondansetrone, Dexamethasone.

 

Hello Rick! I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with this at all but thought I'd let you know what my radiologist prescribe. I'm on week 5 of Carboplatin and taxol, along with radiation. I was having some of the same problems and was given two different compound mixes and both have helped.

I don't know if this will help but the prescription was for *RULO/LIDO/BANO*  I swish this in my mouth and swallow before each meal. The second was to coat my throat during times I'm not eating or drinking and at bedtime. It's CARAFATE 1GM/10ML suspension. Both of these have helped me to eat and sleep. I'm maintaining my weight and feel like I'm not as weak.

I hope you get some relief soon.

Take Care 

Paula

[Tom Galli]

Rick,

Welcome here.

When I was diagnosed, my squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was staged at 3B and I had exactly the same type of treatment you are having.  My oncologist explained radiation would be doing the heavy lifting while Taxol and Carboplatin, a weaker than normal concentration, would address cancer cells in the bloodstream.  This first line (first treatment) worked for me dramatically reducing the size of my 8 cm long tumor and allowing surgery.  Mine was a 6-week, Monday through Friday, treatment period. I was hardly effected by the chemotherapy and in fact didn't lose my hair.  The radiation, however, really dragged down my energy level and my radiation oncologist told me as I went deeper into treatment, I'd experience greater fatigue.

At about my 3rd week, I started a sunburn-like symptom on my chest and my throat developed a "dry spot" that had me constantly coughing.  Again, my radiation oncologist said these were expected symptoms and gave me a pain relieving topical cream and a special recipe of cough syrup that suppressed (mostly suppressed) the coughing.  During my last week of radiation, just waking from the car to the treatment center was very difficult.

My chemo nurse told me I'd experience nausea and my medical oncologist prescribed Ondansetrone to counter it.  But, my nurse told me to record the time my nausea symptom started and to start taking the medication about an hour before this recorded time.  He said most chemo-induced side effects start and progress the same time after each infusion so recording the start time of side effect symptoms worked for me.  Here are some observations I wrote sometime ago that may help with your infusions.  

You'll likely have more questions and this is the place for answers.

Stay the course.

Tom