Don M

Malou: Please acccept my condolences for the loss of your Thomas. don M

Nancy, please accept my condolences for the loss of your father. Don M

Please accept my condolences for you loss. Don m

Connie, please accept my condolences. Don M

I am sorry to read of Terri's passing. My condolences to her family. Don M

Hi Lillian; Your lc is very treatable at this point. There is a chance that the biopsy will show that the nodes are ok and you may be a candidate for surgery (or maybe they will do a lobectomy while you are on the table) and have a shot at a permanent cure. But even if you can't be cured, you can be treated and hold the cancer at bay for years, perhaps have extended times of no evidence of disease. Let us know how your biopsy/surgery turns out. And, I think you will grow old and watch your gandchildren grow up. As others have said, get meds for the depression. I did and it helped me. Don M

Shirley: cyberknife is a form of targeted radiation that has been used very successfully to treat brain mets, or other mets anywhere in the body, including the liver. Find out as much as you can about the details of your dad's situation and ask the oncologists at the message board for cyberknife what they think your dad's options may be. They are very helpful and answer within 24 hours.

Hi Shirley; yes you are lucky. I hope the treatment is going ok for you . Don't forget to guzzle the water and force your self to walk a little bit each day for exercise. You can always take a nap afterwards. I hope the kidney problem is easily resolved and you recover quickly from your thyroid operation. A fried of mine had a similar problem with her thyroid. They did 3 needle bipsies. Each time it was inconclusive. She finally said "no more biopsies. Cut it out." She did not want to take a chance with it being cancer. They ended up taking out one lobe. She was out of the hospital in a day or 2 as I recall. It has been 3 years now and she is doing fine. Don M

Hi Shirley: welcome to this site. I am sorry that your father has to deal with lung cancer. I would question why your father does not have more options for treatment. Has he tried alimta, taxotere, avastin? Has he tried radiation? There are also several combinations of tarceva and other drugs that are promising. Your father may be able to reduce or eliminate tumors using cyberkife or image guided radiaiton therapy. http://www.cyberknifesupport.org/forum/default.aspx?c=4 http://www.thedoctorslounge.net/oncolog ... m.php?f=27 I think your father should seek a second opinion at a major cancer center. Don M

Hi again Meredith: my radiation onc was DR Mehta. I saw Dr. West a couple of times when I was there to consult on medical oncology issues. I also am impressed with Swedish. I will be doing my followup chemo at my local clinic in Aberdeen. My radiation therapy made use of the electa synergy machine, which is the only one in the Northwest. I was able to have my tumor killed while minimizing damage to my remaining lung. Today was my last treatment day. I call it "dead tumor day". Don M

Rochelle: I would be concerned and would expect my oncologist to be concerned too. Get a second opinon. I hope your mom feels beter soon. Don M

Patt: if your tumor was 1a, the chance of recurrence is less than 5%. Chemo would probably be redundant because it would not increase your odds any, statistically. But there is still a chance that there would be some cells floating around in your body. You could try 3 or 4 rounds of carbplatin/taxol and bail out if it gets too rough. I did not have chemo for my 1b cancer and it came back. I had a small tumor the second time. It was staged 1a after surgery. I was advised to do the chemo, since it was my second cancer. If it was my first, and it was a small tumor, I was told it would not make much sense to do it. Your decision whether to do chemo or not hinges a lot on its stage. If it were me, I would do the chemo even if it was 1a and bail out if the side effects got too bad. for instance, if my liver counts were not good, I would just quit rather than try to manage the liver counts. I could put up with fatigue and not feeling too good for 3 or 4 days in each round. Another consideration is that there could be long term effects from chemo that may show up in the future that no one knows much about. As survivors live longer, this could be more of an issue. Don M

I am glad to hear "clean scan" for you Cindy. I have cysts and what not in my liver too. They never change. Sometimes a radiologist reads it and says it is suspicious for mets, but that is because he did not have access to previous scans. I was blindsided each time I got a new cancer. I am cautiously optimistic that it will not come back this time. If I can just make it past the one year mark, I will consider that a good sign. I hope you remain cancer free in the years to come. don M

Lori; I am sorry the insurance appeal did not work out. I guess all you can do is the one day at a time thing and take your counsleor's lead. I hope there are some good times in store for you all. You and your mom have my continued prayers. Don M

Meredith, welcome to this site. I am glad that you have NED now. You had to pay a lot to get to that point. I am sorry it has been so devastating for you. Don M

It is personal.. and I would venture to say that none of us know for sure what we would do in the last days, give up or keep on fighting. I do believe though that life is a precious gift and part of me would not give it up easily and at the same time I am not afraid to die. Of course, when death seems imminent, I might change my mind. I would stop chemo though if there were no more benefit. I may still keep fighting in my own mind, chemo or no chemo. I would be as mindful as I possibly could of each precious breath. Don M

Good for you Darrel. I hope you continue on the fast track to NED and stay that way. Don M

Well, I guess I would be relieved too. I googled histoplasmosis and I see that it is a fungal disease. It has got to be better than lc. I guess it gets dry and dusty where you are, as the spores are breathed in from dust. I hope your mom gets it treated quickly. And it is interesting to note, that you would never have found the correct diagnosis unless you pushed for the full biopsy. Don M

Welcome Lisa; it was two months before I finally had surgery for my first cancer after a lung mass was found. I think it may have gone faster if I had gone to a major cancer center. If you are going to Moffit, I think you are in good hands. It seems like there is nothing definite found yet and you are in a bit of a gray area and it may take a while to sort through all of it. I wonder why they can't do a mediastinoscopy. Is that what Moffit said? I would submit to a biopsy. I hope it all turns out to be nothing as your pulmonologist said. Don m

Nancy: I have had several 1.5 cm lymph nodes for some time now. They don't change much. Maybe the radiologist who did your report this time is different from the guy who did it before and the previous guy never made any mention of it. I suspect it is nothing to worry about and the PET scan will allay your fears. Don M

Teri and her family have my prayers. don M

Carleen: I guess all I can do is offer my prayers for you and Keith. I know you both hurt. Don M

Katheen: It is very hard for you now obviously. Hopefully, your mom can be one of those who have good quality survival years ahead and your nephew will respond to treatment. Perhaps your dad can get a second opinion? I am always skeptical of docs when they start making predictions. The smart ones would say they don't really know for sure and would provide other options. You and your family have my prayers. Don M

Hi Trish: welcome to this site. I am sorry your mom has to deal with lung cancer. I think a team approach at a major cancer center works best for a patient. You will not be shuffled around and will get answers and a plan quickly. I am at a major cancer center in Seattle and my experience has been very positive. I don’t have to wait for weeks for an appointment and the lines of communication work very well between the specialists. I think the following facility may be the best bet for your mom: St. Anthony Hospital 1000 North Lee Street Oklahoma City, OK, 73101 USA Phone Main: (405) 272-7311 Phone Alt: Fax: On The Web DOCTORS Radiation Oncology Clinton A. Medbery, III, M.D. Astrid E. Morrison, M.D. Marianne M. Young, M.D. The above doctors are radiation oncologists that run the cyberknife program. Since this hospital has a cyberknife facility it must be one of the major cancer centers in the US. Cyberknife is the best way to take care of brain mets, or any other met that is not too small and not too big. They can kill the mets with out the need for a head frame as would be required in gamma knife. I am sure that a medical center like this one uses a team approach and that they would have an assortment of medical oncologists and surgical oncologists. Here is a link to a message board where you can ask questions about cybrknife or lung cancer in general. The oncologists there answer questions within 24 hours. One of the frequent respondents is Dr. Medbury who is in your town. http://www.cyberknifesupport.org/forum/default.aspx?c=4 You and your mo have my best wishes. Don M

Rick: thankyou thankyou thankyou Don M