Don M

I had the rest of my left lung removed last February. I feel good now. My lung capacity is diminished though. If I walk briskly up a flight of stairs, I will pant a little. I can no longer walk up very steep hills in the woods any nore without stopping to catch my breath every 10 steps or so. I walk a mile every day on flat ground in 20 minutes or less. I don't get winded doing that. I can run my chain saw and cut wood just as before. I can run a tiller in the garden. I can mow the lawn. I guess I can do most things 2 lunged people normally do. I probably could not run very far very fast any more, but I have not tried. I try to do something aerobic every day. I had chemo after my last surgery, and my oncologist says that the chemo affects my stamina and it could take me a year to fully recover. I finished chemo last july. I may get more back, but I think it would be marginal at this point. I pushed myself quite a bit in terms of exercise for recovery. I think it helped. Don M

Hi: I have not had to deal with the issues your dad is dealing with. I would like to welcome you to the site. Don M Well, I did have a period of a couple of months after my last surgery where I would have a dry retching cough, every time I bent over. Sometimes the coughing fits would cause a short blackout. My doc told me that the blackout was due to the blood supply to my brain temporarily getting pinched off during the spasms. I never got any treatment for it. It just went away eventually. The theory was that my right lung stretching after a left pneumectomy caused an irritation in my lung and that brought on the cough. I have never been treated with radiation and don't have radiation pneumonitis. I don't know if it is possible to actually die from a cough, it seems to me that if you pass out, you would start breathing again. I hope the prednisone helps your dad.

Andrea: please extend my congratulations to your mom. That is a nice picture of you and your mom. Don M

Congratulations Geri.

Congratualtions Cindi; the days go by fast, eh? Don M

Welcome Carol: I hope your dad finds a good plan and gets the pain managed. Hopefully he can keepthe disease stable for years to come. DonM

hi Debra: welcome Don M

Carleen: it was good to hear from You. I hope Keith contiues to do well. Don M

Larry: I am sorry to hear about your wife's setback and hope the new plan makes the cancer shrink to nothing. Don M

Addie: I hope you start to feeling better real soon and that this setback will be just memory. Don M

You and your brother have my prayers. Don M

Hi Janet: I am glad to hear thatthings are getting better there. Don M

Kelly: I am pleased to see that your mother is doing ok. Don M

Hey, have a good trip Hollyanne. A short absence will give you the opportunity to put your head into a different space for a while. I would expect that anyone's mind would be going a million miles an hour when contemplating leaving the care of a loved one to others for a short while. This will be a good opportunity for your dad and brother to work out a system to use when you are not as avaliable due to the impending birth of your baby. Just go ahead and attend to your needs at home. After a while you will be able to relax. I think your dad and brother will do just fine. Don M

Hi Kim: I am glad also that you have decided to take the job. Everything else will fall in place as Mrs Ry said. Don M

Welcome: I hope your husband quickly finds a way to manage his pain and can find the right treatment plan for him. don M

Welcome Kim: It sounds like your dad may have caught the cancer early. You and your dad have my prayers. Don M

"Treating four or more brain tumors in a single radiosurgery session resulted in improved survival compared to whole brain radiation therapy alone"... see link: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=13867

Hi you all: It has been 2 years for me. On October 30, 2003, my PCP called me at work and said I should come in right away. She read the results of a ct scan to me. It said I had a 4 by 5 cm "mass" in my left upper lobe. She told me, "somebody upstairs must be watching over you, because it was caught early". I had had a ct scan the previous spring to examine my kidneys and bladder. The lower part of my lungs showed up and a possible node or artifact was revealed in the lower left lung. The radiologist, recommended a follow up ct scan to see if the atifact was still there. After the summer, I decided to do the chest ct scan just to make sure. That is when the mass was found in my upper left lobe. It turned out that I had no significant kidneys/bladder problem, and there was a node in my lower lobe, but it was found to be benign at surgery. My first raction was to ignore it and go on with my life. I said as much to my PCP. I felt fine. She literally begged me to go see a pulmonologist and pursue it. She said that the most likely outcome was that I would have a lobectomy and be able to go on with my life. I decided to do it. I have had to believe the docs and the scans and the pathology and finally ended up in having a completion left pneumoectomy last Febbruary, followed by chemo. I think I finally have it beat, and now can have a nearly normal life with checkups. I am enjoying my life now, and am recently retired. I miss my lung though. Sounds like a good title for a book. "I Miss MY Lung". Don M

Here is a link for a promising new drug to treat nsclc: http://ceocfointerviews.com/interviews/ ... 080805.htm Don M

I coughed a lttle blood streaked phlegm several times over a week or 2 about a month ago. it perturbed me. I was not happy. I went to see my pulmonolgist. We figured it to be due to blood thinners i was taking. I stopped the thinners for a while and the coughing up blood stopped. I am not worried about it now. Good luck with yoour surgery. Don M

Hi Kelly: I hope you mom's operation goes well and she gets some relief from pain. Don M

Welcome Abra: I guess the doc felt he had to give your mom some idea of where she was at by letting her know of the statistics. It is best that you and her just forget about the statistics and think about the treatment plan. Find out all you can about what the options are for teatment. Many people with advanced cancer have survived for years and are still going. The statistics are a little behind the times anyway. I hope your mom finds a good treatment plan that keeps the disease stable. Don M

Hi Linus: hopefully your mom's confusion is temprotary. you have my prayers. Don M

Welcome Miss Di. Don M