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Creekgirl's Story


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67 years old...former smoker.

6-11-07 I went to my GP because I had an ache in my right arm. He thought I might have either pulled a muscle or broken a rib. They took X-Rays & he gave me pain pills...called me back in 2 days to be seen again. Then said he saw a spot on my right lung & thought I might have pneumonia. Put me on antibotics.

6-24-07 Woke to find that my left leg was terribly swollen from groin to ankle & very red & tender. At ER was given shot of heparin immediately & then had ultrasound, EKG, MRI & X-Ray. Doctor then told me I had lung cancer & massive blood clots in my leg & that many of them had also travelled to my lungs.Stayed in hospital for four days & was given heparin shots & coudamin. Also had pulmonary tests.

6-28-07 Released from hospital & on 6mg. coudamin daily.

7-2-07 Readmitted because leg swollen from ankle to knee. Another untrasound done. On heparin/coudamin again. Total bed rest for next 7 days. Told that until blood could get regulated they would not be doing anything about the lung cancer.

7-12-07 PET scan done. Shows 3.4 cm x 2.4 cm mass in the right upper lobe posteriorly & adenopathy in the right hilar region that extends along the protracheal-retrocaval, and right paratracheal region of the thoracic inlet.(This info taken from the PET scan report).

7-30-07 Bronchoscopy done. Two enlarged lymph nodes biopsied. Both cancerous. Staged at 111A well-differentiated adenocarcinoma.

8-3-07 Appt. with hemotology oncologist to consider "plan of attack". He also is to take over treatment/dosages of coudamin for leg. Has decided I will do Lovenox injections at home to get this blood thinning to a magic number (between 2 & 3). I am now at 1.4.

8-7-07 MRI of brain....all okay. CT of abdomen & pelvis. Ct shows 11mm low density lesion in the left lobe of the liver. Cannot exclude metastatic disease. Too small for biopsy. Followup in 2-3 months to asses this finding.

8-8-07 Appt. with cardiothoracic surgeon. She thinks if radiation/chemo will shrink the mass that it can be operated on but has concerns regarding my DVT.

8-9-07 blood work...under 2.

8-9-07 Appt. with radiation oncology doctor. She has concerns about a "thing" that showed up on the PET scan on my left lung. Will get back to me regarding this.

8-16-07 blood work...under 2.

8-24-07 Appt. with hemotology oncologist...they have decided that "thing" is nothing to be concerned about. Also appt. with rad. onc. to have mapping done.

8-24-07 blood work....2.3

9-5-07 CT of chest done.

9-7-07 more mapping done.

9-7-07 blood work.....2.8. Doc happy regarding blood work results.

9-10-07 Will start 7 weeks of radiation. Also will have chemo every Monday. 130mg taxol/150mg carboplatin. Nausea med. to be given 30 minutes previous. Also 12 hr. & 6 hr. previous to treatment 20 mg. decadron.

9-10-07 to 9-14-07 First week of readiation. Went well.

9-10-07 1st chemo. carbo/taxol. Bad reaction to taxol. Treatment aborted for today.

9-12-07 2nd Chemo treatment Navelbine/Carboplatin. Went well. No light shows or fainting.

9-12-07 Met with rad. onc. They have now decided that the "thing" on my left lung is something to be concerned about....something about lymph nodes.She was supposed to give me a report but neglected to do so. Will have to get it. Therefore no surgery will be done as I have been reclassed as 111B.

9-12-07 Blood work.....1.3. Wondering if it will ever get stabilized!

9-18-07 CT done. Doc thought I might be throwing blood clots but all okay.

9-20-07 neulasta shot.

10-04-07 3rd chemo. INR 1.6 white blood count good.

10-05-07 Follow up CT w/contrast. Mass has decreased in volume as well as size from 2.4 x 3.4 to 1.3 x 2.8 and is more strandy than soft tissue. The lymph node area went from 1.6 x 2.2 to 1.5 x 1.9. No additional mass lesion developed.

The liver is difficult to assess due to technical differences. Measures 11mm x 10mm. Was told that technical differences I was told meant that different technicians looking at the results formed different opinions!

10-08-07 Admitted to ER. Dehydration.

10-09-07 Radiation finished. 22 treatments.

10-10-07 Met with thorasic surgeon. I am a candidate for surgery. The "thing" in left lung is now referred to as an "unknown" & she is not concerned about it. I will have an umbrella filter put in to control the DVT before the lung surgery.

10-11-07 Last chemo. Didn't lose my hair or ever have vomiting. So glad of that.

Saline drip...dehydration again.

INR 1.8

10-12-07 Neulasta.

10-18-07 Onc. doc. appointment. He not happy with bloodwork. INR 3.2. Also he is not concerned about the "unknown" on left lung.

10-19-07 INR 2.3 PT 21

10-31-07 Starting Lovenox. 60 mg twice a day since I am 5 days out from having the umbrella filter put in.

10-04-07 Will be admitted to hospital at 6am Mondayfor the filter, stay overnight & surgery scheduled for 8am on Tuesday. They will do a lobetomy & also remove lymph nodes. I am eager/anxious to have this done.

11-05-07 Admitted to hospital. Umbrella filter put in.

11-06-07 Surgery. Upper right lobe & 7 lymph nodes removed. Very drugged & don't remember anything.

11-13-07 Released to home. We have home health services coming in twice a week to do b/p, temp., bloodwork. The results of bloodwork are sent to my onc. doctor. He wants to be sure I am on correct dosage & within normal limits.

11-29-07 X-Ray of chest done for surgeon. She pronounces "all okay".

12-07-07 Seen by pulmonary doctor. Put on Spiriva as my breathing is only at 50%.

12-07-07 Seen by oncology doctor. Will not need follow up chemo as the pathology report shows no cancer in my body at this time. Such good news! Will see doc in one month.

12-11-07 Aspiration done to check out large lump at surgery cutting line which is very sore. No fluid....just some blood. Supposedly it will eventually become smaller.

12-31-07 The end of the year. Feel lucky to still be here.

1-11-08 Seen by onc.doc. Will have a CT scan of chest & abdomen on 1-22-08.

1-22-08 CT scan chest & abdomen. Onc. doc. Has decided that spots on liver are cysts since they haven't enlarged since previous CT scan. The chest scan shows that I have radiation pneumonitis. Put on predinsone for 10 days. On lavaquin for 5 days.

1-30-08 Seen by vascular doc. Ultrasound done. He would like me to be off coumadin. MY INR's stay at 1.4-1.6 regardless of my coumadin dosage.

2-7-08 PET scan done to compare to previous one.

2-13-08 Off coumadin.

2-22-08 CT scan of chest.Pul. doc. appt. immediately after. Breathing at 65% which is good but I have radiation pneumonitis again. On prednisone again. Will have a CT scan done in April to be sure this has cleared up.

2-22-08 Onc. doc. appt. He wants another CT scan done in May. Doesn't see any sign of cancer at this time. Classes me at somewhere between stable & NED.

4-4-08 CT scan w/o contrast. Pulmonary function remains the same. Will schedule pulmonary rehab. asap.

4-21-08 pulmonary rehab. cancelled due to having costrochrondritis. Taking Aleve to help with the soreness/pain.

5-19-08 CT scan of chest & abdomen w/contrast.

5-23-08 Office visit with onc. Good news. He considers me NED at this time! Will have a CT scan every 3 months for the next 1 1/2 years.

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