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GaryG

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Everything posted by GaryG

  1. Hi and welcome. I am very surprised that the pulmonologist thinks it is cancer just from looking at a CT scan. As Lexi said, for now your best bet is to wait for the PT and biopsy results to find out. Waiting is difficult but there are no alternatives to the tests even if someone had the same experience with Covid-19.
  2. Hi again: After my PT scan I met with a PA to learn the results. To my surprise she informed me that the PT scan shows activities in the lung as well as the prostate. She proceeded to say that the cancer may have started in the prostate and spread to the lung. It just happens that I had a procedure to remove excessive tissue from the prostate 3 months prior so I rejected her theory. Bottom line PT scans can produce false alarms. Even though as Bridget said, second opinions are beneficial, it seems that your medical team is on the right track by wanting to do surgery on the lung. Not only can they remove the cancer but they can also examine any other areas of concern and extract more tissue for biopsy. My opinion would have been different if a treatment other than surgery was recommended. In that case I would prefer a biopsy on the spine first to eliminate the possibility of secondary cancer. This situation is one of the reasons I prefer treatment in an establishment where there is a cancer board. You get the opinion of many experts at the same time. Best of luck and please post again as you go through the process.
  3. Barb: great news indeed but maddening at the same time. Now if we manage to figure out how to asses the whole lung cancer population, for ALL immunotherapy drugs, it might increase our knowledge and improve the survival rate. It looks like we are so close but we rely solely on individual Pharma and their drive for profits. Why does a specific drug work for one patient and not another patient? That shouldn't be hard to figure out. If we combine all pharma results we should be able to target patients with the correct treatment instead of applying drugs based on a single clinical trial. Thanks again.
  4. Thanks for the update and sorry your Mom has cancer. Once the staging and Biomarker tests are complete it will be clear what type of drugs/regimen she will be on. We will be here to help you navigate through the ups and down should you need help. Stay strong.
  5. Hi Jack: Welcome. To be part of this group all you have to do is visit and contribute with your story. You can also ask questions and the members with knowledge on the subject will answer. As you can see there are few people on Tabrecta so you can share your story with them and benefit from their experience.
  6. Hello huj123: I had a bronchoscopy first to extract tissue and liquid on the inside. However my oncologist ordered a biopsy as well. I would not worry about CT-guided needle biopsy because they can zero in on a very small area. Make sure they take enough tissue to perform more than one bio-marker test. Some members here had false readings on the first one and the second test found mutation. Best of luck!
  7. Hi huj123: Thank you for joining us and sorry for your Mom's diagnoses. Unfortunately many of us were young, healthy and active prior to being diagnosed. Lung cancer does not discriminate. While you were told she has Pancoast tumor, I suggest that you wait for the biopsy results. Make sure they also do the biomarker tests to see if a mutation may be present. The answer to your second question is yes when cancer spreads out of the lung (in this case) it is called metastatic cancer and usually labeled as stage 4. However you still need to wait for the results of the biopsy to make sure. I wish you the best.
  8. Speaking of CT scan ,it is common to have different pictures when CT scans are taken on 2 different machines. The reason being there is no one standard for calibration of these machines among manufacturers. Not to get too deep in the boring world of photons , beams and wavelengths, standard calibration insures that all machines operate under the same conditions and provide the same result. Our health care system is great but most of the time and due to competition, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
  9. Strange how there is no consistency at all among oncologists. When the I was told I had no mutation, I got visibly scared and shaken up because the oncologist assured me that there are plenty of avenues available beside target therapy'. Then he explained how I will be on the triplet for 4 cycles then put on a maintenance plan without Carboplatin for up to 2 or 3 years. I was and still am very surprised by his confidence in the outcome since I was not a candidate for target therapy, surgery or radiation therapy. Hopefully he is right.
  10. I wish we had a blog specifically for new patients to guide them on "DOs & DON'Ts". I know the home page has a lot of useful instructions but it can be daunting for a newly diagnosed person.
  11. I did not have all the testing done because they did not have enough tissue. I think my oncologist was only concerned about ALK and/or EGFR (not sure) in order to choose a path. When those come negative he decided to go right away with the triplet. I was told by few knowledgeable posters here that I should have all the tests done not only once but twice or three times, but that was after the fact and would have taken 4 to 6 weeks. One should remind the oncologists/radiologists to take enough tissue for many tests the first time around since they can't figure that out on their own. Live and learn (has a nice ring to it when you are a cancer patient).
  12. Congratulations and hopefully that will lead you to a good plan for fighting cancer.
  13. ashnnazila: Great news that the treatment reduced the tumor in the lung. As for the surgery, does your mom want you to be the decision maker? In that case why don't you seek a second opinion if you are not concinced, Best of luck.
  14. I keep reading and re-reading this post. My great-nephew called last night to give me a pep talk about staying strong, fighting and never loosing hope. I reached for my notes and read to him: I just have to hope that while waiting for the cancer business to become clear, I don't get so thirsty/anxious that I empty my glass. That wouldn't help anybody, especially me. There was a silence at the other end. I am sure that phrase will be engraved in his mind like it was engraved in mine. Thank you for a great post.
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