Hello,
Just found out about LCSC the other day so I thought I would stop in and say hello.I am a 50 year old male, diagnosed 10/29/04 with extensive stage,SCLC, both lungs with both right and left paratracheal and mediatinal node involvement, with superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS). The primary tumor site was on my left lung but the cancer quickly spread to my adjoining lymphatic system, then on to my right lung.
Thankfully so far the cncer is all centrally located in my chest with no distant mets, like liver, bone, brain, etc, etc..so in that regard I am lucky.
I am currently undergoing chemotherapy a combination of carboplantin and etoposide am in the 4th cycle (will finsih cycle tomorrow) and increasingly I am tolerating the side effects of chemo farily well. Early on, first couple of cycles were hell and side effect were horrible and bearly tolerable, howerver the last two cycles the side effects have lessened making the chemo more bearable. Initially I consdiered clinical trials but for personal reasons opted not to, my wife is on staff at a local hospital and I felt more comfortable in that setting, she assured me one oncololgist in particular was top-notch, and well versed in the most clinically sound methods of treatment.
In all candor I has seriously considered stopping chemo aftet the second cycle, but given the bleak alternative by my oncologist, I decided to continue on.
To date I have only experienced what I consider minor pain in my back, between my shouldfe blades amd a deep ache in my chest that was more of a discomfort than a pain. My cough is not a problem, it is intermittent and not chonic. Syptomatically, I blame most of the physical ailments I am experiencing on the chemotherapy - nausea, vomiting, hair loss, geneal feeling of being very sick,.
My chief complaint though remains fatigue and sense of being worn out. Though as chemo has progressed I have felt myself feeling more energetic and needing fewer and fewer rest periods during the day. My oncologist attributes the increase in energy with the shringage in size of my turmor(s)...we shall see.
My cancer willl be re-staged the week of Dec 20th and hopefully
progress will be noted at that time. New CAT scans, PET scan,
Bone scan, blood work.....etc etc...will be performed then.
I guess thats about the extent of my cancer biography, forgive any obvious ommisions.
Persoanlly, inintially I was shocked to learn I had cancer, the shoch, turrned rapidly to depresssion and feeling sorry for myself, but since that time I have managed with the help of my loving wife and supportive others to recapture at least some notion of hope. I have good days and bad days, but hey thats not any different than the rest of the human race, I am no different.....true I have an extra burden called cancer, but still it is just another burden, that was givien to me for a reason, a purpose....what that purpose God only knows, and it is his will not mine....seems I am not the one in charge.
I have done a mooutain of research on sclc as I am sure most of you have however someone very close to me is a physican not an oncologist but who does have access to a good bit of information that is not available at libraires or on the web. To the extent possible and time permitting I am sure she would be happy to help answer questions or at least point you in the right direction.
By the way it was nice meeting you all.....I wish you all the best of luck and I am looking forward to reading your posts here on LCSC
regards,
mercer
