Cheryl,
Just read your 2nd (?) message. I told you I was just "surfing" the MOL
board right now but when I saw you had sent another message, I just had to
stop and read it (heck, you may even have a 3rd or 4th message by now that
I'll run across!!!).
I've been told that non small cell lung cancer is not all that similar to
small cell lung cancer with small cell being the worst according to our dr.
(how due you determine worst when you're the one going through all the
treatments!!). It sounds like they found your cancer in the same way they
found my husband, Jim's. He'd had pneumonia that wouldn't clear up with
their wonder drugs and, after about 6 weeks of no improvement of that, his
family dr. sent him to a lung specialist who did a bronchostimy (sp?).
That's when he found that there was something outside Jim's left bronchial
tube completely closing it off which was why the pneumonia wouldn't heal, it
was trapped behind the closed off bronchial tube. His first thought was
that Jim probably had lymphoma and he brought in the most fantastic
oncologist, she is just wonderful. They did a CT scan and also a bone
marrow test. The CT scan showed a large mass in his upper left lobe of his
lung that had grown up around his left bronchial tube completely closing it
off. His cancer had mets to his lymphs and bone marrow. His onc.
immediately started him on chemo (cislatin & VP-16 the first day and VP-16
only on days 2 & 3. His sessions of chemo were the three days, three weeks
apart. He was also started immediately on high level doses of radiation on
the large mass. They had planned on him having 30 sessions of radiation
(Mon - Fri for 6 weeks) but after 16 sessions, his esophogas was burned so
badly that he had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks to receive all his
nutrients via IV, along with antibiotics, morphine, and anything else they
could find. Even though the radiation caused so much damage to good tissue
in his esophogas that they have determined he cannot have any more, it did a
good job on starting to break up his mass. That, along with the chemo, have
done enough good that when they did a CT after his 4th session of chemo, the
dr.s were really pleased (I still don't have an exact defination of what
"really pleased" is to dr.s). He's supposed to start his 5th session of
chemo Monday, but his blood count is so low, that is now in question and
will not be decided until Monday morning. He has been receiving 3 different
shots a day -- 1 to bring up his red blood count, 1 to bring up his white
blood count, and 1 to bring up his platelet count. Hopefully, all that will
work, and he can start his 5th session of chemo.
Cheryl, what I've learned as a caregiver (what we call loved ones and
friends of those battling cancer) is that the first couple of sessions did
not cause Jim to many problems (no nausea, etc.), however he did start
losing his hair about 2 weeks after the 1st session. But, as he's continued
on with his treatments, each chemo session brings him down just a little
more. He's had some nausea, some actual vomiting, and has more fatigue than
he did before he got sick. But if this is helping to put him in remission,
small cell lung cancer is not curable according to his onc., they just try
to get it in remission and monitor it from there, then every bit of what
he's going through is worth it.
One thing everyone here will tell you is not to listen to percentages or
"amount of time you have left to live." Everyone is different, protocols
have different effects on different people, and if you have a positive
attitude, never giving up hope (keep fighting), there is no telling what
your individual outcome will be. I must admit, however, that I use the
"amount of time left" as a monitor of what the dr.s are finding in their
tests (i.e. CT's). When Jim was first diagnosed, 3 days before last
Christmas, they gave him only a few months, then he was at 1 to 2 years, and
when they did his last CT right after his 4th session of chemo, he was up to
3 to 4 years. What this means to me is that the dr.s feel he is responding
well to what they are doing to him and he might be one of those in that
supposedly low percentile that can beat this thing or at least keep it in
remission.
Keep on fighting, don't ever give up, and never forget the power of prayer,
either. You will be in my prayers and many others of us here as well.
Please keep me up to date on how you are doing!!
Cindy
ccrowe@msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: CHERYL FOX VAULTZ <SWINGYDINGS@worldnet.att.net>
To: mol-cancer@lists.meds.com <mol-cancer@lists.meds.com>
Date: Saturday, March 28, 1998 6:02 AM
>Hi Ken, thank you for the uplifting message. I was diagnosed with non
>small cell lung cancer adenocarcinoma stage 3 on March 6. I had walking
>pnemonia for a while which is why I had a chest e-ray to begin with. A
>follow up x-ray showed a complete white out of my right upper lobe, which
>then resulted in a bronchcoscopy showing cancer in one of my airways, thus
>collasping that part of my lung. The cancer has spread to the lymph nodes
>in the center of my chest, the cancer ar this stage is considered non
>operable...Now I have to go through chemo for a while to see it the drugs
>will help. Only time will tell. I am very optimistic and strong willed.
>I do not believe what the doctor's say about my survival rate of 5% I AM
>ONE HELLAVA FIGHTER!!!
>
>
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