Donna G

The first year is a tough one, especially if you have had to have the"works" . Not only physically but emotionally. Many of of need a little prozac or something to get us over the hump. It so much worry and stress. The good news is now you are on the road to recovery. I hope in sharing with us you find the help you need . Donna

We have been so worried. Now we are so glad that you are home and able to post notes to us. I know you miss your Mom but I am sure she loves you and is with you in a special way now. She will give you the strength to get through this. Welcome back. Now keep us posted on all your progress.

We love good news . Keep it coming!!!!!

I am so sorry that you are going through this. People do have the impression that only smokers get lung cancer . You will meet others here like yourselves, and many are so young. You have found a group of survivors however and we want to help each other in any way we can. We have a lot of experience. I hope you find support with us. You will be in my prayers.

Great story . Love the happy ending. We all want and pray for happy endings. My church is sending a team this Friday evening to the local relay for life. I am looking forward to wearing my lung cancer survivor shirt and walking the victory lap. I noticed in the flyer they sent me they are going to balloon rides. I have said many times "boy I 'd like to try that." I think I will. The church team is going to camp out all night. I have done that before. I think I'll sleep in my own bed with the air conditioning running and no mosquitoes. Thanks again for sharing.

Thanks for sharing that great news with us. Starting chemo , what drugs? Keep us posted on how well she is doing. Thanks again

Welcome Sandra Ann. Talk about stress! Wow , you have had some. I had chemo and radiation before I had surgery also. I hope and pray the tumor is very sensitive to the chemo and is wiped out. Keep us posted on his progress. Donna PS My husband was over in Australia last month on business bought me home some things from there. Wow what a long flight.

Boy that was when I was diagnosed with lung cancer. December,97. I am so sad for you and your husband that he has been afficted with this awful disease twice. I am glad that the doctors feel he can rid of it again. You did not mention in all the tests that he has had that they found it any where else. This is GREAT. The surgery is no fun but many of us have been through it. Epidural catheters post op are great to relieve the pain. Very important that he get up within a couple of days to eat, walk around etc. Our thoracic surgeon wants all his patients to have at least passive range of motion on the second day after surgery to the affected shoulder to prevent the shoulder from freezing up. As soon as the lung is reinflated they will remove the chest tubes and generally thats when they send you home . Some of us have gone home in 3-4 days, some longer. The newest and greatest surgery is pneumonectomy using VATS, video assisted thorocotomy, no big incision, relatively little pain, home quick recover quick but it can only be used by a trained MD, on someone who never had chemo or radiation and the tumor is in a place easily resectable. If you are really afraid it will come back there are some who feel that all tumors should have chemo after surgery because of the chance of a micro metastasis. Generally it has not been recommended unless the tumor touches the pleura, or is in lymph nodes, or of course if it has metastisized. Like I say if you are really concerned ask the doctor if he has read studies on the benefit of giving prophylactic chemo. Please keep us posted on how his surgery went . This we all know is a very emotional and stressful time we are here for you Donna

Mary , I am so sorry your sister has had this complication. I don't know exactly why but for some reason lung cancer makes us more prone to developing blood clots, also anesthesia increases the risk, lying around or worse yet "sitting' around makes us more prone also. A friend of mine who had part of her lung removed seemed to do everything right, she was up the day of surgery, walking around in a couple of days carrying her chest tubes, and still ended up with a huge clot in a deep vein in her leg. Fortunately it did not break off and go to her lung. Being that your sister just had a procedure for the brain tumor I imagine that really has complicated treating the emboli please keep us posted on how she is doing and what they have been able to do for her. Praying for her . Donna

Sorry to hear about your Dad. I too had a pancoast tumor . You can find my story under Inspiration. I had just turned 50. Before they would do surgery I had radiation and cisplatin and VP16. My phone buddy also had a pancoast tumor. When I was diagnosed he was a 10 yr survivor. He had similiar treatment as I but also had 2 ribs removed. He is a 15 yr suvivor now, in his 70's. What bones did your Dad have it spead too? Is he getting chemo also? I had lost about 30 pounds when I was diagnosed. During my chemo etc I gained a lot of weight, nearly 60 pounds!! There are several other survivors on this board that have had pancoast tumors. Waiting to hear more from you Donna

There are doctors who are pain specialists. Perhaps he could be seen by one. I wonder if he would be a candidate for an epidural. They plant a pump that feeds medicine into the spine. Generally, if it can be used,your mind stays clear but the pain is relieved. Try to find out if a pain specialist is available to him. By the way , are you in India?

Perhaps now that you practiced and did such a good job whipping the small cell you can do a super job whipping this large cell!!!! Sounds like you can get that "clean" scan yet. Go for it. You continue to be in my prayers. Donna

I took those same drugs. If he has been nauseated etc he may have electrolyte imbalance , my doctor always did lab work every few weeks. It also may just be stress. He may just be using all that "busy" work to keep his mind busy rather than have to deal with the big C all the time. Having lung cancer is very stressful, does anyone out there agree with this? For me those first few months were so stressful. Was I going to die soon, see another Christmas?, was it going to spread?, dealing with all these new procedures, also it was a full time job. Every day I had to be somewhere doing something, lots of tests, lots of doctor appointments. It was exausting. No wonder under these presures we forget a few "minor things" . It is best to rule out the worst but it might end up just stress.

Praying for a successful surgery, painfree epidural , good physical therapy ( range of motion of the affected shoulder), kind and thoughtful care givers and a short hospital stay.

Christina , most of us have similiar stories. There is no accepted screaning for lung cancer so most of us had our cancer found when treatments for infection etc failed to "cure' our problem so our doctors ordered further studies. The good thing today is there is hope. There are many different chemotherapy drugs, new types of surgery as radiofrequency ablation and video assisted thorocotomies . This is a very scary time for you and your boyfriend. As others have said " Knowledge is power" The more we learn , the more we feel in control, and it eases the worry up some. Stay with us. We want to help. We are survivors.

Lung cancer is no fun. I would never have picked this path . Should I be angry with my mother who smoked? My friends in High School who thought it was part of being grown up? The TV commercials, the Marlboro man? The doctors who smoked at the nurses station when I was in nursing school? the patients who were allowed to smoke at their bedside? What I don't understand is now that we know that tobacco manufacturers knew how addicting nicotine is, who added more chemical that are carcinogenic to the tobacco, and continue to do so, are allowed to continue to sell their product. Why do movie producers take money from tobacco companies in exchange for smoking "leading" heros? Why do characters on TV continue to be allowed to smoke on screen? Why did our X governor , Ventura, allow himself as a leader to always be photographed with a cigar in his mouth? I just saw on TV a study that was done recently that said young teens see their heros in the movies smoking and want to imitate them. They suggested we have another rating called No Smoking for movies. Once people are hooked on nicotine it is very difficult to quit smoking. We should spend some of our energy trying to prevent young kids from making ignorant decisions or being influenced by "commercials" for tobacco in the movies or TV shows. What can we do?

Sam you are in all of our prayers today, for a good biopsy, a wise pathologist, and a clean result.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was talking to our local onocologist at work (I am a nurse in a hospital, besides being a survivor) . Dr. Dien told me about 15 % survive SCLC with no reoccurance after chemo therapy, those diagnosed early!! Sounds like you are one of "those diagnosed early"

The other day they were talking about RFA radiofrequency ablation. How well it works on tumors especially liver tumors. It just cooks the tumor by sound waves without hurting surrounding tissues .

Go to MSNBC.com and hear Tom Brokaw tell of new treatment , giving chemo to all Stage I lung cancer patients, it could save about 10,000 lives a year.

Dave your new picture reminds me of a past governor of Minnesota. Are you going to run for governor? Please don't put a cigar in your mouth like he did though.

Thanks for keeping us up dated. What great news . Fine is GOOD.

Becky I am so glad you found us. We have a young person in our support group here in Minnesota, never smoked and also has a little girl. Hers was BAC lung cancer. We are so happy she is doing well. I pray that you also will do well. I had to have chemo before they would operate. I had Cisplatin and VP 16 along with radiation. After surgery they gave me more of the same chemo and so far so good. I have read about a young basketball player from Louisiana who got lung cancer , never smoked. They said hers could be related to the oil fields or production poluting the air. Do you live near any of that? Well whatever, we will try to help in any way we can, we are survivors . Welcome. PS you're little girl sounds very smart, cute!

most of us who have had thorocotomies have had an epidural, if only for a few days, they are great!! Your head is clear but the pain is gone. Hope all goes well. So far you have given us lots of good news.

When I was told I had lung cancer I was over 1000 or so miles from all of my family except my husband. When you are so far apart you call on birthdays, holidays, but that is about it. After I told them about the lung cancer we talked all the time, cards, my brother even flew here to visit. How they came to my rescue emotionally was so wonderful.