Jen

Hi Everyone: I want to say I think this website is amazing and so are the people on it! I feel so strongly for anyone trying to fight cancer and I am learning that lung cancer does not get the recognition it deserves. My father was diagnosed with Stage 3B adenocarcinoma on May 9th of this year. To say that the family is severely devastated by this is an understatement, which I'm sure you can all well imagine. Luckily, we are very close emotionally and in locality (central Jersey). My father stopped smoking 11 years ago. His cancer is in the right lung and it has spread to his hip and spine as well. Because of this, he is told he is not a surgical candidate. I think the question we are asking ourselves now is, is he getting the absolute best treatment he can get. His oncologist knew in the beginning of treatment that his right lung was partially collapsed with fluid in it. She decided not to do anything about it because she wanted him to begin chemo right away. Meantime, 2 months into the chemo my father's entire right lung collapsed and he had such difficultly with tremendous fluid build up that he just had a catheter surgically implanted, which he now has to wear all the time. His oncologist had originally put him into an experimental program and she now feels this was not working because of the complications he encountered. She is now going to switch him to taxotere. She feels if the chemo is successful, the fluid build up may diminish and the catheter can possibly be removed. We were given the impression from the nursing staff on the oncology floor of the hospital, that lung collapse and fluid build are very common in this type of cancer. My concern is that had this Dr. been proactive in the beginning and removed the fluid could this whole situation with the catheter have been avoided? His lung has come back about 50% now, but the fluid is obviously still a big issue. I am trying to urge my father to get a second opinion from Sloan-Kettering. We only live an hour away from this hospital that is known for it's cancer treatment. He seems very concerned that they deal with many very dangerous clinical trials. Has anyone had any experiences with this hospital and have they been positive or negative? Any feedback you can give is greatly appreciated. Thank you & God Bless, Jen

I don't know exactly what your Dr. is telling your boyfriend, but my father was diagnosed with Stage 3 adenocarcinoma and fever and night sweats were one of his main symptoms. We were told this was pretty typical for this cancer. It's the body's way of trying to fight this foreign thing off. I do not know about the chemo drugs you mentioned, but my dad is recently doing chemo and I am just starting to research that aspect of this cancer. Lots of luck. I know how it feels to think you're losing your mind. Hang in there. Jen