Don M

Gwen you all have my prayers. Don M

Sarah, your mom has my prayers. Don M

Frank, there are not many people who can write of heavy situations such as yours and somehow make it sound upbeat. You are a class act. I hope you get some relief and enjoy your golfing time. don M

Hi Robin, I have never had that combo, but I have heard good reports about combining avastin with chemo such as taxotere. Don M

Hi Karla, welcome. Don M

Karen: I have had 2 lung surgeries. I have had 2 chemos. I have to ay the chemos were easier. But the surgeries were still doable. I was fairly active again after 3 weeks. I am 62 years old now. I remain somewhat active. I garden, cut firewood, split firewood, do housework, putter, sit at my computer, and generally do most things other people do. I have an overhanging tree at the edge of my garden. It is starting to shade out one corner. I am contemplating climbing the tree and limbing it, but that may be too big a bite for me now. I can't walk up hills anymore as fast I as my legs will go, because I run out of breath. I do just fine on flat ground and walk a mile every day. I do have to breathe more heavily when I cut wood and stuff, but one gets used to it and I still get enough breath. I hope your mom recovers quickly and resumes her happy puttering. Don M

Hi Mary Jo: I am sorry you got it for the 3rd time. I am on my third one too. I would ask about some sort of focused radiation. IMRT is good. IGRT is a shade more accurate. Cyberknife is the most accurate. IMRT is more widely available than the other 2. It may serve your needs very adequately. They deliver a focused beam that increases in intensity when it arrives at the tumor and decreases when it leaves the tumor. IGRT does the same thing, but it has an onboard imager that can deliver real time pictures to the computer and make adjustments of the delivery to the target if needed. Cyberknife is the most accurate. It des not rely so much on imaging as the placement of metal markers in the tumor so that the robotics can follow the movement of the tumor as you breathe. For the bone, it will use the bone as landmark and the imager is used. Cyberknife can be done in 3 treatments per lesion unusually. The other 2 treatments take 33 or so. It looks like you have a good chance of attaining NED again. Good luck. Don M

I still feel stiffness and sometimes muscular back pain along the incision. Occasionally I get a stab of pain. Mostly I don't think about it. Don M

I have had 2 different chemos, and all I had was hair thinning. I used to have one big thick eyebrow that went all the way across without interruption. After chemo, I now appear to have 2 rather normal eyebrows, although somewhat thinned. Don M

Thanks Nina, I am always glad to see you post. Don M

Very nice Ann. she looks a little feisty. Don M

Hi Heather, welcome. Don M

Seeing what others wrote about zapping the area where the cancer used to be, makes sense. It looks like your sister's docs are going to do everything possible to make sure the cancer does not come back. Don M

Kelly, I am sorry your mom had progression. I hope the new antidepressant helps her. I had 4 rounds of alimta and found that the fatigue hit me on the 3rd day. The dexamethasone held it at bay for the first 2 days. You are supposed to take folic acid for a period of time, I can't remember exactly what it was, maybe 2 weeks before the first infusion and every day during treatment and for a period of time after treatment. You are also supposed to have a vitamin B12 shot before infusion and another after 6 weeks as I recall. I did not get sick much from the alimta, but I did have fatigue and some sob. I hope you all have a merry Christmas in spite of the setback. Don M

I agree with Mary. You should not have to tell your employer about your medical situation unless it becomes obvious you couldn’t do the job any more. If you are just nodule watching at this point, just go on with the monitoring and go for the new job. Don M

Yeah Sharon, the doc is just being cautious. I think firemen, unfortunately, get lc more often than the general population. I have been exposed to more wildland fire smoke than the general population and I sometimes wonder if that was a factor in my getting lc. I quit smoking 19 years before I got lc. Don M

So, I thought the radiation was going to be PCI only. I don't think they ae radiating your sister's lungs are they? You mentioned PCI in a previous post. They would be radiating her brain with PCI. It is a preventative treatment.

Welcome Dawn.

Hi Robin. Welcome. You have got some good advice here already. I wold just like to say that you are going through the worst part now. It will get better as you get more information and get started on a treatment plan. don m

Joanie, I have hesitated replying, hoping that Dr. West would. I think you should go to his blog and ask about your situation. I guess it must be good if it has not gone into your spinal fluid. Don M

Oh... PCI is commonly given as preventative therapy for small cell lung cancer. It is to make sure there are no tiny mets lurking around in her brain. They use a low dose. If I had SCLC, I would do it. Don M

I am not sure how many scans I have had now... a lot. I always just shrugged them off until I actually read them and then did whatever came next. This time, I find myself being grumpy and irritable as I look to my upcoming scan. This is the one that will tell me if my treatment was successful or not. It also will tell me about any new disease or not. Maybe I should go back on the lexapro. My PET/CT scan is Wednesday. I think it will be good news, but I realize that the more times I get cancer the more likely it is that I will get it again. Maybe I should not entertain that thought... it is just one of the dreaded statistics I guess. Actually, today I feel pretty good about it. Tomorrow I start my protein diet for the PET part of the scan. Anyway, Geri,Kasey and John, I hope your scans bring you good news. Don M

Welcome Sawyer; your mom sounds very brave. I hope she does well with tratment and is around for a very long time indeed. Your mom's cancer sounds complex. I think she should be going to a major comprehensive cancer center, at least to verify a treatment plan and then she cold implement it locally. Good luck to you and your mom. Don M

Hi Sue: So, I take it that the nodes that were removed were tested to be positive for cancer. If your partner is going to be doing radiation, she might inquire about cyberknife or image guided radiation therapy (IGRT). Cyberknife is very accurate and can kill the cancer near the Aorta Pulmonary artery without touching the artery. But maybe it is more appropriate to use conventional broad beam radiation on the mediastinal area to make sure no other nodes have cancer, I am not sure. IGRT is another form of targeted radiation that has a focused beam. It is not as accurate as cyberknife, takes more treatments to finish and it also kills the cancer while conserving adjacent healthy tissue. I had IGRT to kill a small tumor in my remaining lung last summer. I did not do cyberknife, because I had only one lung and cyberknife requires penetration of the lung to place metal markers and this would present a risk of lung collapse, which is not a good thing if you have only one lung. IGRT does not need fiducials. Your partner may very well be taking the best course of treatment possible. I thought I would just mention to you the targeted therapies that are available now. Here is a link to a cyberknife site where you can ask questions. http://www.cyberknifesupport.org/forum/default.aspx?c=4 I think the 5-year countdown begins after the latest cancer. I have been dealing with cancer for 3 years now, but I will have to be cancer free for 5 years after my last cancer to be pronounced, “cured”. I have a little over 4 years to go. I am still alive though, and I feel good. I am just slowed down. I am not sure where I fit in the statistics and I don’t care. I figure I will outlive the cancer. Your partner should not try to pigeonhole herself into any class of statistics either…just beat the cancer. Don M

I would not want to subject myself to radiation unless I know for sure there is a target. Chemo would be ok for mopup. When radiation is done, they do have to see an actual tumor in CT scans so that they can adjust the targeting of the beams. Maybe the tumor is still there, but it is not showing much activity and would not light up on a PET scan. Anyway, it looks like your sister is on the way to remission. Don M