I am so very, very sorry. You and your mother will both be in my prayers. Have you considered getting a second opinion for your mother? A second opinion on diagnosis for treatment can many times make a real difference.
Prayers,
Carol
Thank you for your answer. That certainly makes sense. However now I do have a third question. I had 2 lymph nodes that lit up before surgery. They were never biopsied until I got on the surgery table and then they were negative for cancer. So I truly do not know if they were cancerous or if the chemo and radiation killed the cancer. If the radiation and chemo killed the cancer could the cancer still have traveled? Also I do not understand why chemo would not clean up lymph nodes after surgery as well as before surgery.
Question #1 I had surgery July 2005. All of my scans and xrays to date refer to "postoperative changes". My question is are these post operative changes different from scan to scan or are they referring back to the first scan?
Question #2 I have noticed that some people have positive lymph nodes reported in their pathology report after surgery. Why is that a bad thing? Doesn't that mean that the cancer was removed? Or does it mean that cancer may have gone from the lymph node that was removed to one that was not removed? I think that might be three questions.
I would insist on having that clarified, and in writing. What if you were to move to another city or state. You would need to take your medical records with you. How would your new doctors know what this "rotten" description means. You certainly do not want your new doctors asking you what it means. There is a standard for reporting for a reason.
Hello and welcome,
My name is Carol. I also was stage 3A andenecarcinoma. I had daily radiation along with weekly chemo (carboplatinum/taxol) for six weeks. At the end of that time I was able to have surgery.I had two more chemo sessions after surgery. I had surgery July 1st. I was back at work teaching high school at the end of August.I have been cancer free by the Grace of God since my surgery. It is not uncommon to have chemo to shrink the tumor before surgery. I hope and pray this is what happens for your dad. Hope this info helps. Your dad most likely will be here to not only walk you down the isle but to also walk his grandchildren to the park.
Good report Randy. I will work with you on losing weight. It has been over a year since I had treatment and I need to get this weight off so that I can feel like me again.
My radiation oncologist came me some kind of medicince that kind of numbed your throat. It was good because the radiation can make you not want to eat because it is hard to swallow. That magic syrup certainly did help. Be sure to ask for it. Also drink lots of water during the entire time of chemo and radiation. You may want to get some Aquaphor, Aloe Vera Gel or Sween Cream to rub on his chest for radiation irritation. Be sure to ask your radiation oncologist about these things. He/she will probably have them ready for you.