On 7/23/2009
mistybottoms wrote:
In march I went to my doctor's because I was feeling tired and just not right. They thought it was my thyroid but threw in a lung x-ray for good measure just to rule everything out. My x-ray showed a mass between the heart and the esophagus. They had me get a CT scan right away and it turned out to be what they said was a 4.7cm tumor. I went to the best cancer center in the area, a Thoracic oncologist. They performed two surgeries. The first one they could not get a good enough sample so they then performed the surgery where they collapsed my lung and got a good sample. It turned out that it was two tumors so close together that they looked like one. The tumors were on the lymph glands. Biopsy results stated that it was nonsmall cell adenocarcinoma charachteristic of a metastesis of Lung cancer. Pet Scan showed there were no other sites within the body, but they referred me to another oncologist for treatment because of the location of the tumors for treatment. He did another CT scan with Contrast and says that I have other hot spots that normally they wouldn't worry about because they don't decide cancer until they are larger, but because of the biopsy they do not want to take any chances. I just began IV chemo with Carboplatin and Alimta. Does anyone know anything about this treatment? I have only had the first round. I am worried about how I will feel. Is this a good treatment? I have 6 year old twins and I worry that if I don't get the right treatment, not only will they lose me but our time together will be an ugly memory for them.
You have many things going for you: early detection, good encology center where they have specialists who have the latest in treatments and clinical trials, they aggressively looked into the problem. You probably have only the one major spot, and they're going with the treatment for metastatic lung cancer, which should give you more hope because they are not leaving anything to chance and you may have only Stage I lung cancer which I believe can about be cured. I have Stage IV lung cancer, non smoker, very healthy otherwise. The cancer went from lung to backbone. They cannot cure this, just manage it, and hopefully for a long time with good quality of life. Many use a pill called Tarceva for this which can keep the tumors under control for many years. My Tarceva dropped the tumors to about nothing in 4 weeks, but after 5 months one of the lung tumors began growing again. We were very disappointed. Since I'd had such good luck with the Tarceva in the first month and my tumors were about gone, I have many options. I'm on the same chemo you have: Carboplatin + Alimta. I hear it was just made standard of care last year. It's supposed to be very user friendly, few side effects. Everyone is different, but I don't feel as well with this as with the Tarceva. We're going to do 2 rounds of this chemo and see what is happening with a Ct Scan. I'm hoping to get on to a clinical trial with tarceva plus ??, 2 pills, some time this year. It sounds like your encologist is up on everything and will be aware of these treatments. You have every hope of being well and with your twins for a long time. Hope you know and trust God and know that God loves us and will do nothing that is not in our best interests. We may not see it, but we can trust. Have you ever read the book The Shack about a guy who had an awful thing happen in his life and was mad at God. God had the guy meet him for the weekend at the shack so they could get to know each other and solve that anger. Mission accomplished. They have many stacks of this book at our local Costco. I was loaned the book fortuitously just before my cancer diagnosis and I'm able to take walks with Jesus in my mind and talk things over with him. God bless you.