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jde512

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jde512 last won the day on April 22 2015

jde512 had the most liked content!

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  • City
    North Little Rock
  • US State (if applicable)
    ARKANSAS
  • Country
    USA
  • Status
    Lung cancer patient/survivor
  • Interests
    Hunting, fishing, shooting, watching my son play baseball and playing with my granddaughters.

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  1. Hang in there kayb! I was dx stage 1b NSCLC adenocarcinoma in September of 2013 and had a VATS upper right lobectomy followed by four rounds of Carboplatin / Alimta chemotherapy. I finally made it to NED in November of 2014 after they had been watching a couple of spots that were remnants from the surgery. At my quarterly scan in February of this year, the chest x-ray showed a new spot in my left lung. CT scan, PET scan, biopsy and ended up with a wedge resection on April 7th that I'm recovering from. It's frustrating to have the recurrence to deal with, but I'm thankful that my quarterly scans did exactly what they are designed to do and we were able to catch this spot early and get it out of there. I'll meet with my oncologist on Wednesday to see if they are able to determine if this is a new primary tumor or a delayed metastasis from my original cancer. You've got enough to fight with on the physical front, don't let cancer beat you up on the mental front as well. You are in my prayers and I hope we'll be reading about a successful surgery in the near future for you.
  2. I had four rounds of the Carboplatin and Alimta every three weeks, just as you describe. I found that on the 3rd day following treatment, I would be very wiped out and nauseous. I never vomited, but felt like I could at any time. On that third day, I would barely get out of bed or off of the couch and slept a lot. Each day following that would get better and better. I was thankful to not lose any hair in the process. Not sure if it was the chemo drugs or the steroids, but I had a continuous battle with constipation throughout the treatments and for a couple of months after the treatments were over. I hope you get through the process smoothly and quickly!
  3. Everything in your chest cavity adjusts and changes shape to fill the empty shape and maintain tight pressure. I can really see it on the X-rays. My diaphragm on the right side is pushing up at a sharp angle to help keep thing tight. (Upper right lobe removed last September.)
  4. Sad circumstances, but it's not a sad story because of her response to the situation. Sherry is anything but sad, she's a fighter.
  5. Tairen - you are in my prayers.
  6. I never had to have radiation, but the steroids with my chemo treatments always caused my skin to be flush for several days. I can totally relate to the digestive issues also. Praying for your comfort and strength!
  7. Thanks for sharing that article. Exercise is something I need to get in the habit of doing.
  8. Sharon, we're wishing you the best and praying for you. I had the same chemo cocktail following my surgery (I was only stage 1B, age 46, never smoked). Hoping you get good news on your PET scan.
  9. Tairen, If you're comfortable writing about the experiences you went through with your dad, you might consider a blog to record your thoughts and have a place where folks could read them if they chose to do so. There are several free blog hosting sites online that are pretty easy to set up. Best of luck to you!
  10. DX 08/07/13 - stage 1B NSCLC adenocarcinoma. Surgery 09/06/13 and chemo followed. 7 month survivor and counting!
  11. It was just a little cough that wouldn't go away... Never lasted long, but after a couple of months of this intermittent, but persistent cough, my wife told me I needed to get to the doctor and get it checked out before we went on our family vacation. On July 18, 2013, I saw my family doctor and explained the cough to him. He couldn't find anything wrong, prescribed me some antibiotics and, since I have asthma, he decided to go ahead and do a chest x-ray. We were on vacation when I received a call from his nurse telling me that he had seen something on the x-ray that needed a closer look and they had set an appointment for me to have a CT scan on August 7th. I had the CT scan that morning and received a call that afternoon from a different doctor at the same family clinic. He explained that my regular doctor was on vacation, but he wanted to see me first thing in the morning. In fact, he set the appointment for 30 minutes before the clinic was even normally open. Not knowing what to expect, my wife and I went in for the conversation that would change everything. "You have a mass in your upper right lung about the size of a ping-pong ball. I can't tell you for sure that you have cancer, but most likely, you have cancer." His words were very matter of fact, but his tone was vigorous and upbeat. "We're scheduling you for a CT needle biopsy. If it's cancer, we're going to kick it in the *ss and get rid of it." With those words, we were off and running on a whirlwind month of tests, scans, consultations that ultimately led me to an operating room on Friday, September 6th, 2013, where they removed the upper lobe of my right lung and seven lymph nodes. My diagnosis was Stage 1B NSCLC Adenocarcinoma. The margins of the tumor were clean and the lymph nodes were negative. I did four rounds of adjuvant chemotherapy (Alimta and Carboplatin) that finished up on December 18th. The healing was slow, but now, nearly seven months after the surgery, I'm feeling well and life is pretty much back to normal. My PET/CT scan in January showed a couple of hot spots that we are monitoring, but the radiologist and my oncologist both feel that they are reactive sites, still changing from the surgery, rather than any new cancer cells. The biggest surprise from all of this, other than being told I had cancer, was learning all of the horrible statistics about lung cancer. Prior to my diagnosis, I associated lung cancer with smokers and had no idea about the disparity between the mortality rates and research funding when comparing lung cancer to other types that get more publicity. I had no idea that you could get lung cancer just from breathing, but here I was at 46 years old, never smoked, no family members that smoked, no radon gas in the home or office (yes, I tested both), no occupational exposure to known carcinogens, nothing that I could assign the blame to, and yet, I'm a lung cancer patient. CORRECTION - I'm a lung cancer survivor. I have been greatly blessed with the early diagnosis and successful treatment. Thanks to the grace of a loving God and my persistent wife, this was caught early and I fully expect to be around for a good long while. I live in central Arkansas with my lovely wife and teenage son. I enjoy hunting, fishing, shooting, watching my son play baseball and playing with my granddaughters.
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