Rick P

Hi Rick,

Hang in there, I don't know how bad it will be! I don't mean to be facetious, I think that's how it is. My lung cancer was stage 1a, so I only needed surgery. It was discovered in a routine every-6-months surveillance CT for an unrelated cancer which was stage 3 (regional lymph node mets)and aggressive. For that cancer I had 30 (if I recal the number correctly) radiation treatments with concurrent cisplatin weekly, followed by  3 rounds of carboplatin and taxoterre (close relative of taxol). Some of my side effects were different than yours will be because my gut was being radiated. I had some nausea and a lot of diarrhea. Hard to know how much was from the chemo itself, probably the diarrhea at least was mostly due to gut radiation. I had to carefully figure out what I could eat (bland, non fat, non fiber foods) and that helped some. I had neutropenia, once mild and once really severe (zero neutrophils), and then was put on neulasta, which prevented recurrence.  At the end of my treatment I got very anemic and needed a transfusion.

i'm retired so not working during treatment. I was able to drive myself to all of my chemo and radiation appointment. So I would say it wasn't a piece of cake, but it was doable, and I'm grateful to be alive with no evidence of disease today, so it was worth it.

All that being said, everybody's experience with chemo and radiation is different.  A lot of people get really fatigued with radiation. I didn't, although I had very low energy from anemia at the end of my treatment. 

You posted  in a way that came only to me. Don't  know if this was on purpose or not. If you post to the general forum, you'll get input from others, which would be valuable to you, since everybody's different with this. You can go to the home page, then Forums, and then "Start New Topic" and give it a title, maybe like " Want to hear real chemo/radiation experiences". These forums are good places for information and support. Be sure to ask, either generally or to me or others, what questions you have.

Best wishes to you.

Bridget O

Bridget thank you for a response. I thought I was placing on the forum. I appreciate the info.  It is hard to get ready for an uncertain future.  Here Goes!

best to you, Rick

Hi Again, Rick! I'm glad to see that you posted on the general forum and you already have one respone. I'm sure you'll get more. It is indeed hard to get ready for an uncertain future!  I like the "Here goes! I try to think of cancer treatment as an adventure; it's something I've never done before and there are things I can learn from it. And since I have no choice about having cancer and not much choice about having treatment (assuming I want to live, which I really do)--  I might as well try to find a positive way to approach it. That works for me some of the time.

Bridget O