Blerton Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Hi guys, My dad was diagnosed with NSCLC(Squamous cell) on October.In my state where we live (Kosovo), is really difficult to find a PET scan machine.So in this way, we didn't want to lose time.Doctors said that our best option is to do an MRI to check if there the cancer has spread to other parts.Thank God, the result showed that the cancer is only in left lung and the size of tumor is 33mm.The tumor is near big blood vessels and is difficult to do a pneumonectomy.In this case the doctor suggested my father to start a neoadjuvant chemotherapy with 3 cycle (Carboplatin + Paclitaxel) and after that we have to do a PET scan outside Kosovo to check if the tumor to check how many lymph nodes are affected and how much the tumor shrinked.Now he is in second week of third cycle of chemotherapy. During the chemotherapy, he gained 10 pounds.I know this might sound weired, but yes, he gained 10 ! During chemotherapy, he didn't feel any of chemotherapy effects, expect hair loss.Even his half lung is blocked, he never had problems with breath.He told me that he can breath better now.We have run a lot of times on mountain and the didn't have any problem. His blood test are just amazing ! He even has better test blood than me ! His heart result are also perfect.He Now I have a questions for you. What is the impact of this chemotherapy combination on mediastinal lymph nodes ? After all these good signs, is his body trying to "tell" us, that the chemotherapy is helping him ? Best regards from me ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BridgetO Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 Hi Blerton and welcome, About your questions: first let me say I'm not a doctor and your dad's doctor is the best one to answer those questions. I'm not sure what you're asking about the effect of the chemo on lymph nodes. This is a pretty standard chemo combination and can have effects on cancer anywhere, including lymph nodes, I think. It's great that your dad didn't have side effects from treatment. That combination can have some difficult effects, but everybody is different. The fact that your father can breathe better now may be an indication that the tumor is shrinking, but you won't know for sure until he has another scan. My question to you is did he have a biopsy and if so, what kind of cancer did it show? Bridget O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blerton Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 Hi Bridget , On September, accedentally he did a x-ray.After this, the pulmonologist suggested a CT Thorax.There was showed a 33mm mass and pathological lymph nodes (subcarinal,subaortic,hilar and paratracheal.).Than my dad did a bronchoscopy, and 1 week later was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. About my question:! This looks a forum with a lot of patients all over the world, and I thought that maybe someone had the same sitation as my father. I wanted to say what is the impact of this chemo combination on mediastinal lymph nodes ? Best regards from me ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 Blerton, Welcome here. To your questions: What is the impact of this chemotherapy combination on mediastinal lymph nodes? Conventional chemotherapy acts at the cellular level. The type your dad is receiving interrupts cancer cell mitosis, so it stops growth and spreading of cancer. You didn’t mention that his mediastinal nodes were involved so the conventional chemo would be acting to stop the spread of cancer to the lymphatic system. After all these good signs, is his body trying to "tell" us, that the chemotherapy is helping him? I’m not certain. Everyone reacts to chemo differently. Some have no side effects. Some have a multitude. I don’t know if there is a correlation between low/no side effects and chemo effectiveness. Stay the course. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blerton Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Tom Galli said: You didn’t mention that his mediastinal nodes were involved Hi Tom, We still don't know if there are mediastinal lymph nodes involved because my dad hasn't yet done a biopsy of lymph nodes.The CT results showed some enlarged lymph nodes.Whene we'll finish his third cycle, we are going to do a PET scan to check if the tumor has shrinked, and if is necessary, he will do a biopsy of lymph nodes. Sorry for my english ! Best regards from me. Blerton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blerton Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 UPDATE : 30/12/2018 After my dad finished 3 cycles of chemo , he did a CT.We have a regression of tumor from 3.3 cm to 2.3 cm but because of the location, it looks like we have to continue for 3 more cycles and than to check again if they can do the surgery ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LexieCat Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Great progress, Blerton! We shall hope the progress continues. Keep us posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Good news Blerton. Stay the course. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blerton Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 UPDATE 31/12/2018 : In previous CT report the mass was 3.3cm.In this one, the mass is 3.6cm but the surgeon said that the tumor is shrinking.How is this possible ? I just can't understand this ! Also from previous CT report, it says that he has 5 enlarged lymph nodes with 1.2 cm diameter, while now he has just 3 enlarged lymph nodes, but they are 1.5cm . I can't understand ! Is this possible, while some of lymph nodes are back to normal, and some are growing ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Blerton, I can’t answer your growth questions. Anything is possible. A noodle is a 3 dimensional entity so perhaps the tumor got smaller in one dimension and enlarged in another. Are you getting paper copies of the actual scan reports? That is a good practice. It would be interesting to read the language on the first scan compared to the second. He’s half way into treatment. I’d wait till his end of treatment scans to judge results. I wish I had a better answer. Stay the course. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blerton Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 Tom, His treatment was neoadjuvant chemo with 3 cycles, and he finished it.Because of the location, the tumor is very close the blood vessels and that's the reason why doctor are hesitating ! Sorry, but the reports are in serbian and albanian ! Tomorrow we'll discuss with oncologist ! Best regards to you ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Blerton, Maybe I don’t understand. In the US, neoadjuvant chemo implies a companion or follow up treatment like precision radiation. So I thought there was more treatment scheduled. Stay the course. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LexieCat Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 I got the impression the plan was to see if they could shrink the tumor sufficiently to do surgery, but maybe I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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