wiesia

I do not believe in God. Or gods. I was raised Catholic and most people I am close to are Catholic. But then... some thousand years ago my ancestors believed in a very different set of gods: the Slavic gods. Whose mythology is still around. Christianity was imposed on us (as on many others) with a sward. Why should I believe in the Christian God over the "older" gods... I could not ever understand that. But I envie those who do believe in Christian God. The image of life after death could be very consolling. There is nothing like that in some other religions (Judaism I think says that there is no life after death but you live through your children). For me ... the fear that I turn into nothing after death is very real. Maybe there is a surprise waiting. But I do not know what I have been before I was born and I do seem to stop to exist every time they put me under an anestesia. So it seem possible that this is it: my life ends and there is no more of me in any form. Very sad, pointless and not fair, but who says that life is not just like that ?

It is only now that I am able to report it. My father died on February 15'th. He fought only three and half months; much shorter than we all hoped for. He felt fine until the middle of January. And it was a very fast decline from there. Last week he got severly out of breath and was taken to a hospital. We thought that this could be corrected but the doctors were not able to. We do not really know what caused such a severe shortness of breath: just the tumor burden itself, infiltrates, or a mixture of things. The only consolation we have is that he was never in any pain and suffered "only" the very last week. Well... we were hoping to beat the statistics. We were not that lucky.

I have read about long-term survivors with adrenal mets. I do not remember how they were removed (surgery or cyberknife) but they were definitely removed. I would advice you to look at removing it very seriously.

I am so sorry to hear that, Patty.

Tracy, I am sorry to hear about it. My mother has a breast cancer and after the neoadjuvant dose of chemo five years ago she has developed some emphysema. The chemo was taxotere/ adriamycin. It does seem that chemo causes emphysema frequently. She has some problems with it (like she had harder time breathing when she visited me in Salt Lake) but overall it is not too bad. Probably it is not going to be too much of a problem for you.

Her case sounds very typical. Median survival for stage IV LC is somewhere around 8 months. For IIIB is getting closer these days to 15 months with aggressive treatment. For stage IV maybe 30-40% live a year. I would also think that younger people, though able to withstand more agressive treatment, might have more agressive cancers. Statistics are dismal here. I was/am hoping that my father could be one of the lucky ones but ... the odds are against us. Peter Jennings, remember, was gone in five months.

Our doctor put my father on Navelbine (plus Avastin). He scheduled it 2 weeks on, one weeks off. All I could find on the internet is the weekly schedule (for single-agent Navelbine). Have any of you seen that kind of scheduling ? I am a bit worried that it may be not as strong as the weekly one.

Congratulation !!!

My father was also put on Navelbine (as a second line). I did quite a bit of reading on that and the research shows good results in second line. They vary, but many have around 50% of stable disease. In second line (and even often in the first line) Navelbine is combined with Gemzar. But in the elderly, it seems, that this combination was not stronger than the single agents. On this board many had good results with Navelbine. Lucy and Deb come to mind. Good luck with it !

Debbie, The treatment with hyperthermia sounds very interesting. Where is it done ? Do you know how it is exactly done ? Do they have better results with it ? Thank you.

Frank, My best wishes.

I hope that the radiation treatment will go well.

The dosage is less aggressive only because it is given together with radiation. After the radiation he will more likely get three or so full doses of chemo. Good luck

Your father has still so many other treatments to try. I hope that at least one of them works.

I suffer from panic disorder. That is the way it started for me. Suddenly, during nice vacation with vertigo and heart racing. Klonopin cleared it in 15 minutes. But I have to be on medicine now constantly (probably for life).

We had various tests done this week and it turns out that father's tumor and some enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes are pressing on his esophagus and probably also the trachea. The narrowest part of esophagus is 5mm. Father can only eat very mushed type of food. The oncologist left it to us whether to put a stent or not. He says that himself he would not do it because the mushy/liquid diet could be quite enough for now. Does anyone have an opinion here ? Another matter is that father's breathing is getting worse by the day recently (last week or so). It is probably the lymph nodes pressing on the trachea and maybe also the tumors in his lungs. Our oncologist seems to think that this is just the nature of father's cancer and is unwilling at the moment to offer him anything. It is driving me crazy. Being SOB does not help my father's fighting spirit at all ! I read here of people taking inhalers, O2 concentrators and also steroids. We can do the inhaler and concentrator ourselves but with the steroids I am a bit uncertain. Would they help my father ? If I knew they would we would be more agressive about them with our oncologist. I should mention that there is no effusion visible. At the moment we are at a limbo. We gave up on Gemzar because one of the tumors progressed. My father breathing is bad so the oncologist thought that he looked too weak for chemo last Friday. But then... he did not want to go straight to Tarceva either trying to keep it for the third line. My father just got Avastin. And we have a week to regroup. But as long as my father's breathing is bad he will be weak. I do not see how it can be otherwise. His blood work is very good. So our family feels that we should just try second-line chemo. If we insisted, our oncologist would probably agree. One thing though: can SOB mean that chemo can be dangerous to my father ? Is SOB (even severe) enough of a problem to discontinue chemo ? Thanks.

Does anyone know of a cancer treatment center in the US that would give us a second opinion on a possibility of radiation to the tumor. This would have to be based on a CD from a CT scan and some general information only since my father can not travel at the moment. Thank you

I am so happy for you ! wiesia

Anyone is familiar with this type of treatments ? It seems now to be available in China. If it really is as good as it sounds ... how could we get it from China ? Tumor Necrosis Therapy Product for the Treatment of Lung Cancer Launched in China http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show ... 5301.shtml

There are people here that were treated with gamma knife for more than 7 mets (8 at least, I remember). Maybe she needs to call around gamma knife specialists. Also, I think after WBR chemo is supposed to pass easier to the brain. Did her doctor talked about chemotherapy for the brain mets ? w.

Have any of you had a met to the lower throat area ? What was done about it ? We have just found out that father has a nodule in the lower throat and narrowing esophagus at some point below that. Both must be responsible for his trouble swallowing. Endoscopy is scheduled for tomorrow to look at that nodule. Thanks, w.

Gosh, I was so hoping that my father could get into that trial. They just started it and in Poland as well. Alas... it is randomized, double-blinded for stage IIIB (that is where they had best results in phase two). Is there any way to get that vaccine out of the trial ??? w.

Hopefully it is a temporary thing. My father had a very bad reaction to the first infusion of cisplatin with fainting etc. His next infusions of Gemzar and cisplatin were a lot easier on him. w.

I am so sorry for your lost. My deepest symphaties. w.

My father had a very bad reaction to cisplatin as well. He had sharp pains going through his stomach area, fainted at some point after that. Strangly, cycle two was much easier with no pain. wiesia