joeh

My sister has been fighting nsclc for almost 4 years. It started with the lower lobe of the right lung being removed. Then a Brain tumor was removed. Next a second brain tumor was treated with cyberknife and then a third brain tumor appeared that was treated with electron beam radiation. After that a new lung tumor was treated with cyberknife in Feb of this year. The end of April, she had a fourth brain tumor removed (all 4 in the same general area of the brain). Last week, a pet scan revealed that the lung tumor treated with the cyberknife was growing again and there is now a tumor on the other lung. This week a brain mri showed that there are at least 10 and possibly as many as 20 tumors in her brain with the largest one being about a half inch (on top of that there is bleeding around one of the brain tumors). Yesterday she started whole brain radiation and she still has a positive attitude about beating this. My concern is that while treating the brain, for a while until she recovers from it the lungs will go out of control. Is there anyone out there that has survived something this extreme? I would love to be able to pass along at least one success story with similar circumstances to boost her morale. I really don't want her to suffer or have her quality of life to go down the tubes but I sure want to keep her around -- she is my only sibling.

My sister had cyberknife for a brain met a couple of years ago and for a spot on her lung earlier this year***. Hers were both successful and were done at Georgetown. With what we know now, however, I would recommend having cyberknife done at Stanford if possible as they were at the proverbial ground floor with the cyberknife. Hope this helps. ***We just received word that a PET Scan taken ofn Thursday revealed that the lung tumor treated with the cyberknife is again growing and, she now has a growth on her other lung. We will not give up though!!

Is there anyone who has gone through or knows someone that went through whole brain radiation and can provide me with info on what they experienced with regard to the long term effects and their quality of life? My sister is about to go through it as a last resort -- nsclc with 4 brain mets so far that have been removed or treated. She is very scared about her quality of life down the road though. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.