Hi everyone. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who responded to my posting about two weeks ago about how to know how much time one really has left when the doctors give a time estimate. My Mom was diagnosed with Stage IV NSCLC with mets to the lymph nodes on 02/08/08; the doctor estimated that she had about 12 months from that time. I was concerned because my experience has taught me that often people go much more quickly than the doctors estimate - my sister in law who had inoperable brain cancer was told she could have up to 2 years and died within 4 months.
My latest concern is that Mom has been getting increasingly short of breath. She has had three treatments of chemo therapy (Taxol, Carboplatin and Avastin) every three weeks. First treatment was on 02/26/08. She is scheduled for another CT scan on Monday and we will get the results on 04/29 - her next chemo appointment.She has really struggled with the chemo side effects. She is attributing the shortness of breath to the chemo and I am not challenging her on that, but from what I have read, that is only a potential side effect of the Taxol and Carboplatin right when they are administering it. It does appear to be a potential side effect of the Avastin, however.
I am trying to figure out if there is any correlation between increased shortness of breath and the progression of the disease. Does this mean she is getting worse/the tumor is growing? I know we will soon have a CT scan and results but this is scaring me terribly. I feel like I want to be prepared for bad news if this in fact means that things are getting worse. I know shortness of breath is a lung cancer symptom in an of itself but I am trying to figure out what, if anything, it means that this seems to be getting so much worse. Any input would be so truly appreciated.