Anyone had radiation of the lung? What were the side effects? Results?

They haven’t received the results yet. I went to my Doctor for the San we thing, pressure in my chest and out of breath.

Sending prayers for your recovery

Hi donnatownsend,
I love your attitude. Always press your call button if you start having symptoms. With my first chemo the cisplatin infusion went fine. When they started the etoposide infusion, I felt like a mule had kicked me in the back. I pressed my call button. The room filled with professionals. It turned out that I'm allergic to the etoposide. I had to have it. With each treatment, they filled me with Demerol, Benadryl and a couple of steroids before starting the etoposide. Needless to say those drugs knocked me out for the rest of the infusion and for the week after. I'd find myself standing and being asleep. Not good. I later found out from palliative care that I could take Ritalin to overcome that cocktail of drugs. That helped though then I tried to do too much. I thought I could do exercise classes from you-tube the first week after infusion. Not! My blood ox fell and I passed out. The first week needed to be with little activity. The week after treatment needs to be for reading and sedate activities. I wouldn't do financial, legal or make important decisions that week.
I do love your attitude. You go girl. After the first week of each treatment, I walked a mile everyday with a friend. I also could do some moderate exercise from You-tube. The exercise supposedly helped to minimize side-effects. It did feel good to have a goal and make that each day. I also did a lot of reading. Let other's do for you. It's your turn. All the best to you. VLPR

donnatownsend,

FYI: I was able to do all my radiation in 3 weeks as I live close to my treatment facility. I had radiation twice a day, 6 hours apart for 3 weeks. Many days occurred on my chemo days. Made for a very long day. It also was tiring doing 2 a day. I was glad I did that though. By time I finished, I was spent.
My tumor was in my left lung next to the esophagus. It caused me not to be able to swallow as the esophagus had swelled closed due to radiation. The docs always have something to help. I had a lidocane & benadryl liquid concoction that I had to swallow. It numbed my throat enough that I could swallow small, ground-up foods. I probably lost most of my weight during that period. My esophagus healed rather quickly, even though it seemed forever. VLPR

Thanks for the information! I gif speak yo my Radiation Oncologist today. He has sent a prescription for another pain med and something to numb my throat as well. Unfortunately my cancer didn’t come with “The unintentional weight loss that I was hoping for” lol! The steroids have me so bloated and I’m retaining. A lot of fluids. Even with taking my water pills I seem to gain about 3-5 pounds a week!! And I feel it. I joke about this because why not?? I’m not a very serious person anyway. But I know that it’s all in Gods hands!!

Hi lovey... I'm about 1/3 of the way through my radiation and only side effects is a little acid reflux when laying down. The chemo gets me hyper for a couple of days but is manageable. My oncologist just put me on sucralfate 4 times a day so that should help with the acid reflux. Good luck going forward.. hope you feel better soon 🙏

I agree, it is all in God's hands.
My only steroids were in the pre-chemo cocktail.
I was not taking them orally.
I am a small person anyways and chemo made me lose my appetite.
If I'm ever on oral steroids, It will be a new larger me I'm sure.
It's good you have a sense of humor - why not??
Laughing is good for the soul and eases others discomfort.
No one knows what to say.
I'm 6 months out from treatments and am feeling wonderful. Never thought I'd totally get to this point, but it has happened. Every time I get a clear scan (no new sightings), I get 3 months of free living. I've had 2 so far. Next ones are the end of Aug. I did not do the prophylactic brain radian, instead I'm doing brain mri's every 3 months.
Best. VLPR

I found out why I had a reaction to my chemo last week. I had forgotten to take my steroids yet I take 12 hrs before and then again 6 hrs before. It keeps me from having a reaction. So I won’t be doing that again. I have asked again and have been told they have not received the results yet. The most aggravating thing is not knowing if this is working or not.

I did get the numbing medication last week and at first it didn’t seem to help. It didn’t go down far enough. But I’ve also had hiatal hernia surgery. The main thing is the intense sharp pain after swallowing. I have liquid hydrocordine as well. It lasts about 10 min. I just finished my 5 chemo yesterday my 20th Radiation. Waiting gif radiation now.. I was told yesterday that I need to find out as soon as possible as if I am able to do immunotherapy. She made it sound like it was my only option. They really won’t discuss anything about what is going on.

Do you have extensive stage lung cancer? It seems like they offer immunotherapy if you are extensive stage or if you've had a recurrence. Find out what they are recommending and ask your team about it. The people I've known who have done immunotherapy have had great success with it and very few if any side effects. It has kept their cancer stable. That's a good thing! You usually don't get scans until your chemo and radiation treatments are done. At that point they determine if the treatment worked. It's frustrating going through the treatments and not knowing if they are working. SCLC usually responds quite well to the initial treatments. I would not be too concerned about the immunotherapy, but please talk with your doctor about it. Get on the portal and express your concerns. Someone should be able to talk to you about it. You need to have some acceptance and peace of mind before starting. Your attitude will make all the difference. You will get through this. I'm 6 mos out from treatment. I never thought I'd feel this good again. Have hope! Wishing you all the best. Would love to hear what you find out. VLPR