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After Keytruda, what's next?

Lung Cancer | Last Active: Apr 18 7:21pm | Replies (104)

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@merpreb

@liz8716- Good morning. This must be very scary and confusing for you. Many people, including myself have wondered what questions to ask. One thing I will encourage you to do is to get a second and maybe 3rd opinion. Get copies of all of your blood work, treatments and chemo infusions. I don't think that you have told us what kind of lung cancer you have. Different types of cancers work better than others with Keytruda but it is showing a lot of promise and research is extremely strong for lung cancer. There have been a lot of improvements in this area with new drugs and new treatments.
When I got my first cancer 5 years also looked like it was unreachable. But it's there. And it's hard not to think about it. And it's almost impossible to think about nothing else!
I have had both chemo and SBRT. I had navelbine and cisplatin. That was awful. I had chemo twice a week for 4 months. SBRT is:Stereotactic radiation therapy. Stereotactic radiation therapy, also called stereotactic external-beam radiation therapy and stereotaxic radiation therapy, is a type of external radiation therapy that uses special equipment to position the patient and precisely deliver radiation to a tumor. (Wikipedia).
Do you have more than one major hospital in your area? Are you healthy enough to travel to seek a second opinion?

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Replies to "@liz8716- Good morning. This must be very scary and confusing for you. Many people, including myself..."

@liz8716- Here is a list of questions that Ihave used my self from National Coalition For Survivorship:
Essential Questions to Ask Your Doctor

What information do I need to help me make a decision about treatment?
What information do you use to make treatment recommendations for me?
What are your realistic goals for my treatment?
What are the chances that I can be cured?
What are my chances of a long-term response with good quality of life?
Are there clinical trials available to me?
How will I feel during treatment? Will I be able to work?
Take care of my family? Travel? Be around young children?
What help will I need in managing the side effects of treatment? When and for how long?
Should I consider a second opinion regarding my diagnosis and treatment?
Are there different approaches to treating my kind of cancer?

@merpreb - good morning and thanks for reaching out. I have stage IV adenocarcinoma of the lung. I also have tumors in my liver and it is also in my bones. I had a tumor in my ovaries that completely went away after 4 rounds of taxol and carboplatin chemo. My dr. Stated she stopped chemo because tumors shrunk and that were would just continue in keytruda. Never being a smoker before this news came as a complete shock.