Tim'sKathy Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Tim is starting Iressa 7/7 and I was just wondering what your experiences have been .... Thanks ! Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 So far Iressa seems to be working for my husband, John (knock on wood). At his check up the onc said his lungs are clearer than last time. He feels well, has more energy. He has a CT scan July 9th so we'll know more then. Hopefully Tim won't get the rash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 I've read that Iressa has a 15% chance of working. So if chemo has stopped working, this may be one of the few things available. It seemed like the chemo for Tim was working before. Why switch to Iressa at this point? Have you tried getting a 2nd opinion at somewhere like Dana-Farber. Is this an option? The lymph node under the arm may be due to an infection. Usually axillary lymph nodes are not mentioned too much with lung cancer. Mediastinal and supraclavicular lymph nodes are mentioned. The one article where I saw about axillary lymph nodes was associated with SCLC. If axillary lymph nodes are enlarged then it upstaged to extensive vs. limited. http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic1336.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim'sKathy Posted June 27, 2003 Author Share Posted June 27, 2003 John- He has had 6 treatments of Carbo/Taxol which is usually the max they give. He had response from it...the tumor in the lung had shrunk to the point that his lung fully re-expanded and the fluid that was there is gone (he had malignant pleural effusion and talc pleurodecis done in January) He had had no spread at the 4th treatment, and now with the scans after the 6th they found the enlarged lymphy node (and his onc said she thinks its the cancer) and "something" on a vertebrae. He is having an MRI and a PET scan next week to check into this further. Guess we will find out then if any other nodes are involved...but she said the rest looked normal. We are about an hour outside of Boston...We were going to go there, but this Oncologist we were referred to was recommended by a lot of other Drs....and patients. We were told that a lot of people had gone into Dana Farber, but that they came back here to U MASS Memorial.... Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim'sKathy Posted June 27, 2003 Author Share Posted June 27, 2003 P.S. I think she is trying to give him a rest from the side effects.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Kathy, That is great. I read that you really love your current doctor. That is probably one of the most important things. Hopefully the Iressa will keep everything stable. Even with the lymph node it does seem like he is responding well - no pleural effusion, etc. I read that most doctors don't do a biopsy of the lymph node - what are you doctors thoughts on that? Take care Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 the lymph node might not mean anything ... though it seems as if it is rare http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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