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Pat, I have you and Brian in my prayers, I hope "both" your suffering will be eased. Remember as the caregiver to keep your own strenght up. Please take care of yourself also. Again I will be praying for you. wish I had more words of wisdom. You are in my thoughts, Debbie Husband Alan dignosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer limited Jan 10th 2005 1/18/05 started on Cisplatin and CPT 11 1/31/05 admitted to hospital with infection 2/17/05 new chemo Cisplatin and VP 16 2/21/05 admitted to hospital in an altered state due to decadron 2/26/05 released from hospital 3/1/05 re-admitted to hospital with bilateral pneumonia 3/31/05 released from hospital 4/22/05 after hospital review board it is determined chemo should be discontinued 5-9-05 chest radiation x 35 starts 6-28-05 last day of radiation 7/7/05 MRI of brain due to headaches and dizziness 7/12/05 confirmed Mets to brain 3 x 3.5 cm tumor, WBR x 10 8/1/05 start IMRT radaition to tumor x 16 treatments 9/1/05 treatments finished follow up MRI in about 4 weeks.

Pat, I have you and Brian in my prayers, I hope "both" your suffering will be eased. Remember as the caregiver to keep your own strenght up. Please take care of yourself also. Again I will be praying for you. wish I had more words of wisdom. You are in my thoughts, Debbie Husband Alan dignosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer limited Jan 10th 2005 1/18/05 started on Cisplatin and CPT 11 1/31/05 admitted to hospital with infection 2/17/05 new chemo Cisplatin and VP 16 2/21/05 admitted to hospital in an altered state due to decadron 2/26/05 released from hospital 3/1/05 re-admitted to hospital with bilateral pneumonia 3/31/05 released from hospital 4/22/05 after hospital review board it is determined chemo should be discontinued 5-9-05 chest radiation x 35 starts 6-28-05 last day of radiation 7/7/05 MRI of brain due to headaches and dizziness 7/12/05 confirmed Mets to brain 3 x 3.5 cm tumor, WBR x 10 8/1/05 start IMRT radaition to tumor x 16 treatments 9/1/05 treatments finished follow up MRI in about 4 weeks.

I have a terrible sense of direction. My husband is my GPS system when we drive any where. some people spend thousands to have one installed in their cars, I just bring Alan with me LOL!!!! Debbie Wife of Alan DX small cell lung cancer Jan 10th 05 limited disease. (I will give you the short version) 01/18/05 start chemo, cisplatian and CT 11 03/05 30 days in hospital bilateral pneumonia 04/05 chemo discontinued due to severe complications 05/05 start chest radiation x 35 06/28/05 last chest radiation 07/12/05 MRI brain confirms mets to brain, begin WBR that day 09/01/05 last radiation of the brain, praying for good results

Hi all My husband Alan was DX with SCLC limited disease on Jan 10th 2005. as Alan had major issues with treatment I will keep this part short. Due to many complications Alan did not even complete 2 cycles of chemo which had to be discontinued on Feb 20th. he then spent some 6 weeks in the hospital which delayed any radiation treatments until May 19th and ended June 28th (35 treatments to primary tumor in right upper lobe). All seemed well until July 12 when it was confirmed he had a 3.0 x 3.5 tumor the right cerebellar region of his brain. we now had recurrent small cell lung cancer to his brain. prognosid 3-6 months. Alan has obtained pallitive relief from his symptoms and is now able to get around faily well and sometimes I forget what we are dealing with. There is always that fine line between hope and reality. Hope is he will be this way forever, reality is he probably won't. Have any caregivers out there had a loved one with limited disease that recurred to the brain that faced a similar prognosis??? Both of Alan's dr's are the most positive upbeat caring men I have ever met, both told me the same thing about Alan's prognosis (no sugar coating at this point). Can someone tell me what to possibly expect?? Here is how the Dr's explained it. There would be a period of time that Alan show marked improvement (which is the case now), then his condition would level out, then he would show signs of decline and the end would come fairly quickly. Alan has had 10 whole brain radiation treatments and they are now doing 16 IMRT treatments to the tumor itself. As alan can not take any steriods his edema is a concen. thank you to all of you who take the time to reach out to others, it is very comforting to us to know others have already traveled our path. I pray for all those who have a loved one with this awful disease. Debbie

Sandy, you are not selfish. I faced the exact same thing. My husband was digonsed with limited small cell lung cancer on Jan 10th, 2005. I will not go into the long drawn out history of his disease, but he did not handle any of the treatements well and chemo had to be discontinued way too early. My husband Alan works out of town and he looked so foward to going back to work. if he did go back to work I would only see him on the "week-ends" I to felt I was selfish in my thinking that "if" Alan had limited time left I did not want to loose those days together and did not want him returning to work. He is my husband and I love him very much. I never told him how I felt, but did mention it in my support groups. Well God made the decision for us as unfortunatley Alan's cancer has spread to his brain and he will not be able to return to work. Are you Selfish?? not in the least!!!!!! At least not in my opinion. I will pray for you and your husband. Debbie

Hello All this is my 1st post to this site. My husband was dx with Limited sclc on Jan 10 2005 and we have not had an easy time. He was DX with a 7 x 7 tumor in the upper lobe of his right lung with superior veynacava syndrome. Had Brain, Stomach and bone scans on Jan 21st all clear. Alan had his 1st chemo treatment on Jan 20th Cisplatin and CPT 11 with no side effects. 2nd treatment with CPT 11 was on Jan 27th. was admitted to the hospital with infections on Jan 31st and released on Feb 5th. Was re-admitted on Feb 13th in a severe altered state cause unknown. Had next chemo treatements while in the hospital Feb 17, 18 and 19th cisplatin and VPT 16. released Feb 20th Again re-admitted to the hospital on Feb 23rd in another severe altered state. Cause Orgainic psycosis caused by steriod Decadron. detox from steriod and released on Feb 27th. Was then re-admitted on March 1st this time with bi-lateral pneumonia. spent 18 days in ICU and finally released on March 31st. While in hospital developed blood infection in his port a cath which had to be removed. Devolped blood clot behind his left knee. Also lost 40 pounds. Alan has had no chemo treatments since Feb 20th and Dr.'s have advised against further treatments. Started 7 weeks of radiation on May 9th to shrink remaing tumor. Has been successful to date and tumor is now mesured in ml instead of CM. Just wondering what we could expect next. I believe Alan's next scans will be after radiation is complete. He is getting stronger everyday, but still sleeps most of the day and is slowly putting weight back on. Anyone with similar experiences. God Bless all of you