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Judy M.

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Judy M. last won the day on September 11 2018

Judy M. had the most liked content!

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  • City
    Charleston
  • US State (if applicable)
    ARKANSAS
  • Country
    U.S.
  • Status
    Lung cancer patient/survivor
  • Interests
    Reading, drawing and painting, Bible study, Journaling, exercise

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  1. Susan That's great!! Thanks for sharing. Judy M.
  2. We do also have compassionate care drugs available in the U. S that have not yet been approved. I know because my last Oncologist who wanted to try the Opdivo/Yervoy combo next said that was the way he could get that. Judy M.
  3. Yes. I have put my daughter in charge of giving medical updates to the family. I've often said that telling the family is as difficult as getting the news yourself. Judy M.
  4. Tom Ain't that the truth?!!! Mine are coming up again next week or two. I've actually had so many now I've lost count. For me at least, some of the scanziety has worn off after 21/2 years of this. Judy M.
  5. Judy M.

    Tis The Season

    Thank you, Tom, and Merry Christmas!! We had missed you on here recently. Thankful today that Jesus came and that He has given me the strength to again cook Christmas dinner for my family. A blessing. Judy M.
  6. Time to try again to update this. Have only my Android phone to work with and for some reason what I'm writing tends to disappear in the midst of writing it and will sometimes reappear and sometimes not. So if an update I've tried to write previously appears before this that's the explanation for that. Have now had both PET and bone scans. I had 3 tumors in my lungs and no spread elsewhere before S. B. R. T. and 3 rounds of Cisplatin/Alimta. PET shows tumor in upper right lung no activity. Tumor in lower right lung enlarged a bit and down from previous S. U. V. of 3.3 to 2. 5. Tumor in left lung similar in size previous S. U. V. 5.3 and present S. U. V. 1.9. I must admit that I'm disappointed that they didn't all disappear like the one did. But Radiology Oncologist says he doesn't even consider those values to be cancer. Bad news is that I now have a 1.5 cm. tumor in my left hip that has been causing me some pain and lit up at 8.2 S. U. V. and also showed up on the bone scan. Will start radiation for that this week and Rad. On. assured me that though he can't promise me it won't show up somewhere else he's going to kill that tumor. Also a nodule on my left adrenal that's just been sitting there doing nothing is now 2 cm. and showed up at 2.7 on PET. So that will be biopsied on the 18th. So, that's my latest news. Would I still choose S. B. R. T. with a curative intent with limited stage 3 or 4 lung cancer and surgery not an option even though this round of the battle didn't come out N. E. D.? Yes. I still think in my circumstances given the options I had available at the time this was my best choice. And I believe S. B. R. T. is going to save some lives that would otherwise have been lost. Judy M.
  7. Had my last chemo on Aug. 3 and C. T. scans of chest, abdomen, and pelvis toward the end of August. The 3 tumors in my lungs had shrunk and still no spread of the cancer seen anywhere else. Have recovered from chemo side effects and just been enjoying not having to think about or battle the cancer for a while. Don't seem to have any long term effects from the radiation. Had a short bout of more coughing and shortness of breath right after last chemo. But from what I've read this could have been the result of the chemo or the radiation or both. A short course of steroids took care of that and have had no trouble since then. Will be having P. E. T. scan in early Dec. So far, have been happy with my treatment. I believe it was the best I could have been given in the circumstances. Judy M.
  8. Linda explained it well. In my case, I had 3 tumors, one in my left lung and two in my right. All three were treated one after another with the megadoses of radiation. In S.B.R.T. they hit the tumors with radiation from different directions. Have had standard radiation also for another type of cancer and the difference you notice as the patient is that S.B.R.T. takes longer per session and is accomplished in a lot fewer days. Because I had 3 tumors each treatment lasted 60 to 90 minutes and I had a total of 5 treatments over a two and a half week period. Usually S.B.R.T. is finished in 10 Days or less because they treat every day or every other day. Mine was different I think because I had 3 tumors treated and they were concerned about toxicity. Tom will probably chime in here and give a better explanation at some point. I did a blog post on here where I explained my situation and more about the S.B.R.T. I received. As I understand it this type of radiation had been used for brain Mets for some time. Then they began to use it for stage 1 patients who only had 1 tumor and were unable to have surgery to remove it because of other health problems. Recently it's been used for patients whose tumors are what they call oligometastatic ( I think I spelled that right) meaning limited to 2-5 usually and not spread to other areas. Also the tumors need to be fairly small. Mine were all 3 centimeters or less. The dose of radiation to the tumor itself is higher, but it's pinpointed to the tumor itself so is covering a smaller area. You can google S.B.R.T. for oligometestatic lung cancer and find out more. Hope that answers your question at least somewhat. Tom Galli also had S.B.R.T. and I'm sure there are other stage 1 members on here who have had it also and may want to add more to what I've said. Judy M.
  9. Thank you,Tom! Feel much better now that I've heard from you. Pasta sauce is one of the things I still can't enjoy also. Or tomato soup. And I loved both previously. Looking forward to getting my old taste buds back. Had no idea that side effect could last so long. Plus, though I didn't lose nearly all of my hair I lost about 1/3 of it and when the food nastiness comes back more hair loss accompanies it. But this usually only comes around for one day every five or six days now. Thanks so much for responding. Judy M.
  10. Have been trying to update for a few weeks now. Had a lot of trouble signing in. All about forgeting a period in my name. But in now, so all good. Finished treatment and received my C.T. Scan and results. The 3 lung tumors have shrunk and still show no Mets anywhere. Very happy about that. But confused somewhat. For some reason I thought since I had S.B.R.T. on all 3 tumors they'd simply be gone-zapped away. According to my med. Oncologist not so. He says he's seen what looked like nodules 18 months out from S.B.R.T. and that I'll always have scar tissue there. He doesn't seem at all worried and plans to do P.E.T. Scan early December. Can any others who have had S.B.R.T. tell me what I should expect to see after this on my lung scans? Also, am 6 weeks out from my last Cisplatin/Alimta chemo treatment yet food still doesn't taste normal and at times goes back to tasting bitter like it did right after chemo. Anyone else have this side effect last this long? Any ideas on how long I can expect it to last? Good to finally be back with you guys. I'm sure Tom will have some S.B.R.T. Scan infor for me. Judy M.
  11. Thank you. I do hope it's simply the result of the edema. My Pulmonologist says a lung cancer patient shouldn't complain about gaining weight. Lol. Sent from my SM-J100VPP using Tapatalk
  12. I have now had 3 rounds of Cisplatin/Alimta and have 1 more round to go. My question is about side effects. Have had edema after each treatment that is at it's worst first week but lingers off and on for the entire 3 weeks. Doc gavr me 20mg Lasix last treatment, but oddly enough that had no effect. Have also continued to gain weight. I do exercise and have checked my calorie intake, so I know this isn't the result of eating more. Have checked and both Cisplatin and Alimta can cause the weight gain and Alimta the edema. Plus I have 3 days of steroids each treatment. That may also contribute. My question is whether the edema will subside and I'll be able to lose the weight when I finish treatment. Anyone else out there have some experience with this? Judy M Sent from my SM-J100VPP using Tapatalk
  13. I'm do happy for your good news. And no need to feel guilty. I'm sure no one on here wants to hear of bad results. Good results encourage us all. Be happy and enjoy! I've really enjoyed following your posts. Judy M Sent from my SM-J100VPP using Tapatalk
  14. I deal with stress,by prayer, journaling, art work, and exercise. But from what little I've read about mindfulness most of those things fit the profile Judy M Sent from my SM-J100VPP using Tapatalk
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