yankeegirl08753

I'd like to know if there are any long time survivors here with my cancer? Squamous cell carcinoma....stage 3...not sure if A or B but was told I'm only stage 3 because of size and location...cancer hasn't spread to any areas or lymph nodes. I know it's different for everyone but I keep replaying that sage 3 survival rate..:.under 5% over 5 years and it's freaking me out. Anyone?

Not sure what to say except my name is D and I'm 46 yrs old. I was diagnosed in January 2015 with stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the right lung. Inoperable. I was previous miss diagnosed for almost a year with pneumonia and bronchitis. Turns out I didn't have either. I went thru 10 rounds of chemo and 44 radiation treatments and then went directly into a clinical trial for one year of infusions and now I have one year of scans, blood tests and observation. I've yet to hear the words remission or NED which has really bummed me out. In 2005/2006 I underwent 3 brain surgeries to remove a primary tumor and that was soooo EASY. 10 hours of surgery and I was DONE! This is a whole different animal. I'm so worried about metastasis that I'm not LIVING. I'm afraid every day and I have no idea how to deal with this. I see a therapist every week, but the other 6 days I'm an anxious mess. I don't sit around having pity parties....im fighting this thing and staying positive...but my mind continues to creep back to the fear of it spreading. My tumor was the size of a lemon when they finally found it....it's less than half that size now...but because of my brain tumor history I'm just so scared of it going to my brain. I just want some peace. I'm seeing a pulmonary dr at the end of the month because I'm having some COPD symptoms....one more thing to scare me. Will I need 24/7 oxygen? More medications? So many questions....I'm glad to be here and look forward to chatting and getting some support from all of you. Thank you and have a blessed night. Xoxoxo