dr_lindac

Hmm, pseudo dementia. Very interesting. I believe we have got a real dementia happening with us, however. Mom has real cognitive problems. Ex: her middle finger was bleeding, she went to the bathroom for a bandaid, and bandaged her ring finger. Stuff like that. Stay tuned...we have a neurologist report brief on 2/7. Thanks all for your notes. Linda

Hi all - Just thought I'd post after a long hiatus. I have not kept up the details in my signature because there are so many now to add. My mom was diagnosed with limited stage SCLC in spring 2007. Two and a half years ago, the cancer jumped out of the lung and is now a 6" x 6" tumor on her adrenal, plus she has had two < 5mm brain mets gamma knifed since then as well. Despite the continued growth, her own immune system and chemo combos seem to keep her ahead of the curve. The fly in the ointment is her moderate dementia (started about 1.5 years ago) now that may be a long-term survivor result of PCI 3.5 years ago (would STILL do that, by the way), possible vascular issues in the brain unrelated, or even Alzheimer's. A neurologist will give us some test results in the next two weeks. The dementia is much more challenging than the cancer, as she cannot keep her appointment days/times straight, locations and yet insists on driving herself. She is not aware that she cannot trust her own memory, even with printed schedules. And she is cranky because she believes every other person is screwing up. Hopefully, Dr. Neurologist will have some magic pills to help. That's all from Lake Wobegon. Linda

Thanks to both of you. My sister asked at last week's doctor's appt. and was reassured that it was not an allergic reaction. Mostly stable scan again, too. So, a good week! LLC

Hi all - My mom has had severe itching after the last 2 rounds of Topotecan. I did a little research and sites are saying that this can be a sign of a serious allergic reaction. We'll be telling the doctor about the itching this week, but was wondering if any of y'all had experienced the same thing personally or seen a family/friend with the itching. Thanks! Linda

Latest scan shows slight growth in lung tumor and 25% growth in a met on the adrenal gland. Topotecan next.

Hoping that my mom's story encourages others to hang in there. History below. Stable again!

I'm a little OCD and have to post after scans...stable again. Tolerating Taxol well. Very thankful.

Thanks Patti! Did you have any Taxol problems? My mom had almost no issues with her first line chemo (carbo + VP 16). Taxol will be new for her. Just curious. Linda

Hi all - I pop in here about every 3 months to just write down my mom's status. Maybe it's helpful to someone, right? Mom was diagnosed with SCLC 2 years ago and well, you can read all the details below if you like. The interesting development is that after a couple rounds of second line chemo for a recurrence back in Oct., the doctor had my mom go with no treatment for 2 months to see what happened. Well, her tumor only enlarged a little bit. Doc says her cancer isn't really acting like SCLC. She's tossing around the idea that possibly my mom's biopsy from 2 years ago (center nodes) *was* SCLC, but that the tumor (lower left lung) might be NSCLC or some other "mutant" variety. Not sure. Strange, eh? I think this doctor is pretty smart; I like this approach. She's putting my mom on one round of NSCLC drug Taxol to see what happens. Other than that, I feel like she/we are blessed that her health has been fantastic over these last 2 years. If she didn't tell you, you'd never know she had cancer. Praying for all of us! Linda

I can't remember who wrote it, but a while ago an LCSC Community member wrote "There's no better motivation to quit smoking than a diagnosis of lung cancer". I thought that was a pretty true and powerful statement.

Hi - We are so thankful that my mom has had good scans since she was diagnosed in spring of 2007. But last week we learned that her SCLC had metastasized to one of the adrenal glands (on left kidney) and possibly to a small spot on a rib. Liver and brain are clean, thank goodness. She begins chemo on Monday for 2 rounds with a follow-up scan to see how it's going after that. I was wondering if anyone here has/had/knows someone with adrenal metastases. I'm curious to know what the response was for others. From what I can gather, she'll have Cisplatin and VP-16 again because it's been > 1 year since she had the combo of platinum and etoposide for the initial treatment. Thanks. Linda

Hi Bobbie - My mom had exactly the same thoughts that you are having. My sister and I wanted her to have it, but recognized that it was her decision. No matter what the numbers are in favor of it, it's your body. In trying to help my mom decide, I asked her this question: "If you don't do the PCI treatments and the cancer does move to your brain, are you going to beat yourself up for choosing against it?" Ultimately, she decided that she'd have too much regret if the cancer went to her brain and she'd not had the PCI, so she had the 10 treatments. She had the brain radiation last November and still has had no mets of her small cell cancer. Just something to think about.

Hey all - I posted this news here for the new people to SCLC; good news again. My mom's September CT scan showed no growth or spread of her SCLC. She continues to have a residual walnut-sized tumor in her left lung only and has no cancer symptoms or problems associated with it. There are two small spots, one in her left lung and another in her right, that the doctor (new doctor by the way -- the other one moved out of town) is stumped by. They've been there since original diagnosis in early 2007 and look like they have grown slghtly: 4.4 mm to 4.8 mm. PET scan in a month, but that may not provide insight because the spots are small. Has anyone else had this situation with "spots"? Linda

Hi Marianne - My mom has SCLC and was told exactly what you were after exactly the same treatment. After that, her tumor at last scan time in March was the size of a walnut and had been so for 2 prior scans. They call her "stable" and don't know if the tumor is active or dead tissue or what. It'd be nice to hear them say "No evidence of disease" (NED), but the status that you and my mom have is a very good silver medal. It's not doing anything or going anywhere, it's a great status to be...so celebrate! Best, Linda

My take. I am a non-smoker whose mother smoked for 55 years and has SCLC. It's tragic when there's a terrible car accident and a person dies. It's doubly-tragic if the person who died was not wearing a seatbelt. They might have died anyway, but they'd have had a better shot. It's tragic that my mom has SCLC. It's doubly-tragic that she ever smoked and that she didn't stop any of the times we begged her to. She might have gotten it anyway, but she'd have had a shot. I think some people mean this (above) sort of analogy, but it comes out crudely as "Were you a smoker?" Know what I mean?