beverly nichols

my sister has small cell lung cancer. she had been sickly( real tired and vomiting almost daily) since june of 2003 - her regular md told her it was from stress on the job! was hospitalized first in 12/03, again 1/03 and lastly in 2/03,( in 3 different hospitals!) where it was finally discovered it was cancer. although they thought originally it was lymphoma(due to enlarged lymphnodes just under lungs) further testing and biopsy came the final diagnosis of small cell with 1.5" tumor in chest wall. after the first 3 chemo treatments the tumor/lymphnodes showed extensive shrinkage in both; hopefully this will be the sign for us that she may beat it. i find it hardest to think of my niece, who is only 6 now, having to see her mom suffer and then to lose her. keep them in your prayers. thanks

thanks for getting back to me so quickly...im wondering what PCI treatments are....my sister hasn't mentioned anything like that and neither did the oncologist we originally met with concerning treatment. is this something she should question him about as something they might try on her? also, that's a great photo of you and grandson you posted.

i am so glad that i found this website both for myself and my sister. she's a 42 yr old, single mom with a 6yr old daughter. the statistics you hear about are so scary that i don't think we should listen to them. one of our brothers says we have to keep hope that she will be in the 15-20% survivors group; my sister has the best outlook of us all(thank god) in that she is adament she will beat it. so far, 4 chemo sessions of carboplatin/vp16 have already shrunk the lung tumor and affected lymphnodes. she started 33 treatments of radiation last week. can anyone give me some true hope to have more than 2-3 years with her? thanks for any positive reinforcement you can give me, and even if the results are not great still let me know how things went and how you are handling it. thanks- bev