Jump to content

Katester

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    99

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Katester

    26 year old , Mom just diagnosed

    in INTRODUCE YOURSELF!

    Posted

    Welcome Mandy,

    I am sorry to hear about your Mother. You have come to a support community that will be there for you, unconditonally.

    You will also find a great wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of lung cancer with this group so ask what you need to know.

    I am the Mother of an only child and I can relate to the closeness that you have with your parents. It's that relationship that will give you the strength and stamina to get through this.

    Your friends with healthy families couldn't possibly feel what you are feeling right now but that doesn't mean that they don't care or that they aren't going to be there for you. Alot of it is that they just don't know what to do or what to say . When we were just going through the diagnostic stages of my lung mass I can recall my Son saying that he wished he could express how he felt but couldn't get the words in a sentence that could say what he was wanting to say.I am sure you are hurting and trust me on this one, your Mom is hurting for you right now as well. Keep up the fight and lead your Mom through this.

    My best to you and your family.

    Kate

    devastated...

    in INTRODUCE YOURSELF!

    Posted

    I just wanted to welcome you and tell you that you will find this a place of comfort and support. You will find all the members helpful and full of guidance and endless support and information based upon their own battles and experiences with lung cancer. Ask them, they will help you.

    Try not to explore the internet too much looking for answers and getting statistics. Each story is a different story .......no two are exactly alike.

    Use the internet more for research on what you can do to help and as a learning tool as to what new developments and treatments are out there now. The statistics will wear you down and wear you out and that's not where you want to be .

    My best to you and your family.

    Kate

    Question about PET scans?

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Hi Tracy,

    Sorry this is going on with your Dad.

    My PET scan was negative, but I was told by the radiologist that a postitive scan doesn't mean you have cancer and a negative one doesn't mean that you don't. Although it was negative, two weeks later I had to go for another CT scan to observe that the mass was getting smaller. It was at that point that the "benign mass" was determined.

    I agree that they are supposed to be quite accurate. In my case , the insurance covered most of the cost which was $2200. If it didn't I would have found a way to get the money to do the PET but they actually offered payment terms to their patients.

    I learned much about PET scans prior to mine because the son of a co-worker of mine is a technician/radiologist who now works for the company that manufactures PET machinery as well as other diagnostic machines. I picked his brain for a zillion questions before I actually had mine done. He is based in Boston and the main office is in Belgium.

    There are false positives and false negatives as well, with false negatives being far less.

    I chose the PET scan versus the surgical biopsy mostly in the hopes of not ever having to have the biopsy done, but went into the PET knowing I still may have had to do both.

    The PET is supposed to have the ability to diagnose cancer, stage it, and in some cases, help determine what future treatments will work and won't.

    I agree with Don, I'd opt for the PET.

    Wishing you and your family the best.

    Kate

    I am new here

    in INTRODUCE YOURSELF!

    Posted

    Hello Cathy,

    So sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Try to find some of the strength and courage you need from the survivors here on the board. You will find them to be a great source of comfort and an excellent resource for information that you'll be looking for.

    Keep up the fight.

    Kate

    biopsy tomorrow

    in MEMBER UPDATES

    Posted

    Good luck tomorrow. This is a subject I can say I did experience 6 years ago and the outcome was benign. It definetly is un-nerving to go through and I will pray for all the best for you.

    Kate

    Since you asked.

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Best Wishes for a Happy Birthday.

    You have such a great joy of life and I enjoy reading your posts.

    It causes one to do some soul searching as to what is important and where our priorities might get mixed up.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts .

    Kate

    Pet/CT "full color" Combination Scan

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    I also had this testing done earlier this year. It is an amazing technology.

    Unfortunately there are only 3 machines available in my surrounding area but that is better than none at all.

    My doctor said that the test is capable of diagnosing, staging, and from that calculating what treatment would work best based on what they find.

    He is also said that they are also having trouble training radiologists to use the machines and read the scans faster than the machines are being

    manufactured.

    Wishing you good luck on your tests.

    Kate

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept