mary colleen

You're a long way in to this now - I'm impressed.

Jane, No worries about venting, glad you did. Welcome, too. Mary Colleen

Teresa, thanks for you response. You're right...the fatigue is just overwhelming, and is almost certainly contributing to the SOB. As chemo goes on, the fatigue becomes more and more pronounced, and i know that is normal. As I tell him, just a few more weeks to go. MC

Denise, Your post really touched me. I truly hope for a wonderful and healing 2007 for you. I hope that one year from tonight, you are looking back on a year that was much, much better for you than 2006 was. mc

Thanks, all. No acute periods today, but he has not moved off the sofa most of the day, either. He has an appointment on Tuesday morning, and I will attend with him to ensure that it is mentioned. Just want to get to the end of these rounds of chemo!

Karen, you are grieving deeply. Though your level of functioning may seem alarmingly abnormal to you right now, I feel that it's appropriate to the situation. I had similar issues after the death of my Mom a couple of years ago. I'm glad that you have medical support. This is very, very hard, but not abnormal. Your grief is using up most of your inner resources right now, and you don't have enough remaining resources to deal with you day to day life. Remember also that the Paxil and Valium can cause significant fatigue, expecially in the first several weeks and after dose increases. Though time doesn't really "heal", human beings are made to recover, and they do. I'm so sorry that you are having such pain. Keep up the medical help, and take the time to mourn as needed. Things will slowly right themselves. MC

My husband had a bilobectomy in early October and has been having Cisplatin/Gemzar since 11/10. He has had 2 full rounds, and part A of his third round. The total plan is for 4 2-part rounds. For the first time since chemo began, his bloodwork is outside of normal ranges in several categories, and he was unable to get his chemo treatment on Thursday. He was instead given a Procrit shot on both Thursday and Friday. He is to go back in on Tuesday, and will hopefully resume his chemo at that time. I have noticed that he has had increasingly labored (noisy) breathing over the last week or so when he is just doing ordinary activities, like coming into the house from the yard, etc. Last evening he exerted himself mildly to go outside and look at a small issue my son was having with his car. When he returned to the house, he had a brief period of real difficulty getting enough breath, but recovered in a couple of minutes. Prior to this, he had recovered well from the early post surgical shortness of breath that resulted from his surgery. His bloodwork is off in several areas: low WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, and lymphocytes...and high in other categories. I am assuming that his SOB is probably a result of the chemo related anemia. Just curious if others have experienced similar SOB symptoms when in chemo and having blood issues? Also wondering - is it pretty routine at this point in chemo (has had 5 of 8 total treatments) to start running into blood count issues, and if treatment for them is usually sufficient to get back on track with the chemo? Thanks!

Trish, I'm so very sorry for your loss. It's really impossible to speculate on what may have happened in the case of your brother without knowing a lot more. Do you know what type of non-small LC he had, what stage it was, whether he had surgery to remove it, and chemo or radiation to follow up, and whether he had any special complications? Maybe you don't know any of these things, and perhaps it's more important now to deal with the impact of your loss. Either way, many people are here to help you and to listen and share. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Alicia, I haven't much to add here in terms of suggestions, all you have received are from folks with all of the right experience and knowledge. However, I do understand what you are saying about your dad's personality, how it is impacting his approach to this, and what a struggle all of that is for you. You and your family will be in my thoughts. Do the best that you can do in a situation in which you have limited control, and be strong. Mary Colleen

Tanner, I simply hurt for you and your wife and girls. No young family should have such a burden. Do remember that this is beatable, no matter what the statistics say. Hold your little girls close, and make sure that they feel completely secure no matter what. I hope that you have good nearby support. Please keep us posted.I'll be watching for your posts! Mary Colleen

Terry, you certainly have my prayers. I know that you're scared. Remember that your goal is to get to surgery, and that you have to go through the rest to do that. Read all of the survivor stories that you can on this site - you will see that people get through the chemo and radiation, and that it's worth it. Please keep us posted on how things are going!

Yes, shortness of breath. Well, here, anyway:)

Flo, Everyone who has responded is giving you excellent information and advice. I have nothing to add in that department, but want you to know that you and Terry are in my thoughts and prayers, and that will continue. You are correct that he will have to be tough and strong to get through this, but it's worth it. Each time you feel down, read through all of the survivor stories on this site - there is plenty of hope out there. Don't forget to take care of yourself as well - the urge to take care of others is huge for many of us, but we can only do it to a certain point before we begin to become depleted. Make sure that you personally have some support as well! Mary Colleen

Aaron, my husband had a similar situation. He was told that "something" was showing in a chest x-ray (done for another reason) two years before his diagnosis with lung cancer. The radiologist judged it to be pneumonia. My husband was then treated for several bouts of pneumonia and/or bronchitis during the ensuing 2 year period. My husband is an unusually private person, and I chose to stand back and not interfere with any of this, though my fear and dread grew each time he was given more antibiotics for pneumonia. I knew better than to accept that a strong 49 year old man would have inexplicable bouts of recurrent lung infection without an underlying reason. I of course truly regret the fact that I didn't intervene. The difference here is that my husband is ostensibly only Stage 2B, perhaps because his cell type (squamous) generally grows and spreads more slowly that adenocarcinoma. I guess I'm rambling here. Your situation obviously struck a nerve for me. Couple of points to wrap up: 1. I agree 110% with Ernie. You need all of your energy to get well. Choosing not to look back is hard, and I understand that. 2. I doubt that anyone could say with certainty whether or not your cancer would have been at Stage 4 if diagnosed on the first pass. An oncologist could probably give you some information on known growth/spread norms. 3. You asked about degree of cell differentiation. My understanding from reading is that a less differentiated tumor is a higher grade tumor, and thus more agressive. There is a good explanation of tumor grade and its relationship to degree of differentiation on the NCI website: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/fact ... umor-grade Ok, I'll stop now!

Barbara, I'm so sorry that you have to go through this stress. I would try to remember two things: 1. The brain mets scare that you have in your profile turned out okay for you - that could happen here as well. 2. Even if there is a recurrence, it does not have to be catastrophic. I hope that there is no recurrence, but if there is - you can manage it successfully just as so many others here have. Be strong:)

Well, I can sure understand your worry over Mom's comment. Hang in there. I hope that the results come in tomorrow so that you don't have to wait through the weekend. Be strong.

Rochelle, how are you doing? I've been thinking of you and your brothers.

I can identify with your situation. One sister and I cared for my mom for 2 years before she passed. Though there are 9 siblings, we received little help. I recall the exhaustion, occasional resentment, and intermittent panic about how I was going to do it all. I agree that everyone is different. I assume now that those that didn't help just couldn't do it, and that my nature wouldn't allow me not to do it. I can tell you that I am now so grateful that I had the chance to do it, and that having cared for my Mom somehow eased my grief over her passing. I hope that you benefit from this hard situation and your efforts as well.

Mitchell, I'm SO happy that your Mom is past this first chemo hurdle, and that things are improving.

Rob, there is no harm, and much possible gain to just giving him the site address. Even if one is not the "emotional support" type, the site is very informational and useful.

You're not rambling - I enjoyed your post. This is all so hard for you right now. Hang in there.

Susan, I have no experience with the drug, but know that it is an angiogenesis inhibitor, intended to cut off a tumors blood supply. The Dana Farber website contains quite a bit of info on the drug, but it all dates back to 2000-2002. Maybe you could write Dr. West at Onctalk.com - I'm sure that he could give you some information. Mary Colleen

This is a wonderful result for you, and for others needing to know that the same can happen for them. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.

Thanks Judy; yes, it seems to bother him, mainly psychologically. He has to really try to ignore its presence. I'm sure that, if given the option, he will choose to have it out as quickly as possible.

Big accomplishment for you and your family, Don. Merry Christmas.