sallypa
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dale, thank you so much for sharing. you give us hope that my sister can beat this disease. she goes to the surgeon, radiologist and oncologist on september 8 to see where we go from here. the drs exact words after surgery were a little radiation and chemo will be necessary. not sure what a little means and we really didnt question him at the time, we were just relieved that she had a successful surgery. i am trying to study so much before next week so i can ask the proper questions. thank you again for your help!
dale, thank you for writing. it is so good to hear from all of the people on this site and it feels great to hear when someone is getting the better of this cancer.i hope you dont mind but i would really like to know how your recovery went. my sister will be happy to hear that the scar will fade over time. did you have to go thru chemo and radiation as well and if so were there any side effects? my sister is still waiting to hear what the chemo regimen will be and we still are worried about the 2cm mass they saw on her lung in the chest scan prior to surgery. it is too small for a biopsy so we have to wait and hope it doesnt ever get bigger and no more show up. we had hoped surgery would be the end of this but now chemo and radiation. this disease really beats up a person. finally today she was able to eat something without it coming back up. we will take another small victory. hopefully every day she will get stronger and stronger. congratulations on your six year success story i pray it will be many many more.
heather, if you havent done so yet you might want to contact the mayo clinic in minnesota and the university of pennsylvania to see if your father would be eligible for a transplant. when my sister was diagnosed we contacted the mayo clinic. they reviewed her records but unfortunately we were told she doesnt qualify for transplant. we also contacted u of p. the dr there said they actually do more transplants than the mayo clinic. i dont know if that is true but that is what he said. my sister had her resection surgery at penn and is now home waiting to start chemo. this disease is frightening but you just got to keep fighting and looking for options. i wish you all the best.
i agree sharon God is good. i dont know where we would be without him. i am glad to hear that your tumor is shrinking. i am also glad to see that you are still working while on chemo and radiation. i was wondering if that would be possible for my sister. she will begin chemo after she recovers from the surger. the dr says it should be in about four weeks. good luck and may god bless you.
thank you all for your well wishes. it means a lot to our family. this site has been a tremendous comfort and benefit to us. my sister came home from the hospital today. she is feeling ok but isnt eating yet. every time she eats she gets nauseous. her hemoglobin level is still low so they gave her an iron iv before she left the hospital. they did a x ray on her stomach and everything looked ok despite the fact that she hasnt been able to pass anything yet. dr said there is no reason to stay in the hospital so she was discharged. next appt is september 8 to remove stitches. she has a very large incision. i couldnt believe how big it was. we also have to make an appt with oncologist to start chemo. we are praying that the chemo wont have to last long but we have no idea what the timeframe is going to be. we just take it one day at a time.
my sister had a successful surgery on monday. tuesday was incredible. she was sitting up and even went for a short walk. today however was different she was upset. she has a 102 degree fever and her hemoglobin count is very low. she has always had low levels and drs havent found the cause. they say if it goes lower she will need a transfusion. where as yesterday she seemed so strong today she was very tired. she would fall asleep in mid sentence. im not sure if this is a result of the surgery or something else. we will see what happens tomorrow. we are taking turns staying over night with her. after yesterday we thought she might be home on saturday but now are not too sure.
thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. my sister had successful surgery today. the dr said he was able to remove the entire tumor and didnt see any visible signs of spreading. he believes chemo and radiation will still be necessary but we will cross that bridge after she recovers. for now we are happy that the tumor is gone, she made it through the surgery and we have hope. thanks again to everyone here and to God for his help. today was a good day. we will definitely take it in this long battle.
i just wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. my sister had a successful surgery today. we were told the entire tumor was removed and so far it doesnt look like there was any spreading. the dr still thinks chemo and radiation will be needed after she recovers from the surgery in hopes of killing any microscopic cells.we know there is still such a long way to go but today was definitely a good day. thank you again to everyone on this site for their help, thoughts and prayers and thank God for a good day and a successful surgery.
hi linda,can i ask you how you handled the surgery and the recovery. also what type of chemotherapy did they give you. when i first began investigating this disease i saw that resection was the only chance at a cure but it seems like even if they remove the tumor and the surgery is successful you still have to deal with the cancer. i am so glad to see that your surgery was over a year ago because when my sister was first diagnosed it was thought there was no chance for surgery and she would only have a few months. i will keep you in my prayers that your ct scan gives you good news and they find an effective treatment for you. please let me know. take care.
my sister is having resection surgery tomorrow morning. there is only one spot on her lung and both drs say they arent sure if the spot is cancer or not because it is so small and they have no previous ct scan showing it is a new mass. the dr is going to watch it and see what happens. they have said chemo will probably be recommended after surgery. it is sad because we thought she would only have to deal with the recovery from surgery. she originally believed that surgery would save her from chemo but it looks like that wont happen. i still cant believe that with all the medical advances we have and the money that goes to cancer research that the best thing they can come up with is to poison your whole body to deal with cancer. i know i shouldnt feel that way since chemo does help some people but i just wish they could find something with out all of the side effects. surgery comes first. we just have to take it one day at a time and pray everything goes well and a cure is found for this horrible horrible disease.
since my last post we met with drs from msk and u of penn. both drs said spot on lung is too small to even biopsy so they are just going to watch it. they say it may be cancer or it may not be. they both felt confidant surgery should still be done so we decided to go with university of pennmainly because it is closer to home. both drs seem confident and highly skilled. it also looks like she will still have to do chemo even with the surgery. she is scheduled for surgery tomorrow at 8am. it will be a six hour surgery and we are praying it is successful.we are all so scared for her.
just when you think things are going good,something else happens. today we received the results of my sisters chest ct scan and there is a mass in her lung. the surgeon is suppossed to call us tomorrow. we are all afraid that this is really bad and surgery will no longer be an option. getting the chance at surgery was the best news we had heard and my sister was prepared to go to the hospital next monday and now we dont know what is going to happen. it is all so frustrating and frightening.
the ups and down continue for my sister. dr from msk called and said after reviewing a new ultrasound he feels he can now do surgery as the picture showed their is a small gap between the tumor and the vein. we are so relieved that we now have two drs who say she can have surgery. since we live closer to philly she will probably have the surgery at university of penn. hopefully there are no more setbacks before the operation. was just wondering if anyone had any experience with university of penn.
we had a bad day today. we went for our third opinion today at memorial sloane kettering. the dr there said he feels surgery is too risky for my sister. he feels she should try chemo first to shrink the tumor and than maybe they could do surgery. this was the same advise we heard at fox chase. the problem is the dr said chemo may not shrink the tumor in which case there is no hope. we are so confused the dr at upenn seemed confidant he could do the surgery and now this. we dont know who to believe or what to do. all the other options of brachytherapy, photo dynamic therapy etc were also rejected by the dr today. we are looking and praying for hope and a chance for a cure.
