heffa47

Overall I would say the news is good. The results of the first PET scan showed that the spread is limited to the large tumor in the upper left lobe, the lymph nodes at center line of chest and an attachment to the left chest wall. There is no sign of any METS in the brain, liver or adrenal. Surgery is not an option due to the location of the large tumor and the attachment to the chest wall. The plan is to start chemo and radiation in the next couple of days. We will be using Taxol and Carboplatin plus an unnamed white blood cell booster. I still don't know what all this information boils down to for staging, IIIb? Either way I would appreciate any input on what we might expect in the upcoming weeks. Thanks, Jeff

Thanks for all the words of encouragement. My mother-in-law got her PET scan today and we are waiting on the results. Scheduled to start chemo next Tuesday. I will post further updates and questions under the NSCLC topic. Jeff

Good to hear back so soon from people here. Kasey, We had already found your profile and it sounded most like the way my mother-in-laws is presenting. We are trying not to get our hopes up too high but we are taking alot of hope from your case. I look forward to hearing from everybody of course, but your experience may be the most relevant. I will post more when we get the next news. Jeff

Unfortunately I have had experience with these types of boards before. What a great resource they are and I'm looking forward to everyones wealth of knowledge on the subject to help us through our struggles ahead. My wife is 14 years post chemo for Hodgkins disease and doing very well. We even managed (with a little chemical help) to have a son 7 years ago! Our most recent battle is for my mother-in-law. She was diagnosed with NSCLC just last week. She is 58 and smoked for about 25 years before quiting about 10 years ago. She is also a breast cancer survivor going on 20 years! The only info we have at the moment is that she has a tumor in her left upper lung (about the size of a lemon) that is too large to operate on, and it is also affecting the lymph nodes in the area. I'm not even sure what stage that puts her at. She is waiting for a PET scan to determine where else we might be dealing with. The initial plan is radiation and chemo (the type of chemo has not been discussed yet) to shrink the tumor before any other action is taken. Anybody have any suggestions before we get started with treatment? Thanks in advance for all of your help, Jeff