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Dr. 's Appointment


asmakis

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My parents met with the oncologist on Thursday, after a chest x-ray on Monday. There was a slight spread of the cancer to the lower lobe. It took 3 radiolists to find it. My dad will be starting on Altima on Thursday. The doctor also mentioned that he feels the lung cancer is a primary cancer and not a secondary cancer from the head and neck cancer he had almost 5 years ago. I wonder if this is a good thing :?

Anyway, does anybody have any experiences with Altima? I'm always up for giving my dad postitive news.

Thank you,

Amanda

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Amanda :

My wife experienced a severe adverse reaction after receiving one round of Alimta. She was cheerful, active, walking, talking, cooking, etc. for the first two days following the tx. Then on the evening of the third day she experienced a sudden onset of extreme fatigue and extreme SOB. The cause was determined to be a diffuse alveolitis that was unresponsive to tx with massive doses of corticosteroids and ( prophylactic ) antibiotics. About 50% of the previously healthy tissue in her left lung was irreversibly damaged and appeared " whited-out " / opaque on CXR and CT scan. Previously healthy tissue remaining in her right lung was completely " whited-out ". I have no regrets about her receiving Alimta but had I known about the potential for this adverse reaction I would have asked the med onc to reserve Alimta for last chance salvage tx as there were still a couple of more established chemo tx drugs for NSCLC that hadn't been tried yet. In fact, the immediate tx plan at that time was to try Alimta and Taxotere in no particular order. At the last minute the med onc decided to go with Alimta first.

Good luck.

Bill

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Amanda,

I just started Alimta (my eighth chemo) other then fatigue no other side effects so far with it. Everyone is different and reacts differently. Bottom line one is not going to know until one tries it and they have come a long way in chemo and meds to combat side effects. Hope this help. Prayers for the best

Rich

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