nadri

I also have a question about Iressa. Due to some of its potentially damaging side effects, we were told that Iressa could only be used when there was a tumor to track on a CT scan, otherwise the doctors wouldn't be able to tell if it was working or not. The doctors would not keep a patient on it if it is not working. Is this always how it is done? Andrea sorry to ask for more details on your Mum, but was all the tumor removed if so how are her doctors going to measure its success? Thanks

Thanks for responding to my message, it certainly means a lot to us to have your support. My Dad doesn't want to take more than 400mg of Celebrex but I am worried that this won't be enough as they used 800mg in the clinical trials, does anyone have any thoughts on this. I would really be most grateful to hear people's views. As to the surgery perhaps even in the US removing the pleural membrane isn't done. If anyone has heard of this being done succesfully or knows anyone who has had this done, please could they let me know. Thanks for taking the time to read my message. Sarah

Firstly I wanted to apologise for not having posted any messages recently. I have been reading the messages and printing them off for my parents and they have been a tremendous source of comfort and inspiration. Well we got that second opinion, the new oncologist said that in his opinion the cancer is limited to the chest region making it a stage III, the cancer the surgeon saw was in the pleural membrane. This is all of course provisional to the combined PET/CT scan, which the hospital is going to give my Dad next week prior to the start of his Chemotherapy (we are all very nervous about this). The course of chemotherapy is likely to be gemcitabine and cisplatin. The good thing about the new oncologist is his attitude, he is upbeat and says there are many treatment options and he will try anything. He is also very knowledgeable about current research. This is in complete contrast to the first oncologist who to all intense purposes told my Dad to go home there’s nothing we can do for you. I have a couple of things that I would like to ask for your opinions on and I apologise if I am covering old ground. I noticed a number of you are taking Celebrex, my Dad asked his GP to prescribe his some and he has given him 200mg a day, many of you seem to be taking more than this, what dosage should my Dad take? He is going to ring his oncologist and ask as well. Also as regards surgery the Oncologist didn’t seem to think further surgery was necessarily an option as he said that removing the pleural membrane is a massive undertaking and that 9 out of 10 thoracic surgeons will not even try to do this in the UK. I was wondering if surgeons in the US were more likely to undertake such an operation and if anybody had any experience of it. I have put my Dad on a regime of supplements which is growing by the day and currently means he is taking about 30 pills a day is this a lot how many supplements do some of you take? Since my Dad’s diagnosis a little over a month ago we have had so many ups and downs, good news, bad news, devastating news and then a bit of good news again and we are only at the beginning of the journey. Do you ever get used to this roller coaster and how do you manage to stay on an even keel? Thank you for reading my message, I think that you guys are the most supportive group of people I have ever encountered. Thanks Sarah

Hi All I just wanted to thank everyone very much for taking the time to reply to my message. We are definitely seeking a second opinion now and I will keep you posted as to the outcome. Just to clarify it was my Dad's oncologist who said that starting chemotherapy now wasn't necessarily the right thing to do. I think my Dad's surgeon was rather surprised by this attitude although he hasn't directly said so. I have been looking into second primaries in the lung, just how rare are they? I know that I am probably fooling myself but have been looking for some hope that there isn't spread. Best wishes

Hi All I have just found this board, I have been reading the web exhaustively ever since my Dad was diagnosed a month ago. I will give a full background to my Dad's diagnosis, sorry it is so long just wanted to make his situation clear. For a year he has had persistant chest pain and seen many doctors about it. Then just over a month ago he had a chest x-ray at a local hospital, the doctors there said it was all clear. However a friend of my Father's who is a thoracic physician thought that something didn't look right. Following on from this he had a CAT scan this showed tumor of about 1.5 cm on the periphary of his right lung. He had a small operation to check that there was no cancer activity in his mediastinal nodes, there wasn't. He was also checked for further mets and none showed up. The surgeon performed a lobectomy however once he was in there he saw further cancer in another different lobe which was too small to show up on any scan, and also some fluid he was worried about. Just before my Dad was discharged the surgeon saw my Dad and he said there was good news in that the pathologist had been working hard and there was no evidence of spread to outside the lung, and that the pleural fluid was not malignant, though there was involvement of hilar nodes. We were all pleased to hear this however when my Dad spoke to the oncologist, he was told that presence of cancer in the other lobe meant that the cancer had to have spread roung the body and that he was stage IV. We were all very upset and suprised by the turnaround. Then the oncologist said that that although my Dad could start chemotherapy now if he wanted, he wouldn't necessarily recomend this as there is nothing showing up on scans to indicate success or otherwise. We are concerned about any delay to treatment. We are thinking of getting a second opinion, but would be most grateful of any support, advice etc. now and I am sure in the coming months. Thanks and best wishes to everyone