Maryanne

Wow!! Thank you all so much for responding so fast. You certainly have very encouraging words for us. His surgeon and his Pulmanary doctors are a little concerned about his heart rate, It seems to be a little excellerated. So tomorow he is having a venilation and perfusion scan and a Venus doppler on his legs, just to make sure there are no blood clots. This has been 3 weeks since the operation. When do you think he will be somewhat pain free and off the meds? He really has not done too much walking. I try to get him to walk around the house but he mostly just sits on the couch. He does use that breathing thing, but again not as often as he should. He does know that it is important for his lungs to use that. I am hoping when he feels better that he will go to the mall to walk around, as it it too cold out to do that here. To Ginny: Yes, I have met Heather on another site. She is a beautiful young lady with a good soul!! I told her next Novemeber that I would like to get involved with her run for LC. To Gail, It seems a lot of people went to U or P. I went to Cooper Hospital and the Docs are great there. When Joel (my hubby) goes for treatment, it will be only a few blocks from our house at Cooper Cancer Center. A couple of questions, what is NED? I see that on peoples profiles but can't seem to figure that one out. Also, adrenocarcinoma is not actully the smokers cancer, and non smokers get that type of cancer. Squmash (?) is directly from smoking, so why is there so much adrenocarcinoma? Joel found out his biological father (whom he did not know) died of Lung cancer and he stopped smoking in 1959. He died about 8 years ago for LC and was battleing it for 3 years. You can tell by this site, that so many people have a history to LC in their families. We have to have more research done to find out if this is heridary. I feel everything is somewhere in our genes. Why do non smokers get it, while some people are heavy smokers go to their graves without getting that dreadful desease? I am tired of, "smokers get this and they should stop smoking". Well, that doesn't seem to hold true in so many cases. People gave smoking up years ago only to come down with it many years later. Which they are finding out more and more today. People have to be aware that it is the number l killer of both men and women. We desparately need funding, research everything like other cancers get. Anyway, thank you all for your encouragement. I know Joel will be fine. He just has to have patience..... On a lighter note: TO ALL PHILLY FANS OUT THERE E-A-G-L-E-S....... GO EAGLES!!!!!! Maryanne

Hi I am Maryanne. My husband, was dx. on 10/18. He was stage 1B (tumor was big) but he had no signs. He had hurt his back and we went to our primary doctor to see if he needed X Rays. Since we were both overdue with physicals, we decided set up the blood work while we were there. My husband who is a smoker, asked for a chest X ray. Like, I said he had no signs, in fact he really felt great. Just wanted an Xray because of the smoking.... The X ray showed a mass, then a CT and Pet was followed. It was big about 7ccm. His Pulmanary Doctor did a bronch. which showed up negative. But he did mention that the Broch. tube may not have got the tissues that he wanted as it was too big for that area. So that came out negative. So they followed up with a needle biospy which showed cancer. He has a great team of Doctors. They work together as a team and have meetings on Wed. afternoon to discuss cases. At first the surgeon thought he would have to take the whole lung. But fortunately. it tuned out to be just the upper left lobe. The operation took close to 7 hours, as it was lying on top of this aorta. They were not sure it if was attached to the aorta or on top of it. The surgeon had wait for the pathologist to tell them it was not attached. (whew.....) He had to call in another surgeon and they both decided he could remove it. So it was done extremely slow and careful. They also took 2 biospys of his lymph nodes. That was stressful, waiting for the results of that. That took about a week and a half. But that came out negative. So apparantely they got it all. I say apparently, because you never know with cancer. He is going to have Chemo. as a preventive measure. He has been home now 2 weeks and company has finally dwindled However, he is still hurting and still has trouble breathing. He is basisclly a very motivated person especially when people are around. But by ourselves lately, he seems to get depressed at times and hates the hurt and just wants it to do away. He lost about 15 lbs from not eating too much. I keep telling him everything he is feeling is normal and how lucky he was to catch it in such an early stage. He knows that, but it still frustrated and hurting. Now when I say hurting, I mean he is much better than he was when he first came home. He can cough now without too much pain. But it still hurts. My other concern is, I hope he is not getting addicted to percocets. He has the least dosage, and was taking 2 every 4 hours but now he is down to 1, but sometimes takes it 3 hours because of the pain. I just don't want him to get into any kind of funk... depression wise. He does computer work at home and has not touched it since he has been home. Is that normal? Is it just too soon? Is it the meds? Iam afraid that when he goes on Chemo, he wont be able to handle the nausea. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much and bless you all!! Maryanne