Forgot to introduce myself

[MyWifeSCLC]

I have already posted in the SCLC group and apologize for not introducing myself. My wife went into the emergency room on Sat., Jan 25th, 2020 for inability to focus and stumbling issues. Her sodium (Na) level was 114 which dropped to 111 later that night and blood pressure (BP) was 198 moving to 212 later that night. A normal Na level is 136 to 145 and dangerously low is below 120. We learned that you have to bring the sodium level back up very slow. She got a hospital bed and the restricted her fluids and began doing X-Rays, CT scans and MRIs. They probably had an idea that she had cancer but didn't tell us immediately. On Mon, Jan 27th (I think) a pulmonologist informed us that they had enough evidence to indicate cancer in the left lung and  some lymph nodes on that side. They went into her lung and got a sample and stage 3 limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) was diagnosed. My wife was a long time smoker. Her cancer doctor indicated that she should start chemo and radiation concurrently very soon. She was required to stay in a hospital due to the Na level and her hospital did not do chemo and radiation (Sevierville, TN). No beds were available close by (Knoxville, TN) and it was taking too long so I pitched a fit and they found a bed farther away in Oak Ridge, TN. My wife's onc has a practice their and in Sevierville and he helped find the bed. Chemo was started without the radiation. The onc said that radiation could be started with her 2nd round of chemo on an outpatient basis in Sevierville which was good for us. My wife finished up 3 days of chemo on Sun., Feb 2 and she came home yesterday, Tue , Feb. 4 with her Na and BP under control. We are now trying to get our insurance to help pay for the very expensive medicine that controls her Na until the cancer is greatly diminished. The 1st line treatment will be Etoposide + carbocide or carboplatin with radiation. Carbocide requires a lot of liquids which you can't do with low Na levels so she started out with carboplatin.

 

I hope to get comments from others about her treatment, future treatments, symptoms, side effect, etc. Thank you to those that have already replied in my SCLC post.

[BridgetO]

Glad to hear she's home! Best of luck with the insurance.

[LouT]

I want to welcome you to the forum.  My lung cancer was treated with surgery alone as it was caught so early (Stage 1a) so I don't have any experience with chemo, but many others here have that experience and I'm sure you'll be hearing more from them.  In the meantime, welcome to our forum and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Lou