cassie

Hi!  I'm new to cancer and to this wonderful web site.  Here's my story: I have had asthma and allergy issues for years, so when asthma got worse 18 months ago, no cause for alarm.  When I developed bronchitis last fall, no cause for alarm.  I coughed up blood in December 2015 and an x-ray revealed a large mass in my upper left lung.  Pulmonologist performed a bronchoscopy and a biopsy indicated no cancer so the mass was further evaluated for bacteria and fungus.  No luck, so on February 22nd I had a lobectomy on my left lung and was diagnosed with cancer.  7 of 10 lymph nodes were affected but the surgeon did get clear margins.  On March 19th, I had my first of four chemo treatments (cisplatin and alimta).  
 
In hindsight, I should have requested an xray when my asthma took a turn, so that is now my advice to others.  Be your own advocate.  I've had too many people, including health care providers, ask me if I smoke.  Lung cancer doesn't just affect smokers, and it doesn't just affect older patients.  I'm a 46 year old non-smoker diagnosed with the most common form of lung cancer.  I'd love to see providers take a new look at the face of lung cancer, and see it become as visible to the public as breast or prostate cancer.  After all, it is the number one cancer killer.  If you can't tell, once I beat this, I'm planning to become a voice for this cause!

Cassie,
 
I've had perhaps a dozen bronchoscopy procedures, both flexible and rigid.  I've had general anesthesia for both types.  I can't imagine having one without anesthesia.
 
Stay the course.
 
Tom

Judy,

 

Wow you've had the hard row and just started!

 

My most troubling chemo side effect was joint pain.  Unfortunately, other than narcotic pain meds, there was nothing that helped me.  The good thing to look forward to (if there is a good thing in side effect management) is that my pain events were not long lasting.  They started about 2 days after infusion and hung around for 2 days.  If you have more chemo and I hope you can tolerate something to arrest the progress, chart the onset of side effects.  A calendar app on a smartphone is an ideal way to track side effects.  It occurs to me that I recall a lung cancer patient who was hospitalized for observation and side effect management after chemo.  Perhaps that might be an alternative for your treatment team to explore.  

 

I also had coughing problems in my first line treatment (that is what they call your first series of treatments) but I think conventional radiation caused it.  Not sure of the cause for I had concurrent adjunct chemo.  So other than my cancer being squamous cell, we share similar diagnostic and treatment circumstances.  I was also denied surgery on my initial surgical consult, but my oncologist got creative and tried pre-surgical chemo and radiation.  It did shrink my tumor but led to vast surgical complications.

 

We can provide hope and support, fortunately.  It is the reason for this forum and my hope I give to you is my 12 years of surviving a stage IIIB diagnosis.  If I can live, so can you.

 

You'll have many questions.  Hopefully we'll have some answers.  Here is a good resource for reading up on your lung cancer - http://www.lungevity.org/about-lung-cancer/lung-cancer-101  

 

Knowledge is power so I encourage you and your family support team to read into our disease so you can ask your treatment team what I call TPQs - terribly perceptive questions.

 

Stay the course.

 

Tom