lulu

Hi Carleen, Thank you for caring. Mom couldn't have chemo this week as her platelets were a little low, so she will have the chemo on Friday. It was a very busy week as my father in law had vascular surgery and I was at the hospital with him. I don't know if I am coming or going. Maybe I will get a chance to chat with you tonight if you join the chat. Again, Thanks for caring. Luann

Hi Carleen, Thank you for caring. Mom couldn't have chemo this week as her platelets were a little low, so she will have the chemo on Friday. It was a very busy week as my father in law had vascular surgery and I was at the hospital with him. I don't know if I am coming or going. Maybe I will get a chance to chat with you tonight if you join the chat. Again, Thanks for caring. Luann

My mom was diagnosed in Oct. of this year and has undergone radiation 36 to chest and 15 to spine. She is on her 2nd round of chemo and is doing ok. She has suffered little side effects except for weakness and neuropathy in her feet. Her appetite is huge and she feels good most of the time, although she does sleep a lot. She has a positive outlook and it is actually better than mine. I think all a patient needs is a little bit of hope and it will help them win the fight. If not for this site I never would have thought mom had a chance. It has been a Godsend to me. I to cry everyday but I think of everyday as a gift,none of us know how long we have.Shemay outlive me. Don't read the statistics on line as they would have had my mom dead already. Listen to the people at this site as they have been through it themselves. It is extremely hard being a caregiver, but somehow you get the strength to smile and go on with life. Enjoy every day with your husband to the fullest, allow him to enjoy life and your marriage and children. Cancer makes you appreciate life much more than before. If ever you need to chat e mail me I could also use the support. I am from the east coast to. Pennsylvania. I forgot to mention mom is 72 years young. Luann

My mom is my best friend , I know exactly what you are going through and how you feel. Mom was diagnosed in October of this year after 6 weeks of tests for back pain which was diagnosed as arthritis.My whole world came crashing down. Life as I knew it was no more. Everything changed for myself and my family. I moved mom into my house in September and she has been with me since. My entire life is devoted to taking care of her.I lost my dad 13 years ago at the age of 58 and I truely wish he were here to help with mom.Mom has been diagnosed with stage iv non small cell lung cancer with mets to sacral area.She has undergone 15 radiation treatments to spine and 36 to chest wall in conjunction with chemo. She is now on second round of chemo which is Taxotere/ Carboplatin. She was on Taxol but she developed pain and burning in her feet. She has had only one dose of the taxotere and her feet are a little improved.Please feel free to e mail me as I need the support as much as you do. I pray everyday that stage iv isn't a death sentence for my mom, as statistics don't look to good for survival. If it wasn't for the support in this room. I wouldn't have believed that there was a chance mom could make it. I only wish I could talk to someone with a stage iv daignosis so I can compare treatment. I want to make sure I am giving my mom every chance for a long life.( How do you put all that info under your posts? ). Luann

Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for all of your support,I can't begin to tell you how much it has meant to me. It really makes a bad situation a little more tolerable when you have someone to support you and listen to your fears. Mom had a DR visit today and he is going to change Taxol to taxotere because of the severe neuropathy in her feet. He also started her on Lyrica. I looked at her chart and noticed that chemo was for pallative treatment and not curative. Is Stage iv non small cell always a death sentence? Also I was wondering do they ever restage a stage iv to a lesser stage? Mom feels great except for the neuropathy, it is hard to believe that this disease may kill her. I am having a hard time keeping hope but I will never let mom know this. She is hopeful and thinks that the chemo will cure her of this beast. I don't know what I will do if I lose her as I said she is my best friend. Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. I look foreward to all of your posts. Luann

Eppie, hope your dad is feeling better by the time you read this. I know how stressed you and your family must be. It is so difficult seeing our loved ones in distress. I will keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers. Luann

Hello everyone, My name is Luann and I have been reading the posts since September,2005.That is when my mom was diagnosed with stage iv NSCLC. Mom had been complaining for years of lower back pain which was diagnosed as arthritis. The pain worsened and I convinced mom to get it checked, her primary care physician once again diagnosed it as arthritis. I asked him to send mom for an MRI as the pain was very severe. The MRI did not show much it did indicate a possible pathological ot stress fracture, this did warrent further testing.After running a gammit of tests which included CAT scan, Bone scan, bone marrow biopsy and numerous blood tests, the diagnosis still remained arthritis as all of the tests were negative. I was not satisfied due to the fact that moms back pain continue to worsen. I made an appointment with an orthopod, and he decided that mom had degenerative disc disease, that was not unusual for a 72 year old women.My family and primary care physician thought I was crazy putting mom through more tests, my brother and husband called me an alarmist. The orthopod decided that a nerve may be pinched in moms sacral area and he decided to do a minor surgical procedure called nerve decompression. A 1 hour surgery took 4 hous and when the Dr came out he told me that he found a tumor on moms spine that looked metastatic in nature. My heart sank, as a nurse I knew it wasn't good news. Moms pathology report came back poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, primary unknown. After more tests a 3 cm tumor was found on the upper lobe of moms right lung.Mom has had 15 Radiation treatment to lower spine and 36 to chest wall. She also recieved weekly chemo of Taxol and Carboplatin in conjunction with radiation. She tolerated this well except for extreme fatigue and peripheral neuropathy. She started her second rond of chemo last week and the neuropathy worsened. Oncologist took her off neurontin and put her on Lyrica, He is also considering changing Taxol to Taxotere, which is harder on blood counts, from all the stats that I keep reading on Stage iv lung cancer I am afraid I won't have mom for long, but after reading your posts I have more hope, I want to thank all of you for giving me some hope as I am so scared for my mom. I know this is long but I have been trying to think of what to post since Sept. so I guess I consolodated a few months into this 1 post. Again Thank You.

Hi, I am so sorry to hear about your dad. My mom was diagnosed with stage iv nsclc in Sept. 2005 and is on taxol and carboplatin every 3 weeks. She was on a lower dose of the same chemo that she recieved weekly with her radiation treatment for six weeks, she tolerated that well. She started her second round of chemo a week ago Wednesday and she is having diarrhea and terrible muscle pain and leg weakness.She also developed peripheral neuropathy which has gotten worse with this round of chemo. I feel so bad for her. I know what you and your family are going through. We can only hope and pray that the chemo works and all of this is not in vain. God Bless you and your family. Luann

Hi everyone, my mom is in the hospital and she was diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer with mets to the spine. I am so sick with worry, after reading many articles online I know that the prognosis is not good. My mom is my best friend, I don't know what I would do without her.She had back surgery 2 weeks ago for a ? disc problem and that is when they found the cancer. Prior to this she went for many tests, MRI, CT Scan, Blood work, Bone Scan and all were negative. She only had some arthritic pain that worsened with activity. She has never been sick. I am so scared and I don't know what to do. I am awaiting an appointment with Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She does have a lot of pain in her legs and it is killing me inside to see her with pain. She also suffers from major depression, she has been hospitalized on psych. wards numerous times and has even attempted suicide in the past.At the present time she doesn't know about the cancer, I am frightened with how she will handle the news.I am fighting a double sword, physical and mental illness. Any help and support would be greatly appreciated.[/b]