SANJO

Thanks everyone for replying to my post on cranial radiation. Your support and input are much appreciated. I will report on my next consultation with medical centers here in California. God Bless us all. Joanne

I am pretty new to this board. I had right upper lobectomy in February after stage IIIa tumor was reduced in size by chemothrapy. There was no lymph node involvement, suprisingly. Pathology reports were negative after surgery. I felt fine after a couple of weeks. No pain, great recovery Then oncologist suggested chemo and radiation of mediastinum as "insurrance" against recurrance. NOW he is suggesting cranial radiation and I am scared! He admits that for Stage IIIa thre is no research that he knows of as to whether the brain radiation helps or prevents anything. Does anyone out there have any infor on this? I plan to get a second and maybe third opinion before starting the brain radiation but hope someone has had experience with this. THank you all for being here. It ihas been a great source of compfort for me to read your stories, etc. God Bless you all. Joanne

Sarah: Glad you posted a message. YOu are going to be great support for your mother. Briefly, I was 51 when I was diagnosed with stage 3a adenocarcinoma (oct 2002). I had a large tumor (10 cm) in my right lung and the option of surgery was not possible at that point. My oncologist said he could shrink the tumor so I could have surgery and he did it with CISPLATIN! I had to be careful of becoming dehydrated during the 12 week treatment because I was nauseated much of the time, even with meds. Everyone is diferent and others I know of did not have this problem at all. What I did during this time was go into myt Dr's office for extra fluids every day or so. Fatigue is just a way of life with cancer. Excuse for many naps. Anyway, the Cisplatin sharank the tumor dramatically, so I could have surgery in February. It was not painful, I felt great after a few weeks; the upper lobe of my right lung was removed. The pathology reports after the surgery were all negative and there was never any lymph node involvement. I did decide to follow my oncologist's suggestion and am now having preventative chemothrapy and radiation to my mediastinum. Basically what I want to say to you is "THere is hope, always" There is so much this chemotherapy can do for us that no one could do several years ago. I am thankful that Cisplatin was there for me. I consider it now my friend on this trip through cancer land. God Bless you and your mother. Joanne Diagnosed 10-02 adenocarcinoma Stage IIIa, inoperable No lymph node involvement 12 weeks Cisplatin and Gymspar Surgery 2-03; negative pathology report - clear 12