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Posted

Thank you to everyone who replied to my first post!. Your stories were very interesting to read. When I was diagnosed in Nov. 2005 I made a little schedule up in my head as to how long this recovery process will be: chemo,then surgery,then more chemo, then done by August 2006-just in time for summer vacation w/ my daughters and husband. No muss, no fuss.

Yeh well that is not working out as planned.

Antionette: Your DX. of Mesothelioma obviously caught my attention. I hope you are feeling well today!!

Do you know where you were exposed to asbestos? I have no idea where I had any exposure other than the usual places mass amounts of people might be exposed like at school or other public buildings. One of my surgeons told me that it can only take a few inhaled fibers to start the disease process.

You said you had a tumor, what size is/was it? I was dx. after I had a lower resp. infection that would not go away after a few weeks and so I had a chest CT scan that showed a 4x2cm. mass on my diaphram/liver area.

do you have pleural thickening? and where is the source of your pain? Thank you, Lee

Posted

Lee,

Welcome. I really "get" the part about the best laid plans... After 20 cycles of chemo, my husband is on a chemo holiday. Hey, yippee, vacations, going out to eat, etc. etc. NOT!!! His lungs have decided to give us trouble and the chemo vacation has turned to crap. He doesn't have mesothelioma, but does have progressive pleural thickening (along with scarring, effusion, etc. etc.) What does your Doc say about your thickening? Has it affected your breathing?

Regards,

Welthy

Posted

Hi Lee,

There's an old yiddish saying:

Man plans, God laughs. :wink:

Just when you think you've got a handle on things, something will come along and throw a monkey wrench into the works.

I grew up in NY and all my schools had asbestos in the ceiling tiles. In high school I remember having to brush crumbled ceiling tile off of my desk everyday in one of my classes. The school was brand new but the materials were of the poorest quality.

It was quite the scandal back then. I don't know of any other classmates who developed the disease but so often it gets misdiagnosed that it's very possible others have it and we just don't know.

I also participated in some home renovations where I was exposed to drywall dust, joint compound and attic insulation that contained asbestos.

I only recently developed tumors. I have two that are located toward the center of my chest. One is in the fissure of the left lung and the other is in the lining of the upper left lobe. They're both about the same size, 3x2 cm. For most of my battle I had some blunting/thickening at the base of my left lung with a pleural effusion that would come and go. In '04 I developed pleural thickening. Recently this thickening has doubled in size.

My pain is mostly in my shoulder and shoots up into my neck. They suspect this is referred pain from the pleural thickening at the base of my lung. I also have pain at the base of my lung but that's not as bad as it was last year.

I'm going to start radiation sometime next week. I went in for the simulation yesterday. I had radiation last year which gave me tremendous relief from the pain. I'm praying to have the same success this time around.

Are you seeing anyone for pain management? I pray that you will get relief from your surgical pain. I've been in contact with several people who have had their chests cut open like that with several ribs removed and it's a long healing process. But in ALL those cases the pain did eventually subside.

Take care and God Bless.

Antoinette

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