Cancer Sucks Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Hello, I am a female USAF Viet Nam Era veteran. I was diagnosed July 31, with squamous cell carcinoma. I have a 3.5 cm mass, nodules on both adrenals, believed to be non cancerous and one lymph node that was questionable. I have an MRI of the brain this Thurs. and will see an oncologist next Tuesday. I believe they will tell me stage and treatment plan then. The waiting is awful. I need to get started and get done with this. My significant other is also being treated for prostate cancer. Thirteen more radiation treatments for him to go. Am grateful for this web site and sending prayers to everyone here. Tom Galli 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edivebuddy Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 re you using the VA? My granddad was a WWII, Korean, and Vietnam AF vet. My dad USAF retired did Vietnam twice. My son served in Afghanistan. I did probably the least violent part of our history. 84 to 89. Columbus AFB and RAF Lakenheath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Sucks Posted August 15 Author Share Posted August 15 Yes, I am using the VA and Community Care. I served state side, my son served 23 years USAF SOS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 Welcome! I'm a retired Army guy, also Viet Nam era, diagnosed Stage IIIB and progressed to Stage IV, also with squamous cell. I'm a disabled vet and entitled to VA medical care but 20 years ago when diagnosed, my employer's medical insurance was top drawer. So I did not have VA cancer treatment. Now retired--retired, and on Medicare and Tricare for Life, I've used the VA system only for hard-to-get vaccinations, ophthalmology, and hearing loss. To date, I've been well taken care of for these procedures. I've found the VA hospital ombudsman to be a good way of untangling the bureaucratic SNAFUs I've encountered. I also found my county government Veterans Services Officer (VSO) and the American Legion VSO to be useful assets, particularly in handling treatment authorization and benefit-related questions. They are so much faster than the low-slow-craw that infects the VA system. Waiting is awful and 20 years ago during my diagnostic experience, it was awful cubed! Many of us in those days were treated as "dead man-walking" members. Chemo (Taxol and Carboplatin) was barbaric, PET scans, and precision radiation techniques didn't exist. I had 18 infusions of Taxol and Carboplatin and while they kept my tumors in check, they did not kill my cancer. I was the first Dallas metropolitan area patient to undergo precision radiation (CyberKnife) days after the FDA approved the treatment for lung tumors and it worked. But waiting, especially the time between scan and results was unnerving to the that I coined the term "scanziety" (with a "z" and far before the version spelled with a x)! It is a funny story on how that name came to be that you can read in the preface my ebook here. Consider in my early years, I needed to wait for 60 or so images in my CT scans to be developed before the radiologist got involved. Things are better but waiting is indeed a pain most extreme and I've got no tips and tricks to address it. Stay the course. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Sucks Posted August 15 Author Share Posted August 15 Tom, thank you for your reply. I am service connected 100%. I have had very good care through VA, and Community Care when the VA cannot provide necessary care. I am grateful for them. I am finding out that the waiting is frustrating for most everyone going through this. I should have more specific diagnosis and treatment plan by next week. Tom Galli 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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