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Hi! worried about recent scan results. father just finished 6 cycles carbo/taxol. new scans show decrease in primary lung tumor, but increase in size of lymph nodes and recurrence of a small brain met. had had previous whole brain radiation about 5 months ago (for 3 brain mets) and an mri 3 months ago showed complete resolution at the time. feel that the small brain met can be treated hopefully with stereotactic radiation, but still worry about the increase lymphadenopathy (nodes). no other evidence of metastatic disease. hoping to hear any success stories of second line agents that despite initial growth of lymph nodes from first line, decreased with second line chemo. also do they tend to hold on chemo during the stereotactic radiation for the single brain met. he has incidently been feeling better physically. breathing is great, appeptite good, enjoyng food again. thanks

Ned, The pain that you are describing is pretty classic for something called spinal stenosis. it is also called neurogenic claudication. It is caused secondary to those degenerative changes in your spine narrowing the area where your spinal cord is. It is very common in older people. The classic symptoms are described as such: it hurts when you start walking and is usually alleviated fairly rapidly be rest. The pain is typically relieved by bending forward. patients will say that they feel better when pushing a grocery cart because they can lean forward on the handles. you can potentially get epidural steroid injections by a pain doctor to helo treat this condition. it is also typically treated with medications described as neurpathic medications. I thought I remember you saying in previous posts that you are on or had been on meds such as neurontin and/or lyrica. these medications should also help with the pain.

just wondering if anyone had their tumor shrink during their 3rd-6th rounds of chemo if CT only showed stable disease after the 1st 2 rounds? i guess particulary for anyone who has been on taxol/carboplatin but anyone else too. Thanks.

my father's voice had been hoarse prior to diagnosis from either tumor or lymph node pressing on recurrent laryngeal nerve. voice improved dramatically during 10 palliative chest radiations treatments which finished in middle of may. since chemo his voice has starting to get a little raspy. started taxol/carbo last week. just wondering if anyone else had a raspy/weaker voice with the chemo or if i should be worried that it is progressing? thanks.

nova, i am so sorry. my condolences to you and your family.

just wondering how many days after receiving neulasta did people start to have bone pain, how long did it last. and did you need to take anything for it and if so was it effective? thanks

bruce, i don't have experience with this as a caregiver but i can tell you from experience of working in the icu. this type of situation is actually unfortunately not uncommon. there are many times when relatives are in disagreement about end of life treatment. it makes it harder when some of the relatives haven't even been around the whole time and especially when the patient does not have a living will. in these situations, what we have usually done is to arrange a family meeting with the family at the hospital. it is best to have the family members together while the doctor discusses the situation. you can ask the doctors in the icu to have the social worker arrange this for you. in addition, i have always stressed to the family members that what it really comes down to is what the patient would want. this is difficult to determine unfortunately because a lot of times patients have not expressed their wishes to their caregivers. i think your situation also seems difficult if you have conflicting reports from caregivers. i think the reversibility issue of the situation is important as is it is important to ask that doctor if he/she thinks that his qualitiy of life would deteriorate further if he is able to get off the ventilator. i also think you should think about the past few months and determine if he was happy with his quuality of life. if he is able to come of the ventialator and return to the same quality of life which he was ok with vs coming off the ventilator and returning to the same quality of life which he was not happy with or even having a worse quality of life are all things to consider. it is best for all family members to give their perspectives and to try to listen to each other. the benefit i have seen from these meetings is that the social worker who is usually present along with the nurse and the doctor can act somewhat as mediatiors. i hope this helps somewhat. it is a stressful situation and difficult situation.

just wondering from people, who had carbo/taxol without avastin, how long after the chemo (about how many days after) did you start feeling side effects? thanks.

i'm so sorry that he has had to go through all of that and now the radiation machine!! it seems like just one thing after another when you already have so much to deal with just with the diagnosis itself. people who have not had to deal with a relative with cancer just don't get it. rudeness is just not an acceptable behavior at any time never the less towards people with cancer. anyway, my father actually started to develop a little throat clearing/cough during his 10 chest radiation treatments too. he hadn't had that before. im ,y father's case i think it was because his lung was actually opening back up so he could cough. (you need inflated lung to be able to generate a cough). anyway, i hope that things are better from now on.

gracie, i am so sorry to hear about your loss.

i am so sorry that you are dealing with al of that. i can not understand why anyone in this type of situation would want to create more problems by trying to stir up controversy as D has done. i also can't understand how J can feel like she has already settled everything with her father an doesn't need to come by often. it's also hard when people make a commitment to be there and then you cant count on them. again, i'm sorry that you are dealing with all of this.

i just wanted to thank everyone again. your comments are all very helpful. I do hope that my other family members understand more. i also hope that my father actually lets them help out more. right now he keeps saying that he doesn't need anyone else because he has his own personal doctor. i think that is part of the problem with my other family members too because they just think that if anything goes wrong, i can just fix it. unfortuantely, there is nothing that i can do that any other educated caregiver could do. I'm not an oncologist and so I have to look up and research stuff about lung cancer too. i have to ask dr. west questions as well. being a doctor may make it easier to know what the oncologists are talking about in terms of anatomy and meds and stuff but it doesn't mean that they can't learn the meds he is on too. it just puts a lot of pressure on me to fix something that can't be fixed. i'm sorry for rattling on. you are all right in that I know I should not worry about the what ifs. I'm trying to feel a little better especially since he is feeling better. i just worry about the start of chemo and the possible side-effects. thank you again.

thank you for your support. i'm sorry that you are going through your situation as well. it is all very difficult, but you are right, i think this site is helpful.

father has tolerated radiation well and has been eating very well. he has gained 10 lbs (although mostly all in belly and he is on steroids). he has not really gained any muscle tone back though. i worry since weight loss is a poor prognostic indicator. his performance status is good. just a little bit slower then he used to be. i worry given the nature of the disease and his extensive tumor that he is going to suddenly spiral down rapidly. i am finding it hard to live each day instead of thinking about the inevitable and when it might occur. I worry because i am able to be off for work for now and stay with him, but i won't be able to later on. I don't live near by. he lives alone since my mother died a year ago. it is all very stressful. there are other family members nearby that can help occasionally, but he is a private person who doesn't really like other people to help him. i am in the medical field and this makes him feel more comfortable that i am around. i just wish that my other family members would actually take the time to do some kind of research on the disease and actually learn about the meds, treatments, and side-effects so they can know what it going on. it would be a great sense of relief to me when i have to leave if they knew more about the disease and what to expect. ihave tried to tell them and they say yeah, but never do it.

thank you. it's good to hear that there are smokers who also are beating the statistics. i still worry though, since my father lost a significant amount of weight prior to his diagnosis and it is not operable. (the tumor is 7 cm and is encasing his left pulm artery and invading his left pulm vein. he has a bunch of positiive lymph nodes (subcarinal, paratracheal and supraclavicular). he is doing ok right now. recently finished 10 WBR and just finished 10 chest radiation to try to open his left lung (which it did). he is awaiting to start chemo and has gained 10 lbs. he is eating great. he has not really gained any muscle tone back though. i worry that he is going to suddenly spiral down rapidly. i am finding it hard to live each day instead of thinking about the inevitable and when it might occur. I worry because i am able to be off for work for now and stay with him, but i won't be able to later on. I don't live near by. he lives alone since my mother died a year ago. it is all very stressful.