A new challenge

@donnademps sending good thoughts your way ❤️‍🩹 🙏🏻

Hello Helen,
Thank you for your reply. I can only imagine how overwhelming it was to find both lung cancer and your aorta at the same time. I’m sorry you have experienced all you have due to both diseases, two lung surgeries in a year…. you must be a very brave person Helen.
I share my health challenges with my children, siblings and friends. I find them all supportive in different ways, I’m so very grateful.
My cardiologist wants my blood pressure controlled too.
Yes, staying calm is a good thing, and I’m finding myself calmer than I was those first few days. Thank goodness !
Yes, this Mayo group is wonderful to express and learn, folks here are the best !
Thank you very much for sharing with me what your experiences have been.
Sending positive thoughts your way 🤗

@donnademps they are beautiful words for me to read. Thankyou.
Yes I think I/we paint a positive picture to protect the people around us in a "I've got this" frame so a step backwards dents that.
If you would like to share more about where you are at, then I would be very happy to listen and not say " its probably just" once 🙂
You are in my thoughts.
That might be a good title for a new discussion on Connect...."Its probably just"

Thanks for your response. I love the idea of starting a new discussion called "it's probably just". I am so sick of people saying that when the writing is on the wall. It feels like they are minimizing the results of initial tests. I will share more after I hear the results from an "urgent brain MRI" and an app't with my oncologist. My thoracic surgeon is also going to arrange a group discussion with other experts in this field to attempt to find the best treatment. I am also waiting for my app't for a biopsy. At least this time round with a lung biopsy, I've asked to be put under and not having a. needle biopsy. I will know much more after all of this. I am also sending love to @daisydays. I appreciated her sharing. It helps us to know that others are also going through very difficult times. We are not alone!

@donnademps
Hello Donna,
That was so very sweet of you, thank you.
Sending you love as well along with positive thoughts for your brain MRI, and a positive meeting with your oncologist.
Your surgeon plus other experts have their “thinking caps on”…. sounds to me like you’ve got a great team.
I’m glad you asked to be under for your lung biopsy, I remember you went through an awful lot with the needle procedure. No thanks to that again !
Daisy 🤗

@donnademps in my experience, very few people know what to say to cancer patients. I'm sorry it sounds like you have some kind of progression and that you have to go through another round of testing/biopsy, which all by itself is hard and unpleasant. have you heard of the targeted therapy zongertinib? it was recently approved in the US for first line treatment for HER2 mutated NSCLC.

You are so correct that most folks don't know what to say to cancer patients. I will keep that in mind for the next time. Yes, I have heard of zongertinib and have done a deep dive. It's not been approved in Canada, but I understnad there are ways around that. I have the info printed for when I see my Oncologist. I don't believe that will happen until all the tests are completed. I haven't even heard from a single office regarding appt's for these tests. It's summer and folks need to take their holidays, so that's likely why. And yes to a serious progression.

@donnademps it's ok to be the squeaky wheel and call for those appointments on Monday. you'll feel better not being stuck without the information you need. I'm glad to hear there's a work around for zongertinib access in the event that you need it. 🙏🏻 it's incredibly hard to have only partial info that is indicative of a problem and it's rotten for your mental health. that said, use whatever is most distracting for you to give yourself a break from worrying. I like Korean dramas, nonfiction audio books and walks when I can manage them. sending hugs from Seattle.

@daisydays
Thank you for your message, which makes me feel supported. I am also grateful that I found my cancer in an early stage, so surgery is the best choice to remove my three tumors.
I am allergic to Dermabond (the medical glue used to close wounds), which I did not know. The two surgies caused me to develop severe Contact dermatitis, I had to use a dermatoloist's steroid cream to calm the rash down, but because of the steroid cream, my surgery wounds were not able to heal. I saw a wound care specialist once a week until the wounds healed, which took five months. I have a CT scan on 8/6 to look at another 2mm tumor, to see how much it has grown. I was diagnosed with multifocal adenocarcinoma of the lung, and I don't know how many more will appear.
Helen