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dr_lindac

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Everything posted by dr_lindac

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. Latest scan shows slight growth in lung tumor and 25% growth in a met on the adrenal gland. Topotecan next.
  6. Hoping that my mom's story encourages others to hang in there. History below. Stable again!
  7. I'm a little OCD and have to post after scans...stable again. Tolerating Taxol well. Very thankful.
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. 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
  12. 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.
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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?
  16. My mom had the same experience as Connie B. But mom was given a couple of medicines; one was an anesthestic that she was supposed to take to coat her throat. It was like Choraseptic in that it numbed her for a few minutes so she could get food down. She had a longer than usual problem with the soreness, but it did go away. It started about 3 weeks after radiation began and lasted about a month. It was frustrating for her and she had to look at food as nutrition for a while (it was hard to enjy it). The really important thing is to make sure your mom stays hydrated, even if it hurts to swallow. I've also read a lot of posts from people who had almost no problems with sore throat from radiation. Keeping her in my prayers. Tell her to just hang in there .
  17. Hi - My mom's tumor began about the same size as your mom's. She was not given radiation until the tumor was a lot smaller because the doctor said the radiation would destroy too much good tissue if aimed at a large tumor. Once the tumor decreased to 2 cm, they did the radiation. Perhaps you can ask if there are plans for radiation after tumor shrinkage.
  18. Hiya - My mom had 10 brain radiation treatments about 6 weeks ago. She had some fatigue (which is gone now), some more hair loss, a little foggy memory for a short time, and a short-term hearing decrease in her left ear (now back to normal). Nothing life-changing or too bad at all. Linda
  19. Hi Karen - Just wanted to let you know that I also live far from my mom (who has limited SCLC): 2000 miles. It's hard to feel useful so far away, although I did spent a month with her this summer over 3 different visits. Just another "you're not alone" post... Linda C.
  20. Hi Karen, Jen and John - Thanks for your quick replies. Your information is really helpful to me and my family. Seems like as good as I think I am at finding info on the internet, I just can't seem to find a case study exactly like my mother's. Y'all have a great day and a great weekend. Linda C.
  21. Hi - Mom was diagnosed in March as limited stage SCLC. She's had 6 rounds of carboplatin/VP16 and 3 weeks of twice-a-day chest radiation. Her CT scan this week showed further reduction of the cancer in her lung and mediastinum, but it is still there. It was explained to her that the radiation was done to contain the cancer, and that radiation doesn't necessarily eliminate it altogether. Her doctor says (and I had read) that the protocol is to give 6 rounds of chemo; more than 6 rounds has not been shown to have any benefit. The current plan is to do nothing except give her another CT scan in 3 months to see what's happening. Possible PCI in a few weeks, but they want her to recover from the chest radiation (she's pretty spent). The doctor told her that in > 50% of the SCLC cases, the cancer will move elsewhere within a year of diagnosis. Doctor was happy with the scan, however. My question is: If she still has the cancer (which she does) but it is not being treated at all, could it remain localized indefinitely and not move elsewhere? I mean, can a person say that their SCLC is "in remission"? Seems to me that if it's still there it's going to spread, just a question of when. (I wasn't at the appt. with her because I live 2000 miles away, and would have asked this question if I'd been there.) Keeping all in this forum in my thoughts and prayers, Linda
  22. Thank you to those who gave me insight about how radiation would work if my mom's cancer moves to her bone. Today yielded an unexpected surprise -- doctors were certain that shoulder discomfort she'd been having was mets to bone, but a bone scan today did not confirm a mets. In fact, they went on to schedule her for the protocol of concurrent chest radiation in a couple weeks. My dad had pancreatic cancer for most of the 1990's and I now remember too well how this cancer rollercoaster works. One day we're down, the next we're up...
  23. Mom had an excellent tumor response to the first three carboplatin/VP-16 rounds (see profile). She also looks great and feels about as good as she looks. But (there's often a "but", yes?), true to its bad rep, the small cell cancer decided to move somewhere else while the tumor in her lung was shrinking; there is a small bone mets to her shoulder that wasn't there at initial diagnosis. She told the doctors about some shoulder discomfort and an x-ray showed a bone mets. She will continue with the same chemo for another round and will have the bone mets radiated next week along with a full bone scan to see if there are any other hot spots. I have a question: if other spots on her bones are hot but she's not feeling any pain or discomfort in those areas, will radiologists generally recommend radiating these spots? Or is it more typical that they'd leave additional spots alone if there are no symptoms?
  24. Wow! I'm so glad to be so warmly welcomed by you all. To answer the couple questions about radiation for my mom: The doctors intended to do concurrent radiation with the carboplatin/etoposide combo, but have decided to wait until the tumor shrinks some from the chemo alone. The tumor is large (6 cm x 6 cm x 7 cm), or at least it was two months ago upon diagnosis, and is situated close to her heart. The radiation oncologist feels that he'll be more effective and more precise with a smaller tumor; he doesn't want to risk damaging too much good lung tissue just yet. Makes sense to me, as I understand that radiation does damage surrounding tissue. It's my understanding that after her CT scan (June 11), a determination will be made on when/if radiation still makes sense. She has this discomfort in her left shoulder and if that's a mets, well, I don't know if that'll change the tumor radiation plans or not.
  25. Hey - I've been reading this board for about 2 months since my mom was diagnosed with limited stage SCLC and thought I'd add one more story to the many here already. My mom, who will be 70 next month, has just completed Round 2 of the carboplatin/etoposide chemo regimen after being diagnosed limited stage SCLC about 2 months ago. She'd had a persistent cough for close to a year; my sister and I asked her several times to request a chest X-ray, but she was satisfied with her doctor's idea it was sinus and allergies. It was only when she went to a new endocrynologist for a baseline X-ray of her thyroid area (it was removed many years ago) that her lung tumor was found. As with so many other diagnoses, hers was made incidental to another condition. She was a 1/2 pack to pack a day smoker for 55 years. She never wanted to quit and we have worked hard to help her to realize that there is no benefit in doing the "woulda, coulda, shoulda". We all make choices in life that are not necessarily good for our health, and the stigma associated with lung cancer is really such a shame. Post too long...currently, mom is in good health with very few symptoms (still a cough and a little chemo fatigue). She's able to do all the things she did before diagnosis. She has an ache in her left shoulder blade on her left (tumor) side which is making us nervous, but she'll have a CT scan in a week which I assume will let us know if the ache is a bone metastasis or something else. Thank you to all who post such valuable information here. Linda
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