Lung Cancer

Hi Mary,
I was wondering how your husband is today? My mother 55 has recently been told she has stage 4 small cell lung cancer that has spread to her bones. She had to get decompression back surgery because the cancer ate away the back bone. I was just wondering what kind of hope we might have. She is going through radiation now. She is so tired and not eating well. I am hoping she starts to eat again. When radiation stops the are going to start her chemo. I guess I am just wondering what to expect of all this. She is staying with my family now. The back surgery seems to have put her behind as it is. Well any response would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Kim

Hi Kim. Sorry to say but my husband passed away on August 21. He had complications from brain surgery. Please don"t let this make you feel hopeless. When my husband first started his treatment of chemo in Jan 4, 2004, he did pretty well. The very first thing we had put in him was a medi-port. This helps with anything that has to be put into a vein. If your mother doesn't have one of these yet please make sure she gets one. The chemo is very caustic and will ruin her veins. Second thing we had put in was GI-tube(stomach tube)My husband lost over 100 pounds and so he wouldn't starve to death we had the GI tube put in. When your mom starts chemo both of these will help her. When she gets to the point where no matter what she eats it will probably taste like heavy metal or just plain yucky and she probably won't want to eat. The GI tube is there to feed her right into her stomach. There are liquid high calorie protein drinks made especially for this. I hope this helps, if I can help in anyway what so ever, pleas let me know. Thank You Kim, sincerely Mary

I am so sorry to hear this news of your husband. How old was he? Are you talking Aug. of 2004 or 2005? Did your husband have any good days through all of the chemo and radiation treatments? We have already put in a medi port. My mom is quite depressed. I feel so very bad for her. I am having a heck of a time myself. She stays with us now and I keep telling her that as soon as she gets feeling better she will be back in her own place. I only hope that this can happen for her. Everything I read on this cancer is so bad though. Where all was your husbands cancer? Do you have children? I have 2 ages 11 and 15 both boys. They seem to be handling Grandma being here ok but it does worry me a bit. Well again so sorry for your loss. Hope you are doing as well as you can be.
Sincerly,
Kim

Dear Kim, My husband died Aug. 21 of 2005. Yes he had very good days after his first bad reaction to chemo due to his diabetes. Please have you or your Mother talk to the Dr. about depression. My husband took prozac, of course he was taking it before the cancer. He did have bouts of depression due to medicine and being so tired and not being able to do what he use to do. His cancer started in his lung,then went to his spine, then to his brain. You need to take care of yourself because if you get ran down you can't help anyone. We have a total of 6 kids between us, one (20 yrs old) that's ours, 4 are his and 1 is mine. So it has been hard for all. The five older kids are over 34. My husband just turned 67. You said your Mother is 56? That's how old I am. You take a day at a time. Make sure your mother doesn't loose to much weight. Take care and I will keep you and yours in my prayers.
Sincerely Mary

Hi I have my sister-in-law who has non-small cell lung cancer stage 4 and is done with her chemo and is on avastin and tarcerva she has been on tarcerva for 1 month and has diareaha and throwing up and has no appitite does anyone have anyone in this stage of treatment? She already had the pimples and the itching and her feet hurt on the bottom. She had a scan yesterday and it came back really good that can hardly see anything but she isnt doing good emotionly or physically does anyone know if this well get better because they say they want her to take it for 2 years. She got diagosed in Oct 2006

 

On 6/12/2007 Starlene2 wrote:

Hi I have my sister-in-law who has non-small cell lung cancer stage 4 and is done with her chemo and is on avastin and tarcerva she has been on tarcerva for 1 month and has diareaha and throwing up and has no appitite does anyone have anyone in this stage of treatment? She already had the pimples and the itching and her feet hurt on the bottom. She had a scan yesterday and it came back really good that can hardly see anything but she isnt doing good emotionly or physically does anyone know if this well get better because they say they want her to take it for 2 years. She got diagosed in Oct 2006

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.  I also have stage 4 lung cancer in both lungs diagnosed 10/06.  I did not have the chemo or radiation but was put on Tarceva 150 for about 6 weeks.  When they did the CT scan the tumor had started to shrink and stabilizebut the side effects were too much so stopped taking it for a month.  Then went back on it at 100 mg day instead of 150.  It has made a big difference.  While on the 150 I didn't want to eat and spent most of my time laying down because I was so tired.  I started taking Pomagranate juice with orange juice every day and have recently started taking liquid ginseng.  I feel great most of the time.  I work full time and have not had to miss too much work.  I make sure I get my rest at night.  While I was on the 150 I stopped eating all meat and started eating lots of vegetables and drinking lots of juice.  Tell your sister-in-law there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Once you get past the shock of these drugs in your system things start to turn around.  She may want to see if the doctor can change her dosage on the tarceva.  The onc also put me on Kytril 1 mg for nausea.  That helped me get my appetite back because I didn't feel like I would get sick every time I looked at food when I was taking it.   I have my next PET scan the first of next week so will know then if the stabilization is holding.  Everyone is different.  My doctor told me in the beginning I only had a year max.  After 7 1/2 months I'm still going strong and eating like a horse now.  I've only lost 15 pounds during this whole time and that was most due to nerves.   Tell her to hang on and fight, don't give up.  With you in her corner, I doubt you're going to let that happend.  Take care and God Bless you both.  If you have any other questions, I'll be glad to answer if I can based on what's happened to me.  Nancy