Adenocarcinoma - newly diagnosed

My chemo hasn’t started yet, but I’ve been prescribed meds to combat nausea. Decamethasone 2x the day before chemo and 2 a day for 3 days starting the day after chemo. Also ondansetron and prochlorperazine as needed for nausea. My chemo
starts Apr 26, so no idea what to expect. I’ve read that ice chips during chemo infusion helps reduce mouth sores, but I have no experience with that. Good luck. I’m grateful for this group.

Been there done that. A nurse at Mayo Clinic suggested I rinse my mouth with !/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1\4 teaspoons salt with warm water. Never got mouth sores but throwing up was frequent daily for 5-10 days. Wore baseball hat with hair loss. It comes back. Maybe not same but mine was a little curly. Stick with Dr. You like believe me it’s worth it.
Prayers and good luck.

It will be if necessary. We will know more after Monday.

Wow, it sounds like everything has been falling into place so far. MD Anderson would be ideal.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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