cathyb

Great news-the brain MRI didn't show any metastises;carotid artery study just showed a slight occlusion and the chest ct scan was clear. This a.m. I'm scheduled for a sleep deprived EEG-means I have to stay awake from 3 p.m. yesterday until the test this a.m. at 9 o'clock. Tried to tell them I'm not a teenager anymore and these all-nighters are almost impossible. I thought I could load up on coffee but they said no caffeine after midnight. Zombieland here I come!

GREAT news, Heidi. Give Mom a huge hug from me. I'm glad she has you in her life.

Had a wonderful PEI vacation;of course I had to check "oot" their 911 system (iit was excellent). Woke up to chest pain and had to take 2 nitros;next thing I knew, hubby was calling for an ambulance. Drat! They think it was related to my bp, which is normally low but had dropped to 60/30. Ended up having a mild seizure. Thought I was home free just last month when the PET showed all clear but we found out yesterday the PET had not included the head...back to the drawing borad;MRI will be scheduled. BTW-I'd decided, for the first time, to get medical insurance and it's a good thing I did. Neither Medicare nor the supplemental insurance cover Canada emergencies/hospitalizations and the same is often true for Canadians visiting here. Just a heads up.

Would you believe my cardiologist found mine? I'd been mentioning a fullness in my neck for almost 2 years but my GP couldn't feel anything. Wally (hubby and true love)made me promise to run it by the cardiologist last fall on my annual checkup. This hero/doc did feel it, ordered a ct of the neck, which by default, picked up a shadow on the lung. He ordered a chest ct scan, then bing, bang, bong, things happened really fast.

Author Message cathyb Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 7 Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:24 pm Post subject: PET results-GREAT!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Had a 6 month follow-up PET yesterday and the results showed all clear. Another bit of good news was the radiation oncologist cleared up some confusion for us. Some of my records showed the original tumor to be a Stage 1B and elsewhere it got recorded as a Stage 11B. Got the poor guy going when I said, "So okay, at the risk of sounding like Shakespeare, is it 11B or not 11B?" Yahoooo-it's a 1B.

Had a 6 month follow-up PET yesterday and the results showed all clear. Another bit of good news was the radiation oncologist cleared up some confusion for us. Some of my records showed the original tumor to be a Stage 1B and elsewhere it got recorded as a Stage 11B. Got the poor guy going when I said, "So okay, at the risk of sounding like Shakespeare, is it 11B or not 11B?" Yahoooo-it's a 1B.

Hi Kelly. I'm new here, too, and just wanted to wish you well today w/your appointment. I had a RL and L a few days later, a RML with VATS. Stairs weren't much of a problem but then, again, I'd had a 7-week hospital stay due to complications, so I was pretty well healed by the time they booted me out. Only thing I can share is to listen to your body and re. future columns and writing deadlines, be good to yourself and commit to one thing: getting yourself well again. Everything else can take a back seat.

Thank you, all, for your patience. To quote Eliza Dolittle, "By George, I think I've got it." I had been going down to the small rectangular box that says "jump to" and "Select a Forum" at the end of the page.

Hi Randy. Thanks. It only works for certain forums, though. I can't seem to get to the Lung Cancer Q+A one or the Tech Support/How to use the forums. Any idea what I'm doing wrong here?

Hello-Can someone tell me how to get to the other forums here? I scrolled down to the Q+A one and clicked on "go" but nothing happens. Thanks for your help.

Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome. I posted incorrectly when I said it was a Stage 1B;in reading through some notes, I noticed that got changed to a Stage 2. During the 7 weeks in the hospital, I was in a medically induced coma for 2 weeks and I still notice some aftereffects of that, so please bear with me. Will try to answer some of your questions. I was told by the chemo oncologist that w/the cancer I had, there was only a 6% success rate. I opted for the radiation 'cause w/the bunch of other medical problems I have, plus the fact that I lost my very cherished soldier/son 4 years ago, I have no more desire to go through chemo than I have to live to be 90 with this broken heart. Had a VATS upper right lobectomy;day following the incident mentioned earlier, the remaining middle and lower lobes began to contort and twist together;surgeon tried his best to do what he could but had to finally take the middle lobe. Dr. said he got all of the tumor but recommended the radiation as added assurance. I am in Maine. The doctor was wonderful+ the CCU nurses were angels;it was when I got transferred to the regular floor that things spiralled downward in a hurry. Forgot to mention that I couldn't yell for help, either, when the lung was collapsing because they'd put a very hard, rigid compression type mask on me and I couldn't get it off to call for help because my fingers were about the size of cucumbers. Finally managed to get my face on top of the bedrail and use the rail to "scrape" the mask off. Took my last breath to yell "help" and weak as it came out, an aide heard me. He turned the light on, pulled the curtain back and called a STAT order. I don't mind dying at all but I didn't want to go that torturous way.

Good Morning, all. My cancerbio, in brief: 62 years old, female, married, diagnosed Oct '07 w/stage 1B NSCLC. Operated on in Nov., when all hell broke loose. Hospital dropped the ball after I transferred from CCU to a regular floor. Was supposed to be in for 5 days but it turned into 7 weeks;staff on regular floor forgot I was there;lung collapsed and I was unable to summons help, due to swollen digits that wouldn't let me ring for help. Second lobectomy needed;had 25 rounds of RT and am now doing okay.