MarkH

Thank You Izzy, Thank you for the offer to contact you. That is very sweet of you and I am thankful for your support. I know it will be brutal going through this, but it helps knowing that there are survivors out there that are getting through it. Thank you so much. I see that you are from the UK. I work for a wonderful company based in the UK in Wotton-Under-Edge near Bristol. I have been there several times and enjoyed it very much. I even took my guitar and did an open mic night and was warmly but sternly forced to get up and play, which I enjoyed immensely. Cheers, Mark

Thank you Tom and Justin. As it happens, I got the call from MD Anderson a few hours ago that I can go there in a couple weeks to get the second opinion. And they said I should get the treatment and brain scan that I am scheduled for next week where I live in Michigan. I wasn’t sure what they would say about that. It gives me a bit more confidence that I’m getting the best treatment possible by getting another look at things. I appreciate all the good things you are telling me. I’ll read through all of the stuff you sent me for sure. This has all put me in a better state of mind than earlier today. I promised my son I would never stop trying. He knows how stubborn I am!

Thanks Tom. It really does help to speak with others that have been through this. I am finding out that when I think too far into the future, that is when it affects me the most mentally and emotionally. I am starting to understand what it means to not think too far into the future and just think about what you need to do right now. I think that as time passes, it becomes easier to accept the unknown future. I say that with only knowing for a week. Before the actual biopsy, I was told that it was most likely lymphoma, which sounds easier to fix. At that point, I thought that I would have to go through treatment, and I would eventually be fine. When the oncologist told me it was stage IV lung cancer, what he said did not make me feel very hopeful. He almost sounded dismissive, like I may as well give up. He even said that some people choose not to get treatment at this stage. That is when I decided to look for a second opinion. I am fairly sure his diagnosis is correct, but I want to make sure that no stone is unturned. My wife was devastated and is not handling it well. That is the most difficult part for me. I can handle dying but cannot handle the thought of her being alone and without a good way to generate income. I feel like Walter White, AKA Heisenberg. I don't mean to make light of a serious situation, but that is how I handle it when I am not getting emotional about it. I am certain that I will be on a roller coaster as far as how I handle it. Hopefully, I can help someone else someday like you are doing for me. Thank you.

Hello everyone. I have 2 large masses on my mediastinum, a solid one (9 cm x 7.5 cm), a 4.6 cm x 6 cm pericardium soft tissue mass, an enlarged left supraclavicular lymph node (2.5 cm x 2.3 cm) and several nodules in my lungs. Also, multiple pleural based nodules. Waiting on a brain scan and genetic testing. The microscopic report for my needle biopsy on my lymph node showed it was Poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma in a desmoplastic background. Most of this is on my left side with very little in the right lung. I am still fairly healthy and can work still. I am not sure of where I stand on the prognosis, but according to my oncologist at Karmanos cancer institute in Flint, MI, it is stage IV due to mets to my lymph node. I know I am supposed to be positive, and I feel that I am as much as humanly possible, but I am not feeling much hope to be quite honest. I am starting chemo (Taxol) and immunotherapy (Keytruda) next week. I feel that this is a very ominous situation, but I am fighting as hard as I can. Not sure how long I will feel fairly healthy or of what the progression will be like. It seems like things could go bad very quickly.