Multifocal Adenocarcinoma of the lung, continual recurrences

Merry,
Wack a Mole. Sounds about right.
Living your best life with purpose is a must. I have share. The most amazing things happened to me in the couple years leading up to my cancer diagnosis. I have always had a pretty good life, not much to complain about except those thing I let hold me back from truly living my best life. You know those things you put off because your waiting for someone else or don’t want to spend the time or it’s too hard - whatever it is. Well, a couple years before, almost subconsciously I started checking off those things, those things that allowed me to live with more purpose. I don’t know that I even realized the shift so much until I got the diagnosis. I didn’t freak out or cry. After processing all of it, I realized the good Lord had been working in me and preparing me for that moment. I felt His presence so strongly it’s as if he were carrying me. I have no doubt, had I not started down the path toward living my best life, I would have freaked out worrying about all of those things I have pushed aside waiting for the right time, worry about running out of time, and resenting those people I felt held me back. Instead, i didn’t have to worry about any of that because I was already on a good path. I was able to remain calm and find out as much as I could about this disease, so I was able to make health care decisions based on facts and research and not irrational fear.

Your background in handling your diagnosis sounds more peaceful than mine. But, fear is a funny thing. I think of irrational fear differently than fear of the future, no matter the reason. I think that it's a healthy thing, this fear, that has us step back so that we can absorb what we have learned so that we can go forward. I never know what somebody's background is, so for me to make judgments, whether their fear is baseless or not, wouldn't be right. And I wouldn't know anyway.

When I first learned that I had lung cancer I was so scared, scared of the unknown, and of what the future would hold for me. I learned through this immense fear that if I dug down deep enough, deeper than ever before that I could be strong. I had to make myself more than I thought I knew how.

I thoroughly believe that learning about myself was as important as learning about my disease. I don't think that I could have done it any other way. That's the way I am. My fears came and came at me as an avalanche threatens a small village. I gagged myself from one appointment to another. Was this irrational? Probably, maybe not. Did it matter?

I was going to ask if anyone had a persistent cough after VAT surgery and removal of lung nodule. But things change. It is now five weeks since my VATs surgery. I begin to have a mild dry cough just days after surgery, no big deal. But about five days ago, the cough became far more frequent and more "congested" with some mucous coming up. I called my surgeon's office yesterday, and they said get tested. I thought it was a waste of time, because I am literally a hermit, but I went to a drive-in testing place and at 8am this morning I got the news that I am Covid positive. I don't have a fever, and don't really feel sick, just the cough which seems better today than two days ago. I had my PFIZER BOOSTER at very end of September 2021. I qualified for emergency antiviral treatment, and it was delivered in two hours to my door. At least something works! I am currently on night oxygen, because my oxygen levels fell during night when I was in hospital. Anyone else had Covid in such circumstances?

I was wondering if anyone with multifolcal lung cancer in this group has ever been offered targeted therapy to get rid of or reduce the remaining lesions they might have?

Good morning @akfishinmom1-Yes, it's what is used now for multifocal lung cancer if surgery isn't the best choice.

This procedure is sometimes called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR). The procedure uses many precisely focused radiation beams to treat tumors. It's quick, as far as the number of radiating days and there are very few side effects. Fatigue is the biggest side effect that I have found. I've had it twice and it looks like I will have my third this year.

It's painless and you get to lie still for about an hour and dream! Do you have any concerns?

@vic83- You poor thing! As if recovery wasn't hard enough! A lot of us with lung cancer are extra, extra careful about COVID 19. I hope that you heal quickly. Please take care and get a lot of rest, even people with mild cases can have symptoms for a while.

I've been lucky, so far in not having had COVID or its variants. Are you tolerating the meds well?

Thank you for your reply Merry. My surgeon did mention this for further treatment if needed. I don’t think he’s a big advocate for multiple surgeries. I was wondering about immunotherapy since my biomarker test came back positive for EFGR. Can they not treat remaining lesions with medication before they become cancerous? My oncologist was not very good at explaining what the biomarker test meant other than she did have a discussion with the surgeon about it. Since I did have segmentectomy surgery I assume he thought that was the better option. I wish I would have been included in on that conversation.

Yesterday, I had a full day of Molnupiravir (800 mg/day for five days) and I woke up feeling great. Much less shortness of breathe, and reduced congested cough. The problems is Covid mimics the same symptoms I already had. Shortness of breath. And I had a dry cough after surgery which is not uncommon. While I did wonder why I didn't feel better going into my fifth week from surgery, I did not have a fever, and the only real change was that my cough had gotten much worse and was congested. And I had avoided ALL people so how could I catch Covid? Everyone is shocked, because they know I am a fanatic about avoiding Covid and wearing a mask. It is scary because one has to watch one's oxygen levels, and go to the ER if they go below 91. Buy a good home oximeter now while you can wait for delivery, because they are hard to find. I had my booster the end of September - everyone should get it!!!!

@akfishinmom1- You hit the nail on its head! The problem with treating Multifocal lung cancer is that there isn't enough KNOWN information known yet. To answer your question, with a question- "what would be used to zap the lesions if they aren't cancerous?" I suppose that "do no harm" has something to do with this too. Any treatment will cause some damage to your healthy lung tissue.

If I wasn't involved in a conversation that might answer questions that I had I would get a second opinion. You have the right to have your questions answered so that you understand them. Your biomarker test was to test if there are any variants in your cancer. Lung cancer has several and it's tested because certain treatments have been found to treat them differently. This is used after surgery. It's called immunotherapy.

Have you been told that you will have further treatment?

I'm so glad that you received relief! That's a biggy! Any chance that you could have Omicron, the present variant? It's extremely contagious. Were you told anything else?