cafe99

Hello all, I've been peeking around here for the last few days and I think this is a great site. You know, everybody knows somebody with cancer... but you never realize how little you know until it hits close to home. My brother-in-law was diagnosed 10/2/09 with NSCLC. I've been all over the internet trying to find information, & there's just so much stuff & yet not enough stuff at the same time. I live in NJ & my sister & her family live in Florida, so that complicates everything also. I may not post much, (then again, I might! this is my first forum) but I like feeling connected to people in similar situations. I think sharing helps lighten the load a little. God bless you all. cafe

Hi all, My brother-in-law was diagnosed 10/2/09 with non-small cell lung cancer. Unfortunately they live in Florida & I live in NJ. We (as a family unit) have never had to deal with cancer before & are very confused & despondent. We have no idea how quickly things should be happening with treatment --it seems like everything is happening too slowly. We were told in the ER that the mass is blocking the bronchus & is inoperable because of the location, chemo & radiation would hopefully shrink it so it would become operable. OK, got it. 1st chemo while in the hospital. Goes to radiation doctor for mapping -- can't do it, no one checked with the insurance company in time. Has PETscan as outpatient, 2nd mass in pleura. Nobody has sat down with him & talked about what the options are, what the pros & cons are -- nothing. Any info we have, we found ourselves. Anyway -- he hasn't had any radiation yet & now there's insurance issues because they want to do IMRT & the insurance says "no". He's having his 2nd chemo on Monday. Does this all sound slow & disorganized? I'm not sure if it just feels that way because of our anxiety. Any insight would be great. Thank you, thank you....... cafe