KatieR10381 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Hello, My 59 year old Dad (never smoker) was diagnosed with Stage IV adenocarcinoma on June 11 of this year. He had been having neck pain since the holidays last year. When he didn't respond to arthritis treatments, his doctor ordered an MRI and saw lesions that looked malignant. Initially they thought it was a recurrence of prostate cancer that he had over five years ago. More scans revealed additional bone mets on his lower back, hip, and sternum, as well as a mass in his LUL. At at that point they still thought they might be dealing with prostate cancer, or maybe a lymphoma or myeloma. A biopsy of the met on his hip shocked us all when it came back as lung cancer. Since then, he has been tested positive for the EGFR mutation. At least one additional met (one 7mm and one shadow) have been found in his brain. He has undergone 10 rounds of palliative radiation to both his cervical spine and lower back, and started on Tarceva 10 days ago. His main symptom right now is residual stiffness in his neck (the radiation took care of much of the pain) and sciatica in his legs from the lower back met (still hoping the radiation will kick in on that). He's also dealing with side effects from both the radiation and Tarceva, as well as more minor side effects from multiple painkillers, etc. Right now we are just really really hoping that the Tarceva works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Tarceva is a godsend around here!! lots of great stories. take a look through the good news Forums for some inspiration!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraiginPA Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Sounds like you've had good diagnostic work and have a good treatment plan. I hope it all goes well. Best hopes, Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet B Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I am glad you found this forum, like Randy said, look around and read some of our stories, ask us questions and please keep us updated. I was diagnosed 5 1/2 years ago with stage 4. Like your dad I was lucky to have the EGFR mutation. (one of those weird things when having a mutation is good!) My mets were in my spine, which caused severe pain in my leg and in the pons area of the brain. I had radiation to my spine and stereotactic radiation to the met in my brain. The leg pain did go away as the tumors shrunk. Are there any plans to radiate the mets in the brain? The good news as that I have been on Tarceva for 5 1/2 years. (last year I had some new growth and we added Avastin). The Tarceva side effects are sometimes hard to deal with. It is important to talk with the doctor about ways to treat the different side effects. (At my cancer center we have a dermatologist who actually specializes in chemo and Tarceva side effects.). I find that the side effects are worse when I am over tired, stressed, don't drink enough water during the day and spend too much time in the sun. Water especially is important! Imodium helps with the diarrhea. you can check out my story in the My Story forum viewtopic.php?f=47&t=46162 Please keep us posted, and please remember to take care of yourself too! Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.