Don M

Welcome back Frank. I hope your treatment goes well.

I am sorry to hear about your dada. I am glad you found this site. you can come here any time to seek encouragement or to get info. I hope the second chemo works. Just remember, there is always another option. You and your dad have my best wishes and prayers.

Hi: welcome to this site. I think your oncologist may be on the pessimistic side. I would want one who would give an honest preamble about how meaningless the statistics can be. It would not hurt to shop around for another oncologist who will offer a hopeful and agresssive treatment plan. In any case, it is always prudent to get another opinion when you are deciding on a treatment plan. I found it very helpful to do a lot of online rearch as you are doing. I got some good info, but mainly it gave me sense that I was doing something about my disease. It provided me with some stuff to talk about when I went to see the docs. Maybe you can make arrangements to attend all the doc visits with your parents. It is always good to have another pair of ears there, especially early on when one is dealing with the shock of it all. Just remember there area lot of stage 4 survivors who continue to live beyond the statistical life span. Your mom and dad and you have my best wishes and prayers. Don M

Welcome Jaime: I see you have already got some good advice and info here. I just want to reiterate a bit. There are many stage 4 survivors and your mom can be one of them. Also, I think it may be a good idea for you and or your sister to just show up and start doing stuff as others have suggested. I understand the shock and disbelif aspect of dealing with this disease. I found it helpful to just go through the motions, step by step, in getting my treatment, even admidst the shock and disbelief. Maybe you can turn you dad on to this site. You all have my best wishes.

Guy: I am sorry the Tarceva did not work for you. Maybe you should try Alitma next instead of a trial? I know it is especially tough for you and your son.. thinking about the possibility of dying. Maybe it would help your son if you involved him in the "what if" planning. I wish you and your son the best and I hope that whatever you do next trial or alitma works.

Hi Debi: I am glad to see you post again. I hope your aches and pains, while being annoying, just turn out to be no more than annoying. I like the nerve damge theory. Don M

Good news Kevin: the operation was a drag, but know you know for sure you are off the hook.

Great news Charlie!

Carrie: glad to see you made it though the scan ok. I hope the results are good.

Great news Jim: thanks for sharing

Thanks for your words of encourgement and prayers everybody. For the first 8 days after surgery I stayed at my wife's house in town. We are legally separated. She graciously took care of me as she did after the first operation. One thing about the cancer is that it has brought my wife and I closer together, maybe even more so than when we were living together. We have both discovered that we like our separate living arrangements, but we both assume that we will eventullaly live with one another again. I am at my house now, about 30 miles from the nearest hospital, in the country. My daughter Amanda (27 years old) lives with me, so I am not alone. To Cindi o'h: The doctors did not know if I had a new cancer or a recurrence of the original cancer. The surgeon told me it was staged at Ia, as if it was a new cancer. I don't know what the rules would be if it was a recurrence. I guess it would still be Ib. The incison line followed my original incision, the smiley face on the side. Tuesday I have an appointment to see my oncologist to discuss adjuvant chemo. Some of you question doing chemo for Ia. I would too if it was the first time around for cancer. But since I had cancer before, I don't want to take a chance at getting it a third time. I am going to get every edge I can get at preventing a third cancer. It may have very well been that the second cancer was a recurrence that could have been avoided if I had had the chemo. I have a nice quiet country road that runs along the front of my property. Tomorrow I am going to start walking along it. My oxygen saturation numbers are good now, but I will use my oxygen equipment for the next couple of weeks and then do it without. I guess I will have to update my signature thingy now. Don M

I had a left pneumectomy on 2-25-05. My pleural area and mediastinal areas were clear, as were the margins of my remaining left lung. 2 days after surgery my cancer was staged at Ia. It is not clear whether this was a new cancer or a recurrence of the original cancer. I had had an upper left lobectomy Jan 2, 2004. The latest surgery wiped out my left lung and hopefully, my cancer. I know for sure my left lung is gone, but I am not so sure now about my cancer. It was supposed to have been gone the first time around. I did not have adjuvant chemo after my first operation. This time I will ask for it. I had thought that the operation this time would be about the same as last time, but I was wrong. The most significant difference was that I got winded just getting out of bed for the first time after surgery. The first readings that I got on my spirometer were right at 500. I had it up to 1000 before I left the hospital. When I went home last Wednesday, I had to use a 2 liter rate of oxygen for walking around. After the first surgery, I was walking around the block at a moderate rate without getting winded at the second week. I can barely make it down to the end of the block now at a slow rate without getting winded this time. Last time I had an urinary infection, this time I don’t (one good thing). Generally, the surgery this time was a lot harder on me. I feel sad sometimes about losing my left lung, and the operation really whacked me, but I am grateful that I have had the operation and a second chance for a cure. Today feels like a better day. I can get the spirometer up to just over 1500 now. I was able to walk upstairs without my oxygen without stopping, although I did breathe heavily for a while after sitting down. Today I have a post op appointment with my surgeon. I also am going to see the pulmonologist. The pulmonologist will evaluate my oxygen saturation to see if I have to continue using oxygen. My surgeon put me on a regime of Digitec for my heart. Apparently, my heart got confused upon the removal of my left lung. It sometimes will beat faster than usual to make up for the lack of readily available oxygen I guess. The Digitec is supposed to help my heart beat more strongly and more regularly. I think it makes me feel kind of sick a short while after I take it though. I tend to get chills, feel tired, have cramping and swelling. I am going to ask the surgeon about it today. I will be glad when I can shed the oxygen and the digitec. I am going to have to accept a longer recovery period this time it seems. I have heard that after my neighboring organs adjust to the empty space in my left chest, that my right lung will eventually enlarge a bit. I hope to eventually be able to walk up hills at a moderate clip with short rests every 300 feet or so. After today I will go for walks outside every day and continue to suck on my spirometer. I am going to call my oncologist tomorrow and schedule an appointment to discuss a strategy for chemo. I have had no experience at it. Do any of you have any idea what a typical regime would be for adjuvant chemo for Ia adenocarcinoma? Don M 3-7-05

I hope today is a better day for David and that the pain was just medication related. You have my continued prayers.

Carole: things are going in the right direction for your husband and you. I hope you continue to have good results. Don M

Huh..that is really SWELL!

I am praying for David and family

I am sorry you are left with this to deal with Kate. I don't know what to say. I guess if it happened to me, and I knew I had severe radiation damage to my lungs, I would ask the radiation onc , "what is this all about?" It makes me awfully shy about radiation if it ever came to that for me. I guess the onc was doing what he thought best at the time since it was a large tumor and all. I hope you and your brother find some peace in dealing with this. Don M

Sharon: I wondered about that, and asked the surgeon if I would have to wait 2 days to see if there was cancer. He said no, that they could get a confident answer at the time of the operation. I have heard of situations where a patient is sent to recovery and then a few days later is called back to the operating table because further pathology testing found cancer.

Hi Melanie: I hope you continue to get good results. Go zap those brain mets!

Hello WFS: I guess you are still patiently waiting for your PET scan results. I see that you have been getting good advice in the previous posts. I have been dealing with a possible recurrence. I got some lexapro to help me through it. it is an anti-anxiety med. I am sure Xanax is just fine too. I believe it has helped me. I also learn all I can about my disease and what the possible treatments are. When you go in for your consultation about the PET scan, take someone with you who can help you remember stuff. You might even want to take notes. Of course, if the node shows no uptake, then you are probably off the hook. They would probably monitor it after that. Another way that I cope, is to let it unfold. It is a kind of surrendering similar to what you refer to in AA and like putting the situation in God's hands. Same idea. I am not particularly religious, but I value all spiritual traditions. And I believe in the power of prayer. Don M

Nell, please accept my condolences Don M

Hi: my left lung collasped a little over a year ago when I had a lung needle biopsy done. They let me go home for the thanksgiving holidays, with my collasped lung, thinking it might right itself. I had instructions to go to the local ER if I had any trouble breathing. I think it was a partial collaspe. The following Monday, I came back to the hospital where the test was done. My lung was still collasped, so they inserted a chest tube. I went home with it and came back the next day. They removed the tube and all was ok. In my case it was no big deal. I had early stage nslc and plenty of pulmonary capacity. In your husband's case, there may be a bigger concern, if his pulmonary capacity is limited. He would definitely have a chest tube inserted immediately and stay overnite for observation. It could probably be removed the next day. Don M

My surgery will be this Friday. Here I go jumping off the deep end again. Tomorrow I am going to stay home from work and get a bunch of firewood all split up. Thursday is preop stuff in the afternoon at the hospital. Thanks again for your prayers and support everyone

Hi Barb. They don't really know what it is for sure, but there is something there. It is either scar tissue or it could be a nodule. The size of it could be importnat. If it is less than 8 mm, I think they would probabaly monitor it to see if it grows. If it is around 12 mm they could do a PET scan to see if it has increased metabolism, and indicator of malignacy (infection too). In my case, I had a 9mm something in August 2004. In Jan 2005 it grew to 12 mm and was big enough to do a PET scan. A CT scan a few weeks ago more positively identified it as a nodule and the PET scan showed uptake. So, if it is still small, wait and see should be ok.

Karen: I ma praying for Dave and you and Faith. Let the miracle happen. I think it is cool that the oncologist is on board with you, pulling for that miracle.