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What's next after surgery?


MarieE

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I've been posting in an introductory thread, but I guess my husband an I aren't so new to this anymore although I think we still feel like neophytes. In a nutshell, my husband had a CT scan for another purpose at the end of August and it showed the tumor on his lung. Followed up with bone scan, PET scan, biopsy, brain MRI and then finally, last Tuesday, with a successful robotic lobectomy of his upper left lobe. During the surgery, testing of lymph nodes was completed which showed cancer in one of those tested. The plan is to let him heal from surgery and then figure out next steps. Meanwhile, genetic testing is being done on the cells.

He was in the hospital from Tuesday through Sunday, with discharge delayed a bit due to a pneumothorax. All in all, his recovery has been remarkable to me, and it was probably helped greatly by the fact that he never smoked so even after surgery his lung capacity is decent. And of course we hope that will improve with time.

He is coughing a fair bit, but not violently and trying to stay upright and moving as much as possible. He looked almost like normal this morning, activity-wise, but loses steam toward the end of the day.

So, getting to my question: I'm one of those people who likes to do my research. What resources are out there to at least start trying to understand chemo and immunotherapy options, etc. while we wait for the test results and follow up appointments with the oncologist? Or should I just bide my time and wait to see what the specialists advise? (Always a hard thing for me to do!)

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Tnis site has some really good resource.

 Lung Cancer 101.  https://lungevity.org/for-patients-caregivers/lung-cancer-101

Asking the Right Question  https://lungevity.org/for-patients-caregivers/asking-right-questions

The Go2Foundation also  has good resources https://go2foundation.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7DtBRCLARIsAGCJWBo0viG0f9E7fKYGMO7jUjqSHTSzS0A8JcuJyukPTcr3q4IOb65optoaAgCsEALw_wcB

One of the most informative things I’ve found is the Bonnie Addario (now Go2Fpundation) living rooms   You can watch them on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/user/BonnieJAddario

 

You will be able to be more specific with your research once you get the genetic testing back.  Ask the doctor is they are doing both the somatic genetic testing (the cancer) and germline genetic testing (your husbands specific dna).  The somatic testing will provide information on targeted therapies.  The germline is good information to have to see if he has any inherited genetic mutations.  

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Thank you, Curt. This is very helpful. We will be talking with the surgeon tomorrow and will be sure to ask about the type of testing being done. 

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