5 Nodules Lungs

pokismom
pokismom Member Posts: 153
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi,
I'm new to the board, just joined today. I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in November 07,
surgery in December followed by Chemo in January 09. Finished my Folfox series July 08. I recently
had a CAT scan done a couple of weeks ago and they found 5 small nodules on my lung to small to biopsy.
My Oncologist sent me to a Lung surgeon who said that he could laproscopically try to get some tissue to
biopsy or if needed cut off a section to do the biopsy. I had known that something was wrong with me
I started having these weird feelings in my body, kinda like flu symptoms. I'm kinda waiting to see what
to do yet, I'm trying to heal my body with vits and diet, juicing etc. I feel sad that there is so much stuff
on the internet to treat cancer but do they really work or are they just praying on us cancer people! My
doctor was kind of put back because I had such a heavy chemo session the last time and this shows up
now. I was also on Urbitux for a trial, to see if would help on stage 3 . 5 nodules are a lot and I noticed some
posted about 1 or 2 but I have 5 scattered, anyone have 5??
thanks
pokimom

Comments

  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    5 Nodes
    Hi Pokímom,
    I had many more than 5, probably 12 or more scattered about over the past 3 years. I'm a little surprised they are trying a biopsy since if they don't get it exactly right, you could get an unreliable result but I'm no doctor (nor do I play one on TV). How mine were approached were with Erbitux, which is what I think you mentioned but had a different spelling for, then after the nodes shrunk, they were removed surgically by wedge-ectomies (sp) where the cut wedges out of the lung. They could do that with most of mine since they were at the outer edges of both lungs. This way they could remove the nodes with a good margin. My last lung operation (a year ago this coming Saturday) they has to remove the lower portion of my lower right lobe since it was not able to have a wedgie on it. Since then, I have not had any more lung nodes. I have been on Erbitux for over 3 years, the side effects kind of stink but they lessen over time. I am now down to 2 small nodes in between my lungs that have been stable for about 1/2 year. My Erbitux treatments are also down to every other month and also every other week so it winds up giving me a 6 week break between rounds. Just enough time to feel "normal" whatever the hell that means.

    Personally, I trust my oncologist more than and internet remedy I have seen. I know that diet can play an important part of recovery but you kind of have to know what to do with that. There are a few juicers on the board who I hope can answer more questions about that. Do not expect a magic bullet that will cure cancer though, people do prey on us.
    Best of luck, if you want more answers just ask.
    -phil
  • pokismom
    pokismom Member Posts: 153
    PhillieG said:

    5 Nodes
    Hi Pokímom,
    I had many more than 5, probably 12 or more scattered about over the past 3 years. I'm a little surprised they are trying a biopsy since if they don't get it exactly right, you could get an unreliable result but I'm no doctor (nor do I play one on TV). How mine were approached were with Erbitux, which is what I think you mentioned but had a different spelling for, then after the nodes shrunk, they were removed surgically by wedge-ectomies (sp) where the cut wedges out of the lung. They could do that with most of mine since they were at the outer edges of both lungs. This way they could remove the nodes with a good margin. My last lung operation (a year ago this coming Saturday) they has to remove the lower portion of my lower right lobe since it was not able to have a wedgie on it. Since then, I have not had any more lung nodes. I have been on Erbitux for over 3 years, the side effects kind of stink but they lessen over time. I am now down to 2 small nodes in between my lungs that have been stable for about 1/2 year. My Erbitux treatments are also down to every other month and also every other week so it winds up giving me a 6 week break between rounds. Just enough time to feel "normal" whatever the hell that means.

    Personally, I trust my oncologist more than and internet remedy I have seen. I know that diet can play an important part of recovery but you kind of have to know what to do with that. There are a few juicers on the board who I hope can answer more questions about that. Do not expect a magic bullet that will cure cancer though, people do prey on us.
    Best of luck, if you want more answers just ask.
    -phil

    Thanks
    Hey thanks Phil for the reply, unfortunately I guess the Erbitux did not work for me, the KRAS test thing came
    out after I had already started my protocol so I maybe it would have shown not to work. I think that the lung
    surgeon said that my nodules were deep in my lungs so I guess sugically removing is out of the question but his
    suggestion was to try to cut the one furthermost to the edge off and biopsy. I too
    had many side effects from the Erbitux, can't imagine being on it for 3 years........ Great Job!
    Thanks
    Pokismom