Don M

Hi Mike; I am glad to hear your mom is doing ok with the chemo-radiation. After your mom finishes her treatment, if there is any residual disease, she could have it killed off with cyberknife. There are a lot of elderly patients who use cyberknife because they cannot do conventional surgery. Check out the message board. http://www.cyberknifesupport.org/forum/default.aspx?f=6 Don M

Hi Graham, welcome. yah, chemo may help with the cough. After my last surgery I had a dry cough that was very persistent. My doc gave m a script for a codeine like drug which mutes the cough. Eventually it went away and I stopped taking the narcotic. Don M

I had an easier time with radiation, but I never had it the same time as chemo. I have heard of a followup radiation, when the tumor appears to be gone, but I am unclear on why or how they would do it if they can't see the tumor. That would be a good question for Dr. West. Don M

Thanks a lot Randy.. the warm blankets are a real nice touch. don M

Welcome home Rich. Don M

Thanks Katie.. 9000posts, wow. You must have gone through several keyboards by now. Don M

Most excellent...congratulations. Don M

Nova. I hope your husband continues to improve. don M

Keep it up. I quit 23 years ago after trying several times. I have a real aversion to cigarettes now, although curiously I still dream about them. Last night I dreamt I was buying a carton of cigarettes. I noticed that the carton was about 3 feet long. I was aware that I had quit smoking and was about to start up again. I wondered how I could possibly smoke all of those cigarettes. I told the store guy that I wanted to take the carton back and get something smaller. Then I woke up and realized I was dreaming. Don M

Hi Missy: I hope things lighten up for you. Don M

Welcome Kaylei. I hope you have no more brain mets ever. I would hold off on the wbr too. Don M

Welcome Marilyn well, it is too bad you have to go see the doom team. thee is definitely more hope than what they seem to be offering. I have red of other Canadians having a more aggressive and hopeful outlook form their docs. Are you going t docs in Vancouver? Maybe you could switch to some other docs. Anyway, I hope your treatment brings you very good results and puts your doctors in a more positive frame of mind. You might read about curcumin, which is a promising supplement for anti cancer properties. There is one member here, "surveyor" who seems to have a pretty good regime of supplements. You have to be careful about using antioxidants during treatment though. some oncs think it interferes with the effectiveness of chemo and maybe radiation too. Don M

Muffy, please accept my condolences for the loss of your mom. don M

Amanda, please accept my condolences for your loss. Don M

Flowergirlie, please accept my condolences for your loss. don M

Wow ...what a tough situation. It looks like you are on the right track...eviction and a family member with the skills who is willing to take care of him. good luck. don M

I think cyberknife is more accurate for lung tumors because it can track the movement of the tumor. I looked into proton therapy at one point for my lung tumor because I was not sure I could get fiducials for cyberknife placed in the tumor. I found out that the proton therapy places won't treat a lung tumor that has been previously radiated with another form of radiation. My tumor was previously radiated with IGRT. Don M

Welcome; your mom's disease is probably incurable but not necessarily terminal. She may be able to control the disease for years to come and have a not too bad quality of life. I was told not to use antioxidant supplements in my treatment and i could eat all the natural foods I wanted. I was glad to hear that because I grow a lot of berries and was looking forward to grazing my bushes last summer during treatment. Don M

Welcome Leonardo. I hope your mom does well with chemo. don m

Pammie: I am sorry you got bad news. Don m

Wood is Good, eh? What a funny idea. I am glad yo are doing so well and I hope the pathology brings yo good news. don M

what a cutie. I suppose he is in the babbling stage now and babbles forth serious questions with all the right inflections. Don M

H Mary: I hope the nodules turn out to be nothing. It may be that the rib pain and nodules are completely unrelated. If it is lc, at least you have the benefit of early detection. Early detection is a 2 edged sword. It can give you a heads up , but may be the cause for needless worrying. I would rather know about any and all nodules and deal with the worry. Welcome don m

I suppose she is dealing with it by minimizing it. If the surgeon says it is ok to wait, hang on to that. At least she is going to have a biopsy and then a lobectomy(s) if needed. I guess she does not want lung cancer to preempt everything in her life. Who does? Don M

Thanks. I might take it. I just wanted to see if that combo was even being prescribed.