Cindy RN

First ask around-lots of people have lung cancer and see who they saw. Check them out at their local hospital. Second go to a search engine such as google.com and type in lung cancer. There will be LOTS pop up look for a place near you that deals with lung cancer and have your family DR make the referral. Make it yourself if need be. Then you go get copies of all bld work, xray and ct scans, the radiologist reports for each and the DR. phsical and history. You can get most of this at medical records at the hospital you are going. Your mom has to sign for them tho. Call a day or so in advance because sometimes it takes a few day to get them. Find out what course of tx this Dr wants to do and then see what another will do. Then get back on here and maybe someone here has had the same type of lc and can give you pointers on where to go. DO NOT BELIEVE the stats! Some of us have way outlived what we were told. May God be with you.

Exactly HOW long can we use that one? I use it alot!! It still works for me Let us know about the celebrex. I am on vioxx 50 mg and it does not seem to be working as well as in the beginning, and I was told maybe I should swith to celebrex. Not until I know what the problem is now. Also if chemo brain does not work try all those million of brain cells fried and later call it a brain cloud sounds nice.

ginnyd-I do not have the same type of ca your hubby has BUT I understand what the DR is saying about not treating with the radiation. That might prevent it spreading more at that sight but once ca has spread to more than one major organ it can go just about anywhere. YUK! I know that is not something we want to hear but sometimes tx is worse than the ca. I know of people who have had radiation to mediastinal area-between the lungs and it just burned up their throats. She was unable to hardly swallow for 2 months. Had to have feeding tube in during that time and the ca still spread more in the brain. I WOULD go with the chemo tho. If he is fairly healthy and your DR is good about anti-nausea meds then go for it!! I will keep on trying whatever it takes up to the end, never give up hope. I have seen miracles before-WITH brain tumors-so keep us posted and I will be waiting to hear after Thurs tests

CAT scans are the ONLY way I have of knowing whether my CA has spread!! The cxr did not show anything in NOV then in Feb -3 months later there was a small area, off to the CT and there it was. SCLC grows so fast I can't wait every 6 months to have 1 done. GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRR I do angry once in awhile. I never had any symptoms to begin with so what should I have done.

I have been in your shoes. In 1994 my mom died, she was my best friend. She lived 1 1/2 yrs after her dx of nsclc with brain mets. Being a caregiver was more difficult for me than being the one with the cancer. You have watch everything and feel helpless. Just do what YOU can do for him and let him Know how you feel about him. Lots of prayer!! There people out here to help you vent and pray for you and your dad.

Always good to hear good news!! There are several anti-dep meds out there. The day I had my biopsies I was put on celexa. My Dr said he always did this because it kept his patients from becoming depressed. I have been on it 2 yrs, no side effects, and it is not habit forming. Might help. Neurontin-YUK! I tried that for the neuropathy and it made me look and feel like I was losing it, I could deal with the side effects. How about you others?

Dear dear Minnie. Your mother is doing what all of us moms do. We do what is best for you children, I know!! You are an adult, let me tell you as long as you are alive you are her 'child'. I have 3 kids, 25,23, and 16. There are days when I want to crawl in bed but one of them has something important for me to see or do. Your mom knows you need to finish school and she does not want her disease to stop you from doing it. Go on and do it. Just call her often, drop her a card once in awhile, write her a poem or just a letter telling her what she means to her. I know that those things mean so much to me. Your mother knows best, do what she tells you

GOOD JOB RENEE!!! You must feel feel good about the fact that you now have done something to get that Dr off his bottom. Her symptoms could be several things, I thought a few months ago that my CA had spread to the brain, my speech began to get kind of slurry and I could tell I was having difficulty getting the words out. They did another CAT scan and all was ok, so we traced back to anything different and then my hubby remembered I had started on the neuontin(sp) for the neuropathy. I looked it up and there it was! Side effect-speech difficulties! So I stopped taking it and AMAZINGLY I was normal again (well normal for me ) But it could be brain mets, but it is always better to know so it can be treated. They might be able to do radiation to help reduce the size and steroids work well for the sweling. Keep the hope because there is always hope. Prayers are with you.

Hi to all-I wanted to say something about what Debaroo said about why does ANYONE get cancer.You are right it can happen to all-good or bad. For me at the age of 44 I had no idea why it had to be me, I don't remember really questioning why-My mom always said I was Scarlet O'Hara. "Oh I will think about that tomorrow" After about 2-3 months I realised that I had had lots of things in my past that I had gotten thru due to my relationsip to Christ and each time I became a stronger person due to it. This was just another of those things. I told my friends I had 2 choices one was to die as a Christian, and secondly- if God saw fit to let me live awile I would use that time to be a testimony to Him. SO HERE I AM. Now I have to follow thru. That's what I get for saying that The one thing that scares me more than just about anything is giving speeches!!!!!!! No body ever asked me to do it before this happened, NOW I have had do it several times. OH well! I believe I am just a tool God has used that is my "WHY"

Renee-It is time to get another oncologist to see your mom (unless she does not want any tx). You can call your family Dr and have him/her find another one in your vacinity OR call some of the larger cancer centers for referrals. How old is your mom, and how was health before the cancer? These may be some reasons the present dr is not doing much. There are tx tho that would make her more comfortable. Good luck. Also being one with ca, I know where your mom is coming from when she consoled you. It is a 'mom thing', we do not want our children, no matter their age, to worry about us. Let her console you when you need it, I feel better when I am able to let my girls 'unload' their worries about me.

Renee-Very good advice about the MRI!! My mom had nsclc with mets to the brain. Those symptoms sound like ones that need checked NOW. You can see another oncologist for a second opinion but I would call your Mom's oncologist and tell him again about the symptoms and ask what can be done to find out why. Do not let him just say it is normal. It is not. I know some oncologists seem to brush off these symptoms (I have worked with several), you need to be pro-active, Drs. are working for us. At least they should be. Good luck, my prayers are with you and the other caregivers out there.