Lung mets and other issues
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Thank you all for your responses.
Colleen, have been wondering about you and Fred…and what kind of systemic will he go on? Has his infection gone away?
Betty I saw Sam’s blog and your pic’s and noticed where you were from- our very good friends the Crockers from your town are some of our biggest support. They remember you well. Your blog breaks my heart.
Jeff -thank you for your always excellent advice, amgoing to push further for radiation as you and Betty have experience…we were turned down for it, as they said it has very poor success rate. We will pursue this avenue as well.Michele- Sorry Tom is having such a bad time. I have tumors om both lungs as well but not having breathing difficulties as of yet. Has scan shown signs of how large the tumors are? His breathing difficulty could be side effect of the chemo google side effects of what chemo name and it will tell you. Some times dosage needs to be reduced. Also , If he is still trying to work, maybe think of applying for SSDI and have insurance coverage thru COBRA. You would have to pay premium to cobra eventually. Plus slowing down a little would help energy to fight. Just type SSDI in search above you can apply right on line. It took me only two weeks for approval and direct deposit for retroactive entiltment to date I had to stop working due to chemo. Also take a peek at article I posted in research today. Might be of interest. I haven’t check out completel yet. Charlene I truley wish you and Tom the best. I really wish I could wave the magic wand.
God Bless You Both!
Jeff G. P.S. I agree with Betty about the lungs. After 3 Plus years of different chemos I’ve personally kept things slowed down or have I ? Where ever I have had radiation the pain stopped and the tumor stopped growing. But with mets so many places Like me I have to be conservative with radiation. Cutting off the blood supply to the the tumors is the key I would say. Pretty hard to do when you have so much mets. I would surely keep radiation in mind. My tumors in lungs are not to big at this time but several there so I may press for lowdose radition pretty soon before they get bigger and see what happens.Michele – I have pondered most of the day as to whether to address your question about the lung mets because if there is anything I would not want to do is to not offer everyone hope to beat this unbelievable disease. Everyone’s body reacts differently but Sam went through numerous chemo regimens and none of them had any result whatsoever on the mets to the lungs and chest wall. They just continued to multiply and get larger. He did get some relief to the large tumor in the chest from radiation but not from the chemo. The last chemo he had was oxaliplatin which really was the worse for him. From our own experience, I think you have to decide when enough is enough and I know that if Sam were here and had to do this over again, he would choose not to take any chemo treatments. I think the RFA on the liver bought him some quality time but not the chemo. We had 100% cancer coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama so that wasn’t an issue for us. There are some people on this site that have had excellent results so I certainly do not mean to discourage you in any way; I just saw Sam suffer so much through the treatments that I don’t ever want to see that again. It is so hard; my heart just hurts for what you are going through. You and Jim are in my thoughts and prayers.
God Bless
Betty JohnsonMichele – I am so sorry to hear about Tom, we have been having our own struggles. We are looking at starting systemic chemo also. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. I will be in touch.
Colleenmy husband Tom has had 4 chemoembollizations since diagnosis Feb’07. They have virtualy destroyed 90% of tumors in liver. However he has not recouped well since 4th procedure 6wks ago. Have just found out through MRI etc, he has mets to lungs and small new lesions on liver. He is so tired from trying to breathe, as he also has pe’s and he is on oxygen now. He is still trying to have a normal life of some sort, needs and wants to work to keep up medical coverage. We are facing systemic chemo ( he had 2 rounds of Gemzar + Xeloda) before the procedures. The onc wants to start Folfox now, but naturally the ins company is reviewing and we don’t know if they will cover. This just adds to the stress level of course.
Has anyone gone ahead with treatment and gotten coverage after the start of the treatment, am afraid to wait too much longer. And has anyone had lung difficulties like his, and if so what was done to alleviate the discomfort? He is also losing weight again, and has consistent nausea which is precipitated by cough due to lung issues.
Any advice would be appreciated, it is so hard to watch his struggle.
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