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Hi Linzy....I'm sorry to be entering into your thread so late....PLEASE don't focus on "12 months" Definitely get a second opinion and know that the Dr.s tend to give out statistics based on outdated information that can't possibly apply to everyone. You only have to read a few stories on this site to see that many people are beating the odds they were given (and by an incredible amount) Fight this horrible disease and know that you'll have the support of your family and the wonderful people on this site to help you through this. Shelley

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Get another opinion. Chemo and or radiation will buy you a lot of time. As you can see from my profile my husband has been around 5 plus years-- he was given 4 months. Go to someone more aggressive that will fight for you. Good luck. I am so sorry for what you are going through.

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Dear Linzy,

I am so sorry to hear what the doctor told you. I know your in the UK, but can you get a second or third opinion? Is that am option for you? Linzy, I know a LOT of lung cancer survivors that were given 6 months or 12 months to live and 4, 5, 10 + Plus years later they are STILL HERE! That's a bunch of BULL!!

Lung cancer has become more and more treatable over the last few years. I'm sorry but your doctor sounds totally doom and gloom. Tell him your a fighter and you want to fight this with all they can throw at it. He has no right to say Chemo won't help! They have come a long ways with all the new chemos today.

Please know we are here for you. I know you feel like the bottom just fell out, but if I can offer you some courage to fight this, then that's what I am trying to do. You need a doctor that will fight with you, not one that wants to give up.

(((((((((((((LINZY)))))))))))))))

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So the doctor is going to "give you" 12 months! How sweet! There are some words in my special occasions vocabulary that would come in really handy about now, but I'm afraid Katie wouldn't permit it. Who is this guy? Since he knows it all already, he probably hasn't felt the need to get any updates on cancer treatments for years, but what may have been true 10 years ago is no longer true.

I agree with Sheri -- post the specifics on onctalk.com and see what Dr. West has to say. He's a patient advocate in the best sense of the word and no shrinking violet.

Aloha,

Ned

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I just wanted to share this website with you below and a little story that goes along with it regarding a well known man in he US here that was dx.d with lung cancer and given 3 months to live. Read below. I also want to share with you that I met this man and his wife about 5 years ago. He was a wonderful inspiration to those of us with lung cancer.

http://www.blochcancer.org/

R. A. BLOCH CANCER FOUNDATION, INC.

One H&R Block Way - Kansas City, MO 64105 - 800-433-0464

In March, 1978, Richard A. Bloch was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and told that he had three months to live. He chose to fight for his life and was declared cancer-free two years later. He died in July 2004 of heart failure, not cancer. In those 26 years after his diagnosis, he and his wife, Annette, devoted themselves to helping the next person with cancer have the best chance of beating it.

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Linzy, please don't let this doctor dictate to you what the outcome of your cancer will be. You should see another doctor. It sounds like you may have stage IIIa cancer which often has a good outcome when treated with chemoradiation. there should be a number of options available to you.

Don M

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Linzy,

I am so sorry that you had such a horrible experience with your first Dr. I would run to get another opinion. Just read the stories on this site and know there is hope! FInd a Dr who will fight as hard as you will!

I agree this would be great to ask Dr. West!!

I am praying for you and your family. Try and find faith. You can fight this! Please come here and find support and hope!

Prayers,

Dana

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Hi Linzy,we all know the terrible emotions which you are going thru right now.However please dont give up hope. Two years ago i was told I had a softball sized tumor in my right lung and was probably inoperable but the surgeon who looked at the scans said he could do it.Sometimes the chemo will shrink things up so they may be able to do surgery at a later date.Also dont be afraid to ask for a atidepressant,antiaxiety pill to help you get your emotions in order.Even without surgery many live many years with just chemo and radiation treatment. I also would get a 2nd opinion.Im sending a prayer up above for you and a hug across the ocean.Mike

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Linzy,

I know this is easier said than done, but pay no attention to the time frame. In fact, treatment can prolong your life and help you maintain quality of life as well. You can read about it at

www.onctalk.com

I hope you will continue to come here for support and to ask questions. I will keep you in my prayers.

Susan

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all you lovely people :)

Sorry ive taken so long to get back to you all, but since my news my feet havent touched the ground!..I cant believe how my life has change in just a few weeks, the first week that I was diagnosed was unreal..Had the shocking news on the Monday, Tuesday I moved house and on Friday we had all the floods here in the uk, I was in the middle of all that ..luckily my house wasnt affected..thank god!

Then I had the hardest decsion of my life to make...what a dilemma that was!...do I have treatment or not? boy oh boy..anyone that knows me knows that I find it difficult to even decide wich way to wear my hair today ..up? or down? lol....i'm the worst descion maker in the world...my family hate shopping with me...I drive my daughter nuts!...she says .." for goodness sake mum its just a tin of tuna...flakes or chunks? lol....she usually picks whatever off the shelf and puts in my trolley..what would I do without her, she is a star.

So the descion to wether to have chemo or not just blew my mind...this one I had to do on my own... I asked everyone..what do you think I should do?...I had the same responce from all of them..."oh god Linda..I dont know..your the only one that can make that descion"....I wanted to scream!.."SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD DO!"....Then my oldest and dearest friend of 32yrs..said something that started me thinking, she thought that because I was thinking of not having any treatment that I was giving up.." you cant give up Lin you have to fight!"...my goodness is that what people were thinking I was doing?...of cors I wasnt, I just didnt want to be sick and wanted to feel as well as possible for as long as possible, that really made the descion for me, I couldnt have my family n friends thinking that, so I decided to try it once and if it made me feel bad I would stop...well i'm on my second session of chemo and have had no problems at all!...I cant believe how well I feel and i'm sure its doing some good because this last week ive had no trouble with my swallowing!

Oh the power of prayer!...

Love to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Linda

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Linda,

I missed your post the first time but I am so glad you decided to fight. I was dx with IIIA and that was over 4 1/2 years ago. I had positive lymph nodes in the middle of my chest as well. I hope and pray that this first line treatment is the ticket, but if you need more...don't hesitate. Many here have led very active happy lives as they are treated. Best wishes to you.

Nina

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Linzy,

I just caught up with this thread and I was wondering if you have the option of talking with another doctor about other treatment options. I had cancer in my middle lymph nodes and it was eradicated with concurrent chemo-radiation. In fact there are a lot of people here who had similar diagnosis as yours and are cancer free after receiving this same type of treatment first then having surgery afterwards. I did it in reverse order because my lymph nodes were not discovered until after the surgery.

I am glad you decided to receive treatment. But if possible, you should consult with another physician because there are additional treatment options that may extend your life well beyond the 12 months your current physician is prognosticating. There are a lot of people on this board who had stage III cancer and are still here many years later. Good luck to you and I will be praying for you.

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I am so sorry for your diagnosis. But it is important to know the LC is not a death sentence. DO NOT LISTEN TO STASTICTS!! Phooey on that!! There are so many people on here who have heard less time then that who are doing just fine, years later.

But you MUST fight!! Never give UP, that should not be an option. Please also get another opinion. I know the UK does not have the best medical, so get another opinion.

We are here to help you through this. We are here 24/7 to answer your questions, support, prayers of if you need to vent.

I know how scared you are nut this will become a new normal.

Hang in there,

Maryanne

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Thanks for your replies guys..i'm beginning to think maybe I should get a second opinion...the consultant and the oncologist told me that my cancer was inoperable because of where it is ...in between my lungs and next to my heart, they also told me that the growth at the bottom of my left lung had probably spread through my bloodstream and thats how it got to settle in my chest area and that I probably have bits floating around in my bloodstream...and I still have a bit of gunk in my right lung left off the phnuemonia so they couldnt see if there was any cancer under that but they suspected there might be....but surgery was out of the question...my only option was chemo and radiotherapy or a combination of both but he said all it would do was make life a little more comfortable for me and maybe give me another month or two...who would I go to for a second opinion?...I think we in the UK are way behind in our treatment of cancer, ive been reading about this drug called Tarceva (erlotinib) but its still being tested in clinical trials here in the UK and is not given out freely...ive printed off some notes about it to take to my oncologist next Tuesday...so we'll see.

Linda

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Linzy,

I understand the fear. Even considering cancer is scary. Also remember, that even if it is inoperable lung cancer, many of us continue to do very well and stay stable for many years with all of the new treatments they are discovering. Keep positive and keep us posted.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys,

Hope your all doing well...I gotta say Lisa that the stories ive read on here are inspirational to say the least and whenever I have doubt I come here and read more it truly gives me hope.

I'm on my second session of chemo now...3 weeks per session 2 bags, 1 bag, then a week free ..after this one I have a scan appointment 12th September...so we will see if its done anything ..i'm trying my best to keep a positive attitude towards this. but you know , I asked the oncologist about Tarceva and she didnt seem to happy to discuss it..its available in Scotland but not here in the uk..and she said it was to expensive £1,600 per month just to give me maybe a couple more months ...and only works in 1 in 10 people ...so I guess that was a no then!...its all about money isnt it?..thats very sad.

Love to you all Linda x

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"Tom K"]Linzy,

I just caught up with this thread and I was wondering if you have the option of talking with another doctor about other treatment options. I had cancer in my middle lymph nodes and it was eradicated with concurrent chemo-radiation. In fact there are a lot of people here who had similar diagnosis as yours and are cancer free after receiving this same type of treatment first then having surgery afterwards. I did it in reverse order because my lymph nodes were not discovered until after the surgery.

I am glad you decided to receive treatment. But if possible, you should consult with another physician because there are additional treatment options that may extend your life well beyond the 12 months your current physician is prognosticating. There are a lot of people on this board who had stage III cancer and are still here many years later. Good luck to you and I will be praying for you.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Guys n Gals :)

Thought you might like to know how my scan results were.

Went to see my oncologist on Tuesday this week and she showed me the scan and the growth in my left lung has more than halved its original size! the growth in my lymph nodes have shrunk to but not as much as they would have liked ..but hey ..its still shrunk n i'm delighted with that...and..in my right lung I had a lot of gunk still there from the phnuemonia and they were worried that there might be cancer underneath it..but there wasnt all the gunk has cleared and no signs of cancer!! how fabulous is that!..and only 2 sessions of chemo! ..1 session being 3 weeks...

It gave me such a boost! She said that she will give me 2 more sessions then give me a break for a while :)

Loadsa love n prayers to you all

Linda xxxx

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Hi Nick , thank you for support it really does make a difference, i'm much more positive now than I was when I first posted this thread..thanks to all the love support n prayers ive recieved.

So sorry to read about your mum..it made me cry she sounds like such a wonderful woman.

Love

Linda xxx

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