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Sorry I'm late responding. You are an amazing wife and Keith must be so thankful to have you in his life. You are truly a courageous woman. My husband and I are around the same age as you and Keith and I can't imagine going through everything that you have endured. Along with so many others here...I, too, am praying for you and Keith. Take care, Sherri

I am so sorry for the loss of your sister. Deepest sympathies to you and your family. Sherri

You are such a good daughter-in-law. Prayers to you and your family during this difficult time. Sherri

Welcome Melissa. I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, but you have most definitely found the right place for support and information. My Dad also has NSCLC which has recently metastisized to the brain. This board has been so helpful to me not only in providing information, but also providing hope. There are a lot of people on here surviving beyond Dr's expectations and it helps me stay positive. It's a tough road, but remain as positive as you can! Take care, Sherri

Congratulations on three years...that's wonderful to hear! Wishing you both many more years to come! Like a previous poster already said - I enjoy reading your posts so much because you have such a wonderful way of providing support, hope and inspiration to others. This board is truly blessed to have you. All the best tomorrow with your IVF procedure!!! Sherri

Good morning Everyone! I’ve been hesitant to post an update because I’m afraid I’ll jinx things… Dad finished WBR 5 days ago and he’s doing pretty darn well so far. I was so worried about him having this done after hearing about some of the potential side effects. Before Dad started WBR, I called Dad’s radiation nurse to see if she ever encounters people with some of the serious side effects that I read about here. She assured me that fatigue is the normal side effect and the things I listed were not common in her experience. I also spoke with a good family friend who used to the do the radiation and now does the planning for radiation, and she too assured me that everything would be okay. I then spoke with Dad's radiation oncologist as well as a different radiation oncologist, and they both reiterated what the others had said. So I feel I did my part in ensuring that this was the right choice in our situation. Well so far, fatigue has been the only major factor for Dad. He’s super tired and his head feels “heavy”, but it certainly hasn’t kept him down and in bed all day. He’s even trying to get out and walk some. We haven’t seen signs of short term memory loss and he's still able to do the crossword puzzle everyday, etc. So hopefully, I haven’t jinxed things by posting this, but I wanted to update. Now we have two weeks before seeing Dad’s radiation and chemo oncologists. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, Dad’s energy levels will begin to return and he can start on Tarceva soon. I pray that the brain lesion responded well to the radiation. Thanks again to everyone for offering your thoughts, point of view, support, and prayers. It has been so very helpful. Sherri

Hi there. I completely understand where you are coming from. I remember when my Dad first got diagnosed and how panicked and scared I was. I couldn't talk about it without crying. Dad was given 9-12 months to live and it has now been almost two years and he's still quite strong. Try not to follow timelines given by doctors - your mother is not a statistic, she's a person. Like your mom, my Dad is mid-70's and really hadn't been sick a day in his life. I think his previous good health has helped him fight this battle better. I also have found that knowledge is power. I felt less helpless once I starting educating myself about lung cancer. This is a great place to help you do that!! Take care, Sherri

Hi Linda, My Dad is in the process of weaning off steroids at the moment, as well. He just finished WBR last week. Although steroids are great for reducing swelling in the brain, it really does come at quite a cost to the rest of the body. Dad's muscles ache and cramp a lot and are much weaker than they used to be. We were told that the steroids cause the large muscles of the body to deteriorate and it gets worse the longer you are on them. The worst affected muscles are those in the thighs, calves, and upper arms. The Dr. told us that once dad is off the Decadron, that if he starts walking and doing physical activity, the muscle mass should begin to repair itself. Dad is just now reducing his dosage and the oncologist told us that if dad starts getting really bad headaches, to go back to the previous dosage for another week as it isn't enough to help with the swelling from brain radiation. Dad has also put weight on and it's a funny thing...the weight has him looking so healthy but his body is completely exhausted from the radiation. Looks sure can be deceiving. Good luck with everything. Sherri

Hi Tom, My Dad has been taking Essiac tea faithfully three times a day since his diagnosis. We have no idea if it has helped or not, but Dad is 74 and hasn't taken a lot of treatment in the 22 months since he found out about having cancer. He had radiation two summers ago and only one cycle of navelbine over a year ago. Up until recently, he was living life pretty "normal". He brews the Essiac tea himself and he has no plans of discontinuing its use. He buys his Essiac at a natural food store, I believe. Dad figures it can't be hurting him and he's not about to stop now!! Good luck. Sherri

Hi Jodi, Sounds like your Mom is doing well. That's great! My Dad is 74 and he has a lot of spunk left in him, too. He played golf all last summer and even though he's not that great right now, he's playing pool two times a week! And he says he's playing some of the best pool he's ever played. A good attitude goes a long way! PS. I would also like to know how to add a picture below the profile too and how do you make the font in the profile smaller?? All the best. Sherri

Hi Jodi, Sounds like your Mom is doing well. That's great! My Dad is 74 and he has a lot of spunk left in him, too. He played golf all last summer and even though he's not that great right now, he's playing pool two times a week! And he says he's playing some of the best pool he's ever played. A good attitude goes a long way! PS. I would also like to know how to add a picture below the profile too and how do you make the font in the profile smaller?? All the best. Sherri

Thanks to everyone for your advice and encouragement. The bad experiences with WBR on this site has my stomach in knots. Dad is supposed to start treatment this Thursday. I wonder if the dose of radiation has any part of good and bad results? Dad is getting low dose radiation for 10 days versus high dose radiation for 5 days. If they are saying that Dad's tumour is over the size limit for doing stereotactic radiation, then what can I do really? We discussed having it surgically removed but our oncologist (who I trust is trying to do the right thing for dad)says that Dad's recovery time from the surgery would more than likely set him back further than this is likely to do. Dad is 74 and not as likely to bounce back from any treatment as easily as those who are younger than him. If there were that many people experiencing such severe reactions to WBR, wouldn't they stop doing it or give patients more warning? Maybe I'm just naive? Also, he's fighting for his life RIGHT NOW - can I truly worry what a year from now will bring? I haven't discussed what I have read here with my father yet and it has me in a lot of turmoil. If Dad has this done and something happens, I will hold myself responsible for not stopping them. But if he can't have SRS due to tumour size and WBR is our only option, we really have no choice because if he doesn't seek treatment immediately, this tumour is likely to take his life. Sherri

Thank you all so much for your responses! I really appreciate it. We saw both Dad's radiation oncologist and chemo oncologist yesterday and have a game plan to move forward. We were VERY shocked to find out that the brain met is 4cm in size. Dad's symptoms have not been that extreme so we weren't expecting that. His oncologist recommended WBR for two reasons: the size of the tumour and he feels he at risk of there being other areas too small to show up on the CT scan. They are doing an MRI this morning to further investigate and they've started making him a head mask yesterday. The Dr. felt that this was a better choice for dad than the SRS options so we have to trust that he is right. I've read some bad things about WBR but I have also read of thread on here with positive outcomes. We also saw Dad's Chemo oncologist and Tarceva is now on hold until they can stabilize dad's brain mets. The oncologist told us that Tarceva doesn't pass the blood brain barrier so I wonder if there are differing opinions on this. Tarceva was our light at the end of the tunnel and I hate that we have to wait for it! So for now, knowing that dad responded well to radiation in the primary tumour is my hope that he'll respond well now. Thanks so much for your support and if anyone has any further advice, I welcome it with open arms!! Sherri

Hi there, I haven't been here in quite some time but I know what an amazing place this is. I don't have a lot of time to come here and be a part of things but quietly reading this board has been a tremendous help to me and my family. My Dad has been doing well for so long but things have changed for us over the past few months. Dad has taken little treatment and opted for quality of life - he just turned 74. As long as Dad was doing well, we were just waiting until we needed treatment. Well we decided the time had come and luckily for us, just as we felt he needed treatment, my Dad's health plan covered Tarceva (in Canada it's not so easy to get Tarceva). Well, he started having headaches and he's had a lot of muscle pain in his legs the past month. He's been fatigued but not enough to stop him from doing the things he enjoys. They did a CAT scan and there is showing one small lesion in the brain. When my Dad had radiation to the primary tumour over 1.5 years ago, it shrunk it by half. Should he respond the same to radiation of this brain met? We're seeing Dad's oncologist next week but I'm wondering if Tarceva will still be given and if so does it pass the blood brain barrier? Thank you so much in advance. This has been our second major bump in the road and it has me really worried. I know there are people on these boards surviving with brain mets and that helps me keep positive...but it's so hard!!! Thanks again, Sherri

Hi there, I don't often reply on this board however I read posts daily. This is one area that I have some experience! My dad had fluid around his heart in November that had him in great distress. They drained the fluid and within days he started to regain his strength. At that time, Dad had only had the tumour radiated...no chemo. As soon as this happened, a new area on his lung also showed cancer. So Dad immediately started chemo...Navelbine and could only take 1.5 doses before his bowels shut down. He hasn't had chemo since and he has seen no cancer growth or spread...his heart and lungs are clear and he's feeling great! We are waiting for things to deteriorate and then we'll try a different chemo option. So it's been a healthy, "normal" 4.5 months for Dad since the pericardial effusion. Hope this gives some encouragement. Sherri

Thank you for the replies. Don, after reading your message this morning, I called home to tell Dad about what you had written. Well, my mom had to take Dad to the hospital in the night because he couldn't bear the pain and lack of sleep any longer. So they are keeping him in the hospital and doing tests such as an extensive ultrasound. I hope they can help Dad feel better. I'm so worried he is going to stop taking chemo because of this. The ups and downs of cancer is just unbelievable...three days after Dad had started chemo he played pool with some friends at the pool hall for 5 hours feeling better than he had felt in a month...we were all SO happy...and now he's in the hospital feeling terrible!

Hi there, My dad started chemotherapy (Navelbine) last Tuesday. When he started it, they gave him ani-nausea pills to take every six hours so he took them. He wasn't feeling any side effects from chemo whatsoever and had four great days. He then found he was constipated and the anti-nausea pills were showing this to be a side effect. The consipation started giving him stomach cramps. So he got something for the constipation and stopped taking the anti-nausea pills. He then had diarrehea and the sharp stomach pains went away, but he still has a constant stomach ache that is bad enough that he can hardly get to sleep at night. He has been like this for almost 6 days now. Yesterday, he went in for his 2nd ejection of chemo and they did xrays and blood work and everything came back fine. Have any of you who are on chemotherapy experienced a constant stomach ache? If so, is there anything that helped? We have had a hard time convincing Dad to do chemo and I don't want anything to discourage him! Thanks so much. Sherri

Thanks so much to all that have responded. Well, Dad definitely has pericardium effusion. It was a bit of a procedure to drain the fluid surrounding his heart, but it gave him instant relief. The nausea went away instantly and dad's stamina and ability to get a decent breath instantly improved. For those that are watching their own situation, be very sure to watch for extreme fatigue. Dad's heart was working far too hard so I'm so thankful that it has been taken care of. He's resting to get his strength back and has already begun to get rid of all the fluid retention and his appetite is back. The bad news is that they found two small tumours there. So it looks like it has spread through the lung wall. It's so crazy that these tumours weren't there just one month ago! Cancer is such a horrible thing...we were just feeling like we had some breathing room and could relax for a little while and then this! I'm wondering how they treat tumours on the lining of the heart? Can they radiate or is chemo the only option? We're hoping to get Dad back into the oncologist ASAP to discuss what happens from here. Any additional advice, I would love to hear from you. If I learn more about this, I will keep you posted.

I pray it's from the radiation, too! You have no idea how much better you just made me feel to know that someone else has experiencd something similar due to radiation. I'm going to hope for the best. Thanks for your prayers.

Well we finally have some answers. I'm really upset that my father's family Dr. could not diagnose dad's problem! The emergency dept. has sent Dad to a bigger hospital because it has been discovered that he has excess fluid surrounding his heart. He is going to have an emergency procedure to remove the fluid. When I research this on the Internet, it seems so obvious...he has all the associated symptoms. So thank heavens he went to emergency this morning...it could have gotten extremely serious. In doing some research on the Internet, it looks like this could be cancer related. I'm praying it hasn't spread. It could also be viral and dad is just getting over a nasty cold. It says it could also be from Radiation which Dad recently had done. So I'll have to wait and see and do lots of praying that it was due to radiation or a viral infection and not cancer. Right when we were feeling so happy and positive, things have taken such a dramatic turn. Thanks for listening. Sherri

I really need advice from somebody on this forum. My dad was doing so well and then over the past three weeks he's been extremely sick. One month ago dad's CAT scan showed no spread of cancer and 50% shrinkage of the tumour. He's NSCLC 3b with lymph node involvement. He also had a bone scan that came back clear. His family DR. had an Xray done of his chest and a Dr. not involved in his cancer treatment looked at the xray and said that it looked like the cancer has come back. He didn't even have the xray or CT scan from a month ago to compare to and I know for a fact that the Xray displays streaking around scar tissue, etc so I feel like he wasn't in any position to be making that statement. They did an ultrasound on Thursday to look at his organs and the person doing the ultrasound said that she didn't like the looks of dad's gallbladder and dad said that where she was pressing was where he's extremely tender. Well yesterday, his family DR. said that everything looked good from the ultrasound and although the gallbladder didn't look great, it didn't look bad enough to be the culprit of dad's problems. He left it at that. Today, my family has taken dad into Out Patients because he can't eat anything and hardly drink any liquids. I don't understand how this could be related to his cancer and seems more like his gallbladder. He's extremely fatigued, nauseous, had pain in his ribcage that's going around his back and shoulder area. He's abdomen is bloated and he's gained almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks yet he isn't eating. His tumour that was 50% smaller one month ago, never bothered him a day when it was twice the size so I don't understand how it could be the cancer? And when the tumour was twice the size he had no breathing problems whatsoever. Now, he can hardly hold his breath for 30 seconds. Apparently, the gallbladder sits fairly close to the lungs. Does this seem like anything to do with cancer?? I feel like it's more likely his gallbladder. I'm 2 hours away from my dad and I'm waiting to see if they'll keep him in the hospital and give him an IV to get some fluids in him. They have him thinking it's the cancer and it's been a huge blow to him. Personally, my gut says that it's way too soon after such a great report only 4 weeks ago! Dad's family Dr. is planning to get a hold of the oncologists treating dad this Monday - they are 2 hours away from where my father lives. Can cancer come back that fast and cause these kinds of symptoms? ANY advice would be so much appreciated. I'm so worried about my father right now! Thanks so much Sherri

Hi there, I introduced myself quite a while ago, but rarely have time to post here. I do read the posts to help me help my father out. My father has Stage 3b NSCLC Andecarcinoma with lymph node involvement. The tumor is in his left lung and it was 6cm in size which they say is very large. Dad didn't have any symptoms of cancer when he was diagnosed. He wasn't a candidate for a combo treatment of Radiation and Chemo due to age, so he had radiation by itself in early July. He came through radiation with flying colors. His tumor shrank 50% which the oncologists were very happy about. Apparentely, the Radiation could still be working to shrink the tumor more. They said that he could very possibly go sometime before there would be progression of disease again. I'm wondering if anyone here has found a correlation with excellent tumor shrinkage and longer time in remission? Dad is still doing great and has another scan in another month to keep watch over the tumor. If there is progression of disease, then chemo will be an option. But they feel that as long as dad is feeling good and the tumor isn't progressing than we will leave well enough alone. Dad also drinks Essiac tea faithfully 3 times a day which I hope is helping! If anyone can share their thoughts/experiences on tumor shrinkage, I would love to hear from you! Thanks to all! Sherri

Thank you ALL so much for the warm welcome!! I have been so busy the past few days with work that I haven't had much opportunity to get back on this site. I apprecriate all of your warm welcomes and look forward to getting to know you better. Jamie, thank you for the hope that your father's story brings. It's so wonderful to hear encouraging stories like that and I will definitely tell my father. I'm sure I will have more questions for you...no doubt! Well, from here I shall move to the NSCLC section and hopefully I'll soon have more time to post and ask questions! Best wishes to everyone. Sherri.

Hi there! I have been reading this board for a few weeks now and thought I should finally introduce myself. I am 32 years old and am the daughter of a wonderful father who has been diagnosed with NSCLC Andecarcinoma, Stage IIIB. This news has come as a terrible shock to our family and there have been many tears shed. Dad was diagnosed in May and has a very large tumor in his left lung and lymph node involvment that has made him inoperable. He just had a brain, lung and lower organ CAT scan and a bone scan and he is clear everywhere else, thank god!! He begins radiation next week. We meet next week with a chemo Oncologist to determine what role chemo may play after his radiation is complete. My father is 72 years old...hasn't smoked in 23 years!! He's in excellent health and looks fantastic...wouldn't know there was a thing wrong with him. He plays golf most days and keeps busy with regular life. They have been giving us timelines that just do not seem possible. I have been researching constantly and I attend all my fathers DR. appointments to make sure the right questions get asked. Dad started taking Essiac tea 3 weeks ago and he takes it three times a day religiously. The oncologist even thought the tea could be helpful! So this is our story thus far...I have decided to join this wonderful community so that I can get the support of people who understand as well as possibly learn more about what treatments are available, etc. I am so determined to help my father beat this or atleast surpass the "timelines" he has been given. I'm thankful he's in such great health and so far has very few symptoms. I look forward to meeting you all. Sherri.