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Hi All, I just flew in to see my dad who was diagnosed with sclc last month. My dad's oncologist and radiologist are going to see me (I have an appointment) tomorrow (11:30 a.m. central). My dad has limited sclc and his brain scans are clear, bone marrow clear,and tumor has been shrinking. He has gone through his 1st of 6 rounds ( 3 days every 3 weeks) of carboplatin/etoposide and is also having daily radiation (for a total of 35 treatments). His oncologist also wants to do PCI after the other treatments just in case. I have a list of questions written down, but I was wondering if anyone out there has any suggestions for questions that I might ask them. I want to really be informed and proactive in my dad's treatment. Has anyone of you had any problems with a stomach tube. My dad had one put in a week and a half ago and it is sore and painful. He went in to talk to the guy who put it in but he said that it wasn't infected. It seems to back up a lot. I was wondering if they could give him some sort of topical analgesic to relieve the pain around the tube opening? So if anyone has any good suggestions, I welcome them!! Thanks so much, you all have been so great already! Kathi

Hi, I forgot to add that my dad has quit smoking several years ago (cold turkey), which was the day that I was most proud of him. Kathi

Hi All, My dad found out today that the cancer has not spread in his bones or brain (so only in his bron. tube and some lymph nodes). They took some bone marrow today and hopefully that will come out negative also. They did his 1st radiation treatment today (everyday for 35 treatments) and will start chemo onTuesday. They are going to do three days of chemo and then 21 day breaks in between. Is this normal or standard? I feel better about everything because my dad says that everyone at the hospital is super nice, open and are going out of their way to accomodate his. My dad told his oncologist that I was going to be coming in a couple of weeks and wanted to talk with him. He said his oncologist said that I can call as much, visit, e-mail or whatever as much as I want with questions about his care. I was worried that people wouldn't treat him well since some people think that people who smoked "was just asking for cancer". It is weird because when I tell people that he has lung cancer, the first thing they say is, "Did he smoke". I find that offensive. Anyways, I just wanted to let people know what's going on who have been e-mailing me with support. You all have been so wonderful. I know it will be a tough battle but it is comforting knowing that their is a network of extended family out their for support. Thanks for listening! Kathi

Hi All, I had a couple questions about SSI disability and was wondering if anyone could give me answers. My dad is retired from the Airforce and receives a military retirement check (over $800). He works now, but he might eventually have to resign if he can't handle it with the treatments etc. Does anyone know if they will count his military retirement check as income earned? It doen't seem fair that if you pay into social security (for decades) that you can't get some of it back. Kathi

Hi, My dad just got diagnosed with SCLC last week. They said it was in bewteen the lobes (airway?) and has gotten to his lymph nodes but not sure where else. His only symptom was a cough for a couple of weeks. I was wondering if anyone could help me decipher terminology and what some of the tests are being done for. Our family has no experience with any sort of cancer so I feel sort of ignorant and want to be well informed. Unfortunately, I'm a cognitive neuroscience student which doesn't help my dad too much. He is going to have a bone density scan tomorrow and had another brain MRI today (I suppose to check to see if the cancer has spread beyond the nodes). He will get all his results back on friday and meet with the radiologist. His oncologist said that they weren't sure about Chemo yet. He is going to start radiation treatments soon. I was wondering if they do the radiation treatments first before they do chemo (is this normal)? I was also wondering what the side effects of radiation are? He was concerned about incontinence and nausea? He said that this coming friday they were going to do a "sim". What is this? If anyone can give me any info, tips or anything that they might feel useful, please drop me a line.