Judy M.

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

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Hi Marian, I also was diagnosed with 1A, last November. I had a VATS lobectomy and I'm doing well, pretty much back to normal.  I have had two other unrelated cancers, one of them stage 3, so I've had plenty of experience with "those thoughts".  I'm sure that all of us who've had cancer have had them. I think it's important to  know that they are normal. Here are some things I do to deal with them.  First, I don't think of it as "controlling" thoughts, which sounds like a struggle, and I'm not into struggling. So when one pops  up I acknowledge it as normal and let it go as in "Oh there you are, bye!" Sometimes I sing to myself "Let it go, Let it go, Let it go!" to the tune of "Let it snow" (if you're old enough to remember that!) . Then I do something else, like read something really engrossing, go for a walk, or, in a pinch, do a chore, continuing to let it go.  Also, espeially when letting it go, I do my gratitudes. I say to myself things big and little I'm grateful for. I say, for example: I'm grateful for my spouse, I'm grateful for my health insurance, I'm grateful for that beautiful tree, I'm grateful for my shoes, I'm grateful for the sunshine today.  I can just look around whereever I am and find things I'm grateful for.  I do this for a specific length of time, say 5 minutes or maybe the time it takes me to walk a couple of blocks. This keeps my mind busy with some positive thoughts and keeps those other thoughts from having free rent in my head. 
 These things have become habits for me and they work at least some of the time.  I have a lot of space for joy in my life. No matter how long my life turns out to be, I want it to be good..
Hang in there,
Bridget

Glad you're doing well.
Judy M.

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Tom
Just don't see the things you directed me to either on my Tapatalk app or when I go online to the Lungevity site. But I did find a place to submit my story and ask for help getting a blog started. So maybe that will work out. Thank you for listening and for all that you do to help us all.

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Thank you do much Tom. I'll give it a try. Only have my phone. Will that work?

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Said a prayer for you. So far with this cancer thing the one thing that has made me irritable sometimez is waiting. And there's plenty of that on this road. So I can relate.

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Said a prayer for you. So far with this cancer thing the one thing that has made me irritable sometimez is waiting. And there's plenty of that on this road. So I can relate.

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Hi Judy- I've no idea about the radiation dose but I'll find out. Interesting that you were diagnosed Stage IV at the onset because of tumors in each lung, and obviously yours weren't removed, either. Dr Stinchcombe at Duke said there's no way to know about mine w/o biomarker testing, and everything I've read on this forum is readying me to insist that mine be done. Now.
i may have used the wrong term for Cyberknife, believing it interchangeable with sbrt. I like the idea of no fiducials, my lungs can't handle their placement again.
katie

Hello Katie,
I'm the Judy M. that Tom mentioned above. I'm also a breast cancer survivor and can add my ditto to the difference in the moral support given breast cancer patients as opposed to lung cancer. And for me the breast cancer treatment was a piece of cake compared to lung cancer treatment. I also had S.B.R.T. on my 3 tumors. I had ( hope past tense is right) 1 in my left lung and 2 in my right, all small. You have actually informed me since the ones in my right lung originally presented as ground glass opacity. Had no idea this could mean future tumors waiting to pop up.
After the S.B.R.T., which is like Cyberknife but uses a different machine and doesn't require fiducial placement, my Oncologist wanted me to have 4 rounds of Cisplatin/Alimta chemo. Am between my 2nd and 3rd round right now. Won't have scans until the end of treatment so, as usual, more waiting. Cancer treatment is great for developing the virtue of patience. Needless to say I'll be following your treatment closely since so far you and I are the only ones on the forum that I know of to have multiple tumors treated with S.B.R.T. Though since it has recently come into standard of care I expect to see more soon. I'd be interested to know the specifics of your S.B.R.T. treatment if you know them or could get them from your radiologist. Mine are in the article on my blog. As in how many fractions, grays, etc. Hope you do well. I count myself blessed to have had the opportunity to be treated with S.B.R.T.
Judy M.

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SO happy to hear you finally got some good news and are headed to surgery. Will be praying for you the rest of today and in the morning. I'm an early riser and prayer, so I got you covered going into that surgery. An R.N. Once told me surgeons will scare you to death with all the dire possibilities so that they appear even more brilliant when all turns out fine. Made me think of it when I read your post about what the surgeon said. My husband had the same dire possibilities list with surgery to remove a tumor from his spine years ago. Freaked us both out. But he's fine. And we do believe his surgeon is brilliant so I guess it worked. Lol.
Judy M

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Am presently doing Cisplatin/Alimta cycles. Very tired and nauseated day 2-5. Then the tiredness gets better. But for me the nausea hangs on until about day 9 or 10, just not as severe. And then there's the nasty tasting food. This goes on from day 1 to about 7. I don't have the issue with not wanting to eat. Probably because I have 3 says of steroids each round and it eating seems to hold back the nausea somewhat. To me, my second round seemed easier than my first, but that could be because I was farther out from radiation and had found some ways to cope. I've actually gained weight through all my chemo treatments. In fact, I'm very swollen after each treatment. Each on ours about 6 lbs. on me that gradually subsides over the next week. I eat watermelon and cucumbers which are natural diuretics to try to get rid of the water bloat. Had a few mouth sores so make a habit of rinsing mouth with salt/baking soda solution at least every morning and if one pops up more often. For me the nausea that seems to hang on has been the worst. But I've been in an antibiotic that can also cause stomach upset so I'm hoping not having to take that will help next round.


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Am presently doing Cisplatin/Alimta cycles. Very tired and nauseated day 2-5. Then the tiredness gets better. But for me the nausea hangs on until about day 9 or 10, just not as severe. And then there's the nasty tasting food. This goes on from day 1 to about 7. I don't have the issue with not wanting to eat. Probably because I have 3 says of steroids each round and it eating seems to hold back the nausea somewhat. To me, my second round seemed easier than my first, but that could be because I was farther out from radiation and had found some ways to cope. I've actually gained weight through all my chemo treatments. In fact, I'm very swollen after each treatment. Each on ours about 6 lbs. on me that gradually subsides over the next week. I eat watermelon and cucumbers which are natural diuretics to try to get rid of the water bloat. Had a few mouth sores so make a habit of rinsing mouth with salt/baking soda solution at least every morning and if one pops up more often. For me the nausea that seems to hang on has been the worst. But I've been in an antibiotic that can also cause stomach upset so I'm hoping not having to take that will help next round.


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Tom
Just don't see the things you directed me to either on my Tapatalk app or when I go online to the Lungevity site. But I did find a place to submit my story and ask for help getting a blog started. So maybe that will work out. Thank you for listening and for all that you do to help us all.

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Thank you do much Tom. I'll give it a try. Only have my phone. Will that work?

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Judy,
Here is how you blog on this forum.
On the LUNGevity forum main page, there are 3 top line tabs: Browse -- Activity -- Go to LUNGevity home page.  The default tab is Browse.  Notice that below the top line of tabs is Forums -- Gallery -- Blogs -- Calendar -- Staff -- Online Users.  Choose Blogs.  On the upper right side of the page, there is Create a new blog.  Click on that.
A new Create a blog page opens.  
Name - I suggest you type Stage IV Treatment With SBRT. Or you could title it something catchy like Two Tumors Fried By SBRT!  My blog is titled Stay the Course.  
For Description - I suggest you type "A blog by Judy M." (quotes indicate what you should type.)  Then click Continue in the lower right side of the page. That creates your blog.
Then select Add Blog Entry.
A new page called Create Blog Entry opens.
Title: "My Stage IV SBRT Treatment Experience" (again quotes indicate suggested title - you don't need to put quotes in your title).
Tags:  These are very important and become pointers for anyone searching for information on a particular subject.  Each tag is one or two relevant words that describe your blog.  I suggest (again quotes are suggested entries - you don't need to type quotes in the tags) "new SBRT Stage IV treatment", (a comma captures the tag) "lung cancer radiation", "lung cancer and SBRT radiation", (the tags all print out in lower case).
Content: I'd start with explaining your diagnosed condition (your first post) and your radio oncologist idea to treat your Stage IV tumors (one in each lung) with SBRT.  Mine this information from your previous posts. Then I'd copy your very good explanation of your treatment from the post above and include it in your blog.
Click on Submit Entry on the bottom of the page.  Now your very precise description of your unique treatment method is available for all to review and folks now have the information to ask about SBRT treatment for multiple tumors if their diagnosis is similar to yours.
Stay the course.
Tom

* Wal Mart. My phone hated me.

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Yes. Got mine at good old Ask Mart. Hope it works as well for you as it is for me.

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Don't know how I ended up getting this in the small cell group, but proves I shouldn't try a blog. My cancer is actually NSCLC, adenocarcinoma. Maybe a smarter person can move it to the right group for me ( I hope).
Judy M

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Saw Radiology Oncologist for follow up yesterday. Got specifics on my S.B.R.T. Am writing this because my treatment plan has been rather unique. Hoping if it works out it will help someone down the road. Tom suggested a blog, but have no idea how to do that. So here is what I've done on advice of Med. Oncologist: Had 5 fractions of 1000-1500 centigrays each on all three of my lung tumors at twice a week over 21/2 weeks for a total of 4500-5000 centigrays. S.B.R.T. is normally done daily or every other day. I'm thinking they gave me a couple of days between because of Rad. On. concern about toxicity since I had received the standard radiation treatment of 33 fractions for another cancer less than a year earlier. Physicist assured me the fractions were too high for the cancer to develop resistance in that length of time. Have had no adverse reactions from the S.B.R.T. Now having Cisplatin/Alimta chemo every 3 weeks for 4 rounds. Just completed 2nd round. The difference in my treatment is that I was diagnosed with stage IV because of tumors in both lungs. That would normally mean 1st line chemo. Med. On. gave me the choice to try this for a cure and I took it. We will see when scans come up how it works out. Reason for the option was scans showed no spread of cancer outside my lungs.
On another note ( and this one is a bit embarrassing) have had constant battle with constipation for years and normally take full dose of Miralax daily. The chemo seems to have made this an even greater problem. Was told I could take Sennekot besides the Miralax. No good. Didn't work. Ask for help and Oncology nurse told me to try Prunelax. Had never heard of it, but it works. Hope this helps someone else. Enough misery with cancer treatment for us all without having to deal with this one.
Judy M
 
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Congratulations Mally!
Have no idea. Oncologist did pelvic and abdominal scan before chemo. Nothing there. Yay! At one time said scan in the middle of chemo and now talking scan at the end. I really think they reevaluate and make decisions based on what they're seeing as treatment progresses. Sounds like yours thinks you're doing pretty good.
Just M.

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Julie
And I nursed 2 of my 4 children and still got breast cancer. This and no family history was why I really never worried about that. And I can affirm that breast cancer patients get a lot more public support than lung cancer patients having walked in both of those shoes. I don't believe stress causes relapse, but we do all feel better without it. But easier said than done in the situation.

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Yes, this sounds like another version of blame the patient or maybe a more "sophisticated version" of sell healing to the vulnerable.
Maybe I'm more sensitive to this than others, but I hate it when people hear I have lung cancer and then ask if I smoked. Now I get the connection, but why would anyone ask.  We wouldn't ask a breast cancer patient if they nursed their babies! How is it socially ok to ask if I smoked? Because if I smoked then in the mind of the theoretical asker, I could be blamed for my lung cancer and if I sun bathed, I can be blamed for my melanoma. And since the asker theoretically didn't do these things, he or she will be ok. Yes this is dog wash.
So, with Respect to Mitch the above poster, what do you intend with your post? Are you selling us healing? Blaming us for our illness? What's your connection with cancer? Are you free of psychotraumaic stimuli?  Or are you posting a service?
And by the way, no, I didn't smoke or sun bathe!
Julie
 

Happy for (eventually) good results.

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Hi Mich,
Just my opinion, but this sounds like another version of blaming us for our illness. I  think that our state of mind can affect our quality of life in recovery, and that stress reduction, prayer (ours and others), positive thoughts, visualization, etc, can be helpful for some of us.  But I distrust someone who treats cancer as a psychosomatic illness that requires psychotherapy for "successful treatment".  And I note that this person appears to be selling a particular brand of psychotherapy. I'm not buying!
Bridget

Glad to see your like so that we know you're okay Jeffrey. Hope your healing is speedy.
Judy M

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