Clarinet bob

Hello all,
I had my first post-treatment scan report today and its all good. In remission!!!
I was diagnosed in May 08, had right upper lobectomy in June, stage II, 4 cylces of Alimta and Cisplatin ended in November and the first CT scan yesterday.
Good luck to all of you.
Jim

It was January 29th 2008. 5 years ago the surgeon told Tom he had stage 4 lung cancer. 5 years ago Tom asked the surgeon how much time he had. The surgeon said without treatment we won't be having this conversation this time next year. So Tom said I guess we better do the treatment. 5 years ago we went to the oncologist who stepped out of the box. 5 years ago. Where did the time go? There by the grace of God lives Tom. Thomas Murphy is officially a 5 year, Stage IV NSCLC Lung Cancer survivor. He took a licking but he keeps on ticking.

We all hear and read about the negative side of lung cancer so lets hear the positive side of it. Tell us (that includes caregivers, anyone) how you deal with it, with life, family and friends etc.
For me my journey with lung cancer has been very positive and a learning experience about people and life. Everything has fallen into place as I go along. Everyone has been so supportive and positive and not one single person ever said why bother or gave me a hard time because I have lung cancer. I still have a life, still enjoy things, still can laugh and be myself. Focus on living and what I can do. Have my moments but they are few and far in between, it’s wasted energy, counter-productive and serves no purpose. I don’t shut anyone else because I have lung cancer or for that matter any of my health issues. They do not shut me out, there the ones I love and who love me that mean so much to me and do so much for me. Never got angry, felt sorry for myself, took it out on anyone or said why me God. Not going to change a single thing. It’s what life is all about-- adversity and how one looks at it and what one is going to do about it. I chose to control cancer (and my other health issues) and not let cancer control me. My motto is always could be worse, lock and load and lets kick some *ss. When it’s all said and done I can say God blessed me with a good life. I have the right people in my life that made all the differences and makes life worth living every step of the way. SO MANY THANKS TO THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN-- My wife, my daughter, my best friend, family/friends, LCSC Members, my many doctors/nurses, Boston Area Lung Cancer Walk/Fun Run Committee, LUNGevity and so many many more who have come into my life along my journey. Yep God does like me and I’m one lucky b*stard.
Take care everyone and have a great weekend!
Rich

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all that you do here in the LCSC forums. You all are a vital part of LCSC! You are knowledgeable, caring, supportive and so kind. -Cindy
 

December 10th, 2013 - by Dr. Jack West
Why do we care about lymph nodes when staging lung cancer?
The simple answer is that they give us prognostic information (insight into the likely future behavior, the “natural history”, of the cancer). When you think of a cancer’s growth, there are a few potential ways for it to progress. It might progress right where it started, staying local. It might travel through the lymphatic system, kind of like debris swept off a roof and into a home’s gutter, and it might spread distantly to other parts of the body. We’re interested in getting a sense of how aggressive a cancer is likely to be overall, the engine behind its growth, but also whether it’s more likely to stay local or travel distantly.
The staging system for lung cancer and most others is called the TNM system, where T stands for Tumor stage (the primary cancer, where it started), N stands for Nodal stage (are lymph nodes involved, and if so, where?), and M stands for Metastasis stage (distant metastases, yes or no?). The M stage overrides the others — if a cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, it’s an advanced cancer, no matter how big or small the primary tumor or whether there are lymph nodes involved or not. But N stage is also quite important.
Essentially, the distance from the primary cancer to any involved lymph nodes, along with the number of lymph nodes that have cancer within them, help predict the probability that the cancer is able to get out of the area in which it started and spread to distant parts of the body, where cure is generally not something we can expect to achieve. Lymph nodes within the same lung as the primary cancer are called N1, and those in the mid-chest (mediastinum) between the lungs are called N2 if on the same side as the primary tumor, or N3 if on the other side or above the collarbone (lymph nodes outside of the chest are unfortunately considered metastatic sites, because they almost always occur in the setting of more widespread progression).
This numeric staging reflects the distance the cancer had to travel to get there, so higher number for N stage means greater distance and greater chance of spread to other parts of the body, and the stage is often dictated by the highest N stage seen, unless there is distant metastatic disease (which, as noted above, overrides other considerations and denotes metastatic/advanced cancer).
Basically, nodal status assesses the probability of a cancer to travel further, even if you don’t see evidence it has metastasized yet. It’s kind of like when my youngest son had wandered out onto the driveway after figuring out how to unlock the front door, open it, and walk outside. He didn’t quite wander into the street, but he had clearly shown that he had the skills to escape. Imagine that N1 nodal involvement is like finding him having unlocked the door, N2 is like opening it and starting to look outside, and N3 is like him walking down the driveway toward the street. (He is now 7 and at far more risk of video-game induced brain rot.)
While the number of lymph nodes involved is not formally part of the staging system, there are many studies over the years that have shown that prognosis is more favorable if one or a few lymph nodes are involved by cancer vs. many nodes involved. Lymph node involvement that is only microscopic has a more favorable prognosis than involvement that leads the nodes to become enlarged (as I think you would expect). And lymph node involvement by “direct extension” of a primary tumor just growing into an adjacent lymph node tends to be associated with a more favorable prognosis than having one or more lymph nodes involved by the usual method of traveling through the lymphatic system, so there is some space between the primary cancer and the involved nodes.
How does this change our management? Aside from providing important information about the probability of cure, such as the probability of the cancer recurring after potentially curative surgery or chemo and radiation, it helps provide clues about the relative weight we might want to give to chemotherapy vs. “local” treatments like surgery and radiation. For example, a cancer that shows a pattern of a 4 cm primary tumor but no lymph node involvement has provided a clue that it’s going to stay local and not be at as high a risk for distant spread as a cancer that is 3 cm but has spread to mediastinal lymph nodes on the same side as the primary tumor. The latter might possibly be treated with surgery, but chemotherapy is going to be a strong recommendation for just about any patient with N2 or higher node involvement, and it’s standard to recommend chemotherapy to reduce the risk of recurrence after surgery for a resected cancer with N1 (within the lung) node involvement, but not as clearly needed for someone with the same cancer but no lymph nodes involved.
For locally advanced (stage III) non-small cell lung cancer, lymph nodes are critical in selecting an optimal treatment. A single N2 node is in the realm that many experts would consider perfectly appropriate for surgery, but multiple N2 nodes or any N3 disease puts it in the range in which surgery is generally not favored. Instead, chemo and radiation are typically favored. This isn’t because we can’t find a surgeon to try to remove all visible disease, but rather that both multiple N2 nodes and N3 nodal disease represent a situation in which we need to concentrate on more than just the disease we can see. We need to be sure to cast a wide net to treat the disease we can see and the disease we can’t. Radiation treats a broader local area than surgery, as a general rule, and we can more reliably get in a meaningful amount of chemo when someone hasn’t just undergone a major lung surgery.
This is a big topic, so I’d welcome your questions. There are always individual circumstances, but I wanted to provide a general sense of why nodal status matters and how we use this information to prioritize one treatment approach over another. I hope that helps

I had an upper left lobe lobectomy followed by 4 rounds of adjuvant chemo in 2007. Been NED since until a march ct showed ground glass opacity in two lobes of right lung. I had just gotten over pneumonia so was hoping it was infection but my gp and surgeon were very concerned. Had a follow up ct and results today said previous opacities were resolved and no metastis seen. Sounds good to me.

I wanted to thank you all for your positive support! I made it through the third day of therapies relatively well. Some discomfort, but not bad so far. My initials al diagnosis was adeno carcinoma in the left lower lobe. One single tumorand the two closest lymph nodes on either side of the bronchus? Also, on the initial pet scan, an area lite up in my neck. After further imaging by my radiation Oncologist, she was not satisfied with the imaging and they did not image my brain with contrast, she conferred with the radiologist that there is no lymph node in that area and it was actually a muscle that was involved in my recent cervical spinal fusion which was done Anteriorally. My Oncologist has been on vacation, so he's not aware of the findings. The primary tumor is less than 3 centimeters at it's widest and the two lymph nodes are no larger than 2 centimeters. His initial staging was three b. I'm thinking that perhaps the staging will be lower in number with the exclusion of the neck. Anyway, I'm encouraged. My radiation oncologist is a bulldog! She is a perfectionist. She is having her ct scanner replaced at the moment, so she had to send me elsewhere for the scans. They imaged in grids too large for her liking, but accurate enough to get started. She is going to scan me again next week on her machine with her narrower margins. She's not going to charge me for scans! She told me that my tumors are small compared o what she usually treats! This has been an uplifting day for me. I wish everyone strength in body, mind and spirit.

After some research, I found that it would not be something for me. It seems that Chaga should be avoided if you take blood thinners or you take diabetic medicines. There is a lot of research being done on chaga and it might prove to be useful down the road for some.

I wanted to thank you all for your positive support! I made it through the third day of therapies relatively well. Some discomfort, but not bad so far. My initials al diagnosis was adeno carcinoma in the left lower lobe. One single tumorand the two closest lymph nodes on either side of the bronchus? Also, on the initial pet scan, an area lite up in my neck. After further imaging by my radiation Oncologist, she was not satisfied with the imaging and they did not image my brain with contrast, she conferred with the radiologist that there is no lymph node in that area and it was actually a muscle that was involved in my recent cervical spinal fusion which was done Anteriorally. My Oncologist has been on vacation, so he's not aware of the findings. The primary tumor is less than 3 centimeters at it's widest and the two lymph nodes are no larger than 2 centimeters. His initial staging was three b. I'm thinking that perhaps the staging will be lower in number with the exclusion of the neck. Anyway, I'm encouraged. My radiation oncologist is a bulldog! She is a perfectionist. She is having her ct scanner replaced at the moment, so she had to send me elsewhere for the scans. They imaged in grids too large for her liking, but accurate enough to get started. She is going to scan me again next week on her machine with her narrower margins. She's not going to charge me for scans! She told me that my tumors are small compared o what she usually treats! This has been an uplifting day for me. I wish everyone strength in body, mind and spirit.

Tom, you are a blessing to me. I am a rational, intellectual type and this information is exactly what I needed today. I am waiting for approval on my erlotinib but not standing still. I am using my waiting time to do a bunch of alternative immune-building therapies to hopefully work in conjunction with the erlotinib. I have read Gould but didn't know his story on this; I love it. I have read Gould as an amateur Christian apologist learning the "other" side. God has given much wisdom to many. The thing perhaps that makes me smile is Gould's inability to define that strong willed spirit. As a Christian I am blessed to define it easily as the action of Holy Spirit, God's image or "soul" in me. I took enough statistics classes to know what Gould defined but needed to be reminded; I am blessed to understand the spiritual he cannot define. I will be sharing this video.
Thank you, Tom, for blessing me today. I am asking God's greatest blessings to you this day as you bless all of us.
Julie

Clarinet bob welcome.  I was diagnosed Stage 3 in December 1997.   I also started with 2 Chemo drugs and daily radiation.
All shrunk so they did a right upper lobectomy .  After I had more of the chemos.  .  It was a tough road
but well worth it.   I am still here.  I hope you respond well also to the chemo.  Please keep us posted on how you are doing.
 
Donna G

Bob,
 
Welcome here.
 
I'm glad your doctors are so confident about your treatment.  It may be helpful to share your type of lung cancer and the names of the chemotherapy drugs you are receiving.  Many here may have had the medications you are receiving and can offer recommendations based on their experience.
 
Advice.  I'd read into our disease.  Here is a good place to start - http://www.lungevity.org/about-lung-cancer/lung-cancer-101
 
Radiation for me at the start was a piece of cake until the middle of the third week.  Then, it sapped the energy right out of me and I spend a lot of time sleeping.  Also I experienced sunburn-like skin pain.  My doctor was quick to prescribe heavy duty topical lotion that took care of the pain.  Six days in the infusion chair!  Wow, that is a grueling schedule.  By contrast, I had one infusion every three weeks for a total of 6 infusions.
 
This is a good place to ask questions so feel free to fire away.
 
Stay the course.
 
Tom 

Once you or a loved one are faced with a cancer diagnosis, you have so many questions, fears and concerns. How am I going to get through this? Where do I begin? It's scary and not easy. We've turned to our WhatNext-ers, and asked them what advice they would give to someone who is newly diagnosed with cancer and needs support. They've been through it, hopefully their words of wisdom can help.
1. Assemble your team. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a team to beat cancer. Once you accept you have cancer and have a journey in front of you, it's time to assemble your team. The team isn't just doctors and nurses, but also family and friends, and even strangers. There are so many aspects of the journey ahead that you can never prepare for. Accepting help and gathering a support system is critical. It also helps to know you are not alone in the journey. -- CarolLHRN
2. Know who you can let your guard down with. Emotional health is so important and often ignored by many providers. Make sure you have someone to talk with and don't be afraid of all the emotions you will experience from fear and sadness to laughter and joy and everything in between. To have the strength to move through the journey, your mind has to be strong too. -- CarolLHRN
3. Be selfish. Be very selfish, you need to put yourself first. Put together a laundry list of things that need to get done now and tell a friend. It is perfectly OK to do so. Then, let go all the negative thoughts, acts and things. -- cranburymom
4. Take control. This is your life and you control what is done to you. Ask questions. challenge answers, and research what you are told. Second and third opinions are good choices. Keep your family close, thank well-wishers, trust in God, and deal with the emotions as they come along. -- emtp12
5. Give yourself a break. So what if your house isn't perfect, the cupboard is bare, or you don't have clean underwear, you can worry about all of that later. Don't be afraid to accept help, if people don't really want to help they shouldn't offer, I personally didn't go to Wal-Mart for months and my husband and I survived, so what if he bought the wrong brand of toiletpaper. Also, it is ok to freak out, it is ok to be scared, and it is ok to be angry. You also have to do everything you can to make educated decisions and do what is right for you. Don't second guess yourself. Do the best you can with what you have and what you know. -- grams2jc
6. You are alive - live! Remember that you are still alive and your family needs you. Be selfish with your energy level and with doing things that are not totally necessary, but hoard what you do have to make time for your close friends and family. It's so easy to fall into depression and to be overwhelmed, but right now you are still here and you need to treasure that time! -- danellsar
7. Take care of youself, and that means crying, too. Allow yourself to freak out and cry once in a while. But give yourself a certain time of day to do it. Allow it to own a place in your life, give it it's own freedom and then put it away and focus on your goals. Take care of your body - eat well, get the rest you need when you need and by all means rely on the kindness of others. No one knows what to do with you. They try to help and sometimes it seems overwhelming but the relief you experience by just saying "yes" even if it's not in your nature and just allowing and letting go of it all. Sharing it with others is a way of healing. You need to get the disease out of your body. -- kimjx6
8. Have a positive attitude. Realize you are not alone. There are many of us in the same boat. Cancer does suck but in most cases it is definitely beatable-so gear up for a fight and keep positive. Push the worries aside and focus on each day as a gift, smell some roses, then just keep living your life. Life gets back to semi-normal--but you do change. Some good-some not so good. So watch the poor me syndrome-and finish the race. --indyeastside
9. Be ready for anything. I am losing my sight and at times my will. I am not a weak person but I do cry. It makes me feel better to get that stuff out even if the hurt feelings and worrying thoughts will come back. -- flyglo
10. Surround yourself with others who support you. If there aren't any, go find some. You play a huge part in your healing. Tell yourself you're going to be ok until you believe it. I dealt with losing my hair by praying, so when it was time to cut it, I was ok and I didn't cry. This should change your life for the better! It should change your perspective on life and make you realize what's really important. Only look at the positives. -- RebeccaLynn25

https://www.whatnext.com/blog/posts/10- ... ith-cancer

10 Eggless High Protein Breakfast Ideas
By Jill Castle, MS, RD Food Allergies Expert  
Eggs are a wonderful and versatile breakfast item, but unfortunately, if you’re allergic to eggs, they are out of the question. Because eggs house a concentrated source of protein and a variety of nutrients, they may help to satisfy your appetite, and keep your weight in check. A high protein breakfast, containing 25 to 30 grams of protein has been associated with weight loss and maintenance of that weight loss in research studies.
 If you can’t have eggs, you’ll want to find egg alternatives for breakfast that can mimic these benefits. After all, high protein breakfast ideas without eggs may help you stay on track with your health and weight.
Try these 10 healthy breakfast ideas without eggs:
Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is a strained yogurt, which results in a thicker texture and concentrated source of protein, up to 15 grams per cup.

 
http://foodallergies.about.com/od/livingwithfoodallergies/fl/10-Eggless-High-Protein-Breakfast-Ideas.htm?utm_content=buffere8a3a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=cmsocialposting_aboutmain