Living with lung cancer - Introduce yourself & come say hi

Thanks for reply. I am in province of British Columbia in Canada and am still seeing a doc that will prescribe cbd with thc balance. I look for pain management. Hydro morphine and tramadol not effective and I continue to experience spine pain. Anyone know if keytruda and cbd/thc are compatible?

Thanks for reply. I am in province of British Columbia in Canada and am still seeing a doc that will prescribe cbd with thc balance. I look for pain management. Hydro morphine and tramadol not effective and I continue to experience spine pain. Anyone know if keytruda and cbd/thc are compatible?

Feel for you. Am in Texas and we can only get the pills and oil that don't have the THC in them. I have both and am not sure if they work for me, or not. In your place, I really would campaign for getting prescription. There has to be physician that is open to at least trying you with cbd/thc. I wish you the best. Please keep us informed. I'm sure there are others who have better experience with this than I.

One year history non small cell lung cancer stage 4. Thoracotomy one lung and VATS other lung. Thymus glad removed. Now spine and hip bone positive for cancer. Chemo and radiation not give positive results. Currently start immunotherapy keytruda. Seeking information now of personal experiences using cbd/thc for pain relief/cancer. Oncologist has no opinion as no scientific study to confirm cbd/thc and will not give prescription for medical purchase. All is legal here with prescription but many doctors too sceptical to prescribe. Appreciate any information based on personal experience. Thanks.

Hi @llwortman @burrkay @alicantina1 @merilee @alvinw @shortshot80 @mryzuch @amws @pearlgee @cheris @annette1 @cheris @windwalker @lesbatts @major @bestcare and @sistergoldenhair

I'd like to invite you to the new group dedicated to discussions about lung cancer. It's a space where we can ask questions, share tips and learn from each other. Whether you in treatment or caring for someone with lung cancer, or you're a lung cancer survivor, please join us.

Pull up a chair and tell us a bit about yourself.

Good Morning. One correction, no doctor's visit following this PET/CT scan to discuss results. I have standing orders for 2 more PET/CT scans every 3 months. After that I think we go to every 6 months. Talking with others, that should eventually become every year. I have one friend who is a colon cancer survivor and he just had his last scan after 10 years.

I'll have to share one more story with you. We met with the surgeon before the surgery and he spent some time reviewing what had happened up to that point and why my medical team decided to go forward with the lobectomy. At one point, he turned to my wife and said, "I want to tell you he WILL be depressed after the surgery. For one thing, he's a man and we don't handle these things as well as you women do. For another thing, he's young. And lastly, he's an engineer and they tend to overthink things." At that point I turned to my wife and said, in an overly exaggerated voice, "When have I EVER overthought anything?" and we all had a good laugh.

@flusshund Thank you for your kind note. Yes, you have really helped in knowing what to expect and what pain meds to insist upon. In other swhos till plays for my own pleasure. I have had a couple of prior surguries--an-ankle fusion and hysterectomy for which morphine always worked well for me and will insist upon it this time as well. I am 68 years old, a retired psychotherapist, but basically a classically trained pianist ill plays for her own enjoyment. T o hear a doctor call me "young" for surgery at this age was delightful! It is indeed helpful to learn about what all you went through and endured--the follow up chemo and radiation and the merciful lack of awful side effects for you. I am so glad your PET/CT scan was clear. No followup appointments for you.! Hooray!

. My surgeon does the Robotic assisted surgery as well as VATS, and for whatever reason chose VATS for me. I will leave his decision of what surgery to do up to him as he knows far more about this than I. Anyway, it is a blessing that it won't be the old fashioned kind of operation here the ribs are spread apart and recovery is so much more complicated. I heard yesterday, at the seminar on surgery, that we lung patients would be in ICU overnight, encouraged to walk once we are out of anesthesia , vitals are good, etc Then we will be moved to a private room to move on in recovery. I figure from that all was said , I'll be in the hospital for about as long as you and am determined do all I can do to help the recovery process. I want to go HOME ASAP! Also the nurses said not to be the strong silent type during recovery, and if we were in pain or needed anything to let them know. They are there to help us have a minimal amount of pain and stress while we all recover from the surgery. I promised todo the breathing exercises, walk, eat the hospital food and follow their dictates to the utmost to speed there recovery process

Can see where the effects of chemo and radiation could be so emotionally draining! However, I'm glad that it went as well for you (side effects and all) so well. I guess such things have truly come a long ay from what used to be. Don't know about you, but From he two surgeries Had before, I found myself more tired than usual. It will probably be so withe his one as well. I normally sleep around severn hours and expect to sleep more than normally once at home. I recall the previous times when it seemed like there was NOT REST during the hospital stays.

The surgical team will know if they got everything and if somehow the cancer spread to any lymph nodes, or surrounding tissue.If such is the case, then we will move on to the chemo and/or radiation. I hope to avoid that as do my doctors. By this time next week, I may well be in a private room and awaiting removal of the chest tube. Having gone through the morning pre-op tests and the seminar on what to expect was truly helpful. More hospitals ought to have this sort of meeting for patients who will be having surgeries and recovery from surgery for cancer. Also being around other cancer patients kind of gave us a feeing of beingl f a band of brothers and sisters untied in a fight against this disease. I was in total denial about realization that I do indeed have cancer--lung cancer.--called it anything but what it is/was until yesterday.

I thank you again for taking the time to share your experiences with me and appreciate all that you had to say. I feel much better thanks to you and your information. Am so glad that things are going well for you now I hope we can keep in touch and know I will be thinking of and praying for your continued recover. So glad to have found this group!

Good morning. I'm in southern California, Huntington Beach. When I said no follow up doctor's visit, I meant after this particular PET/CT scan. I was expecting an appointment to discuss whatever they saw. But I guess it will be "no news is good news!"

I already have standing orders for 2 more at the end of May and August. After that I'm guessing they'll go to every 6 months. This doctor did the same thing after my blood clots and PEs. Blood test every 3 months x3, then 6 months. It was after the first 6 month break that my D-dimer level spiked. Then they did an Ultrasound of my legs, a CT scan of my chest, saw a change in the 2 CT scans that were a year apart and it was all downhill from there.

It's my impression that will be the order of things this time as well. Every 3 months, then 6, then once a year. I have a friend who survived colon cancer and he had once a year scans up to 10 years. He just had his last scan in the middle of last year so now he is officially "cancer free"!

Haven't had the knee surgery. My wife has developed an even worse problem with her knee, so she is going to go first. She is getting her MRI next week. After changing physical therapists I found that part of my knee problem was a hip problem. I've learned hip alignment/relaxation methods that have mostly taken care of that problem. And the 2 1000 mg tablets of Curcumin that I'm taking daily have really lowered my knee pain, so that it's now manageable at least.

For this American Lung Association fundraiser, I'm training to climb 1,393 steps in a skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles. I have a 9-week training program I used to prepare. As part of that training I climbed the equivalent of 51 stories yesterday on a StairMaster. Each week gets harder, but I'm hanging in there so far! But I am WAY slower than I used to be. The only reason I think I might be able to do this climb is there is no time limit. In past years I've done the climb in 22 minutes. This year I'll be lucky to finish in an hour! I've been doing this fundraiser for 5 years now. 3 years ago, I was the 6th highest individual fundraiser in the event. I've already agreed to speak at this year's event, whether I'm able to climb or not. We'll see.

Since you're a mentor, is there a group for the spouses of cancer survivors? As I've been telling my wife about this group, she has offered to communicate with anyone that might want to know what it's like to be the spouse of someone diagnosed with cancer. I think her emotional roller coaster ride was even scarier than mine!

@flusshund- Good morning. I know that the after effects of chemo can be depressing. I kept think that I'd wake up and be as new as a new born puppy. I didn't! It takes a very long time to recover from lung surgery. It took me upwards of a year to feel like myself again, physically anyway. May I ask what part of the country are you from? Most lung cancer patients have CT scans every 3 months for at least the first year. How can it be that you wont have anymore?
As for pain medications I was given some sort of a block in my back. Where in your back depends on the site of the tumor. I had this up until a day before I was to leave the hospital. I was also given anti-nausea meds to offset any stomach uneasiness. This is separate from the IV line and chest tubes.
Have you had your leg surgery?