Adenocarcinoma - newly diagnosed

Soupy- you seem like you have been a very strong person to fight cancer all these different times! God Bless You! Have you had the SRBT treatments? I would hate to see you give up! I read your profile and you seem so strong and active! I don’t pretend to know your situation, but if your current doctors don’t have the treatments you need you should be able to check with your insurance and see if they can cover what you need, even if it’s in another state. I wish you all of the BEST Luck! Again, God Bless you!
Cindy

Cindy, Thank you so much. I have been very lucky for the most part. I’ve never really been on medications for much other than Vitamin D and an injection every 6 months for my Osteoarthritis. I hadn’t heard of SBRT and looked it up. I will be going to our Cancer clinic here in Vancouver, Canada and will ask about it. No idea of side effects etc. I’m lucky enough to be going to Hawaii with my daughter tomorrow for 10 days!! I will be trying to do a lot in the near future. From what the Dr said I could have months to a year and because I am in good shape hopefully longer unless it goes to another organ. All the best to you and prayer’s your way! Please keep me informed of your progress as well.
Joan

Joan - Oh, my! Hawaii! My most favorite place in this world! Sooo Beautiful! Have as much fun as you and your daughter can!
Concerning the SBRT, my Aunt had it done when she was 77. No side effects really, according to her. It was 5 days at 30 minutes a day. That was it. She could go shopping afterward or whatever. No real down time. I guess she got a little tired after one of them but she says that was it. She is now 82 and cancer free for the past 5 years. She had it done because her heart was not healthy enough for surgery. Hers was also small. It’s always worth looking into! Hers was called “Cyberknife” but it is also known as “True Beam” and other names. I hope it will be something you can do!
I had my check up today. Everything looked Great according to the surgeon. Praise Jesus! Lung is already expanding where they took the segments out. Have to go every 6 months for a CT scan , (for 2 years) and if those stay good then it goes to once a year. I feel really good and don’t really have any pain. A twinge here and there is about it. God answered our prayers.
I hope you have a Wonderful time and let me know if they let you do the SBRT. God Bless You, and Good thoughts!
Cindy

Thanks again Cindy. I will try and enjoy myself for sure. I’m so happy that you’re doing well! Keep it up and I will let you know what happens when I get the appointment with the Cancer Clinic. Take care and God Bless.
Joan

Hello all! Happy Passover/Easter! I had the Mediastinoscopy yesterday. Surgeon confirmed the large lymph node that lit up on PET scan is cancerous. He did multiple biopsies on both the right and left side so I should have results in a few days. Very sore throat and neck (he did cut along the same scar I have from thyroidectomay 50 years ago)! He will confer with Onco and me to go over next steps. As I said earlier, if it's only in the one node and has not spread, then surgery might be an option to remove the mass and the lymph node. They are suggesting a short term of chemo/immunotherapy before any surgery to shrink what's there. So...if all goes well, surgery can be an option. If it's attacked more lymph nodes, then surgery will NOT be an option and we will proceed with chemo/radiation.
Sandy

So sorry to hear this, Sandy. Where are yoi being treated. It’s amaxing what treatment is available for lung cancer now. I was diagnosed on Feb 25 and had surgery on Mar 22. I start chemo Apr 26 and prognosis is excellent. Be hopeful.

After having a tightness in my chest and having difficulty breathing my PCP sent me for a chest x-ray. Then a CT scan which showed a ; cm mass on my left lung. I had a biopsy done with over 21 samples on March 30. April 2 I was told that it is 6 1/2 cm. My first Oncology appointment is on Monday. I can feel that it has grown more. It’s harder to breath and im very tired. I haven’t found out anything else other than its too big gif surgery. Any suggestions?

Sorry you're going through this. I know it's scary to have the tumor and to have breathing issues. 6.5 cm is about 2.5 inches. Every situation is different. Not sure what kind of lung cancer you have or where exactly the tumor is located in the lung.

I have lung NETS (neuroendocrine cancer) and had a 2.6 cm (1 inch) tumor destroyed using microwave ablation -- not open surgery. It took two hours and I was awake. It was successful in destroying the tumor. You need expertise for sure. I went to UCLA because that's only an hour away from me. The nurse told me people travel from all over the country to see this interventional radiologist. He's wonderful. I'm sure Mayo Clinic has experts as well and possibly the closest teaching hospital to you. I wasn't a candidate for surgery because I have 50 more tumors sprinkled across both lungs that are mostly around 1 cm and was told any that hit 2 cm, we'll do ablation with those as well. Mine are slow growing.

I know another lung NETS patient who had a single but faster growing lung tumor that was 3" when they did surgery. They removed I believe only one lobe of her lung that had the tumor. No other treatment. That was 10 years ago and she had not had any other issues. She can breathe just fine. Again, that is neuroendocrine lung cancer which is more rare, not your common lung cancer. NETS is treated differently, but the important part here is that they surgically removed a 3" tumor. I believe she had that done at Cedars Sanai in Los Angeles.

Aside from that, I can say that I've known many people with various types of cancer that had tumors too large for surgery so they had chemo and/or radiation treatments to shrink the tumor down to a size that was operable. My aunt just went through that process with a pancreatic tumor and now she's in remission. I believe that's a pretty common scenario. Hopefully, one of these two scenarios will work for you.

Lastly, don't hesitate to get a second opinion if you're at all uncomfortable with what you're hearing and maybe even if you are comfortable. I just watched an lung NETS oncologist give a presentation today and he said he's a big believer in second opinions to be sure everyone is on the same page. He gives second opinions all the time. Any good doctor will have no issues with you seeking a second opinion and insurance will pay for it. I know you said this is growing fast and it's hard to breathe so time is of the essence. Be your own advocate and push hard for timely appointments. Be the squeaky wheel. I hope the oncologist presents you with a good plan on Monday. Stay hopeful. Please keep us posted.

Thank you so much. Yes I definitely want a second opinion regardless. My appointment on Monday is with Texas Oncology. However my Granddaughter’s best friend used to work at MD Anderson in Houston and said that she can get me an appointment with a referral. I did take this in my own hands. With God’s grace. I originally had my first Pulmonary appointment on April 4 at UTSW in Dallas. While my husband was in the Hospital with us Bypass surgery. His Cardiologist’s Nurse heard me talking about it and told me that her husband was a Pulmonologist. I go to an appointment and the biopsy done with results before I would have even. Even to UTSW.

Hi folks...happy Saturday! Just heard from my Onco last night. Apparently there is only 1 lymph node that's infected (as well as the mass in URL)..so he tells me that surgery is NOT off the table yet. What he and the surgeon are suggesting is 5 weeks of radiation (5 days a week) and chemo 1 day a week x 5 weeks to try and shrink it all first. They are suggesting Carboplatin and Paklitaxil. I will meet with the Radiologist some time within the next 1-2 weeks and plan to have the radiation at Dana Farber in Milford, MA. My chemo will have to be at Reliant Medical in Worcester which is where my onco is (if I wanted chemo at Dana Farber, I would need to see a new Oncologist and I'm not prepared to do that...I like the one I have)!

So...given this information, I'm looking for any words of wisdom, hints on trying to keep my hair, meds that any of you have taken to deal with nausea or diarrhea or constipation while on chemo.. any helpful hints would be so appreciated.

Thanks...Sandy