Don M

I hope your mom finds a way to deal with the alimta. It has helped a lot of people. I had 4 rounds of alimta and took a lot of naps. I also did light exercise before my naps which I think helps offset the fatigue. I would walk in the morning and nap in the afternoon. Be sure that your mom takes her folic acid. My oncologist also had me take dexamethasone tabs on the 3rd and 4th days as I recall. They should be giving her vitamin B12 shots, one just before the infusion and one about 6 weeks later. Don M

good luck terry...just jump in. don M

Good luck to Terry with his teatment, Flo. I would go for the mri. My first oncologist said take all the supplements I want and my second oncologist said don't take supplements...except I took B-12 and Folic Acid to offset alimta sickenss and I took milk thistle to help my liver. Don M

Dina: Forget the pulmonologist and the sleep apnea thing. Take all the scans and records and go to a comprehensive cancer center. You will get much better attention there. As far as I know the only reason for your dad to continue with a pulmonologist is to see if he is a candidate for surgery or to have a broncoscopy to get tumor tissue. A PET scan should be the next order of business to see if the cancer has spread. If it is still in the lung then the pulmonologist can do breathing tests to see if he can do surgery. Anyway, your dad had shoddy care there and should go somewhere else. Don M

Happy Birthday Lilly! Don M

Barbara, I am sorry you have to deal with uncertainty again. But remember that it is just an xray. Hopefully a ct scan will put your fears to rest. I have recently had to deal with depression too. I went back on lexapro. Then I decided that if it looks like I am going to have to go through more procedures and more treatment, I am not going to do it depressed all the time. I want to enjoy my retirement as best as I can. I think it worked. I have stopped staring off into space and am being productive around the house and yard. I reasoned to myself, ok I have been depressed off and on for a couple of weeks now. A person can only do that for so much, so I am going to stop. I suppose the lexapro helps though. Don M

Aaron: Somebody definitely dropped the ball when you weren’t notified of the nodule call in the xray. The next step would have been a pet/ct scan. I can understand a wrong call, but you should still be aware of a nodule call and then decide if you want to pursue it. My adeno is moderately differentiated. At least the first 2 cancers were. I don't know for sure about my 3rd cancer. Moderately differentiated means it is moderately aggressive. Poorly differentiated means it is more aggressive. I think it is possible that it may have been at an earlier stage for you. I doubt that I would litigate. I would want to focus on my cancer treatment, not litigation. At least now you know to get copies of everything. I had a similar situation early on in my cancer career. I had an oncologist tell me that my report was just fine. I took his word and went my merry way. It turned out that the radiologist had reported a sub centimeter nodule that was worrisome. I wish I had been told about it at the time so that I could join in on the worry if I wanted to. It turned out that the nodule was caught at an xray 3 months later too and this time I had a follow-up ct scan and it was 1.2 cm. I still caught it early. If I had read the report myself, I would have known of it earlier. I get copies of everything now. I guess my oncologist thought a sub centimeter nodule was no big thing, or maybe he did not read the report very thoroughly. Don M

hi Heather and welcome. Don M

Welcome Alicia: see my post at NSCLC

Hi Alicia: I have had 4 rounds of alimta, but never had the problems that your dad is having. I have heard that alimta can cause severe sob where the air sacs become destroyed, but that is very rare. That condition is not in the documentation anywhere, but it has appeared to happen to some. I have also read that use of alimta is not indicated if pleural efusions are present. I don't know if your dad's heart would act like that because of the effusions or not. You could run your dad's situation by Dr West. He has a site at: http://www.onctalk.com/forum/ I hope you dad's heart gets stabilized and he can get back to treatment. Don M

You all have my prayers. I hope you get to spend some time with your dad. Don M

welcome

Way cool Bill.

Hi Debi: fooey on the other shoe. You are on a great run. Just let it unfold and be happy. It is good to hear from you. Don M

Merry Chirstmas Valerie. My cancer has been chipping away at me for 3 years but I am still here too. It is good to see you post. Don M

Hi Flo, welcome to lchelp. When your husband gets a treatment plan implemented, things will settle down a bit. I think I was in a state of disbelief about my diagnosis for a year or longer. I just went through the steps to treat my disease in the midst of my shock and disbelief. I don't think any of us ever thought we would get lc. I know I sure didn't. So, it is treatable, much like a chronic disease for the later stages. I think there are some who start out at 3b and end up proceeding to NED. Here are some links. I could not find a NCI approved comprehensive cancer center for Georgia. The closest one appears to be in Birmingham: http://www3.ccc.uab.edu/ There is a cancer center in your neck of the woods that seems to be pretty good. It is at Marietta, Georgia. It is not NCI approved, but that does not necessarily mean it is not a good center. http://www.wellstar.org/ws_content/ws_h ... ic_id=1328 Don M

Hi Holly. Welcome back. Don M

Merry Christmas, Bill. Don M

Enjoy your Christmas

Gwen, I just hope your dad can be at peace. Don M

Please accept my condolences for the loss of your father. Don M

Merry Christmas Dr. West. Don M

It worked Nick, and good on you. I often walk by smokers and I always mentally tell them to quit smoking. I suppose I would not do it to some guy on the street, but under similar circumstance ss yours, maybe I would tell my story and encourage them to quit smoking. Don M

Cute. I was thinking aobut Art Linkletter too. I guess it is kind of funny and sad at the same time, but if you have a choice, laugh. Don M

Merry Christmas everybody! Gee... I feel just like Tiny Tim. Don M