Cancer Survivors Network

Some of you may remember me; I lost my husband to lung cancer in October. Now, my sister's ovarian cancer has returned and spread to her pelvic area and she has spots on the outside of her liver. She is my only sister and I am not ready to loose her after loosing my husband. I want to be positive for her because she is scared to death this time around. She is supposed to start chemo again this week and a liver biopsy is scheduled as well. She is a 3 yr survivor thus far and has been very positive and strong up to this point. We have discussed a bucket list and one of her wishes was to go on a cruise. We thought we were doing that this spring. Now, that is out of the question. Therefore; I asked what else she wanted to do. She replied by saying I want to sale my camper to get a bigger one. I told her I didn't have the money to do that; I couldn't help her there. If anyone is looking for a camper in the Knoxville area, she has one for $19,000. That's the only thing I know I can do for her is try to make that wish come true other than just being there for her when she needs me. She says when the weather isn't too cold she just wants to go to her camper build a fire and look at it. That's what we are going to do!

My dad's first round with chemo in 7/11-10/11 was with Carbo/Taxol. He was not nearly as fatiged/tired as he is with the Gemzar/Carbo combination. It is profoundly different for him. His appetite is not there.he says "he's feeling it this time".He seems more worried to me now.

He is supposed to have chemo for 4-6 months the oncologist said.I don't know if he can handle it.He will be 78 in April.He has been a healthy/tough man.No sickness his whole life.I hope this will be to his advantage.He is not having any nausea/vomitting.He is worried if he will lose his hair or now.I am reading some yes/some no.It really bothers him.Saying it'll grow back doesn't help much.

Just discovered last week I have lung cancer, dont even have complete pathology info, just know its a 4 cm large...then my pulmonary surgeon ordered a brain MRI and found 2 "concerning" spots there, and cancelled the futher diagnostic stuff for my lungs. I dont even have an oncologist yet, they were supposed to call me back yesterday. Of course its the weekend now and I'm left nhot knowing...

My husband was diagnosed with 3B NSLC a little over a year ago, but has been NED since August. The next scan is coming up, and we seem to get a little freakish with worry each time this comes. He has a cold right now, and it's so hard not to worry that there are greater implications. We keep saying "it's just a cold" as though we can convince ourselves that this will be true. I guess I'm not looking for advice since we know we should see the doc if we're worried and we are seeing him soon--and I know no one can tell me not to worry, that all will be well. I guess I'm just venting or looking for commiseration.

I am over from the breast cancer board. I have a friend recently diagnosed with bronchial alveolar lung cancer in both lungs. She has been int hospital ICU with pneumonia. she is on hi flow nasal cannula. She cannot seem to be getting rid of it. Somebody also said when you have a biopsy it can spread cells within the lung. She is currently getting chemo every three weeks. I have no idea what to think, is this common? what are the implications when it is in both lungs?????

Not sure if I want to go through the chemo or not. Dr told me 6 months w/o and 12-14 with. I saw what chemo did to a sister and what it's doing to another one.

Hi everyone. My mother was diagnosed with Stage III B lung cancer on 2/1/12. On 12/23/11, a chest x-ray had an incidental finding. A biopsy on 1/26/12 confirmed lung cancer. Chemo and radiation are the plan for treatment. However, this past Monday, we found out that my mother's pacemaker was in the line of radiation and it would have to be moved before treatment could begin.

So as of right now, it looks likes treatment (both chemo and radiation) won't begin until the week of 2/20. So in a nutshell, I guess my questions are...

- Can anyone provide me with some information as to how long it generally takes from the time cancer is suspected (and then confirmed) to begin treatment? I am not sure how these things typically procede. My gut feeling is that the urgency to begin treatment should be much higher.

So my mom hasn't had any treatment since last September, her last round of chemo hospitalized her for over a week. We have been just keeping her comfortable and treating any symptoms that arise on her request. I was very surprised when she asked my yesterday about trying some form of treatment again, she said she doesn't want to give up. Her oncologist didn't want her on chemo anymore since she had such an adverse reaction to her first 2 rounds last fall. But her onco had mentioned Tarceva a few months ago. I have read all of the side effects online and about the extreme costs. What I'm looing for is a "real" persons experience with the drug and if anyone knows how to get the drug at a cheaper price. My mom has medicare and a small supplemental insurance plan, but the drug is ridiculously expensive and medicare said they would only pay part of the cost, leaving about $1,700 a month for her to pay. If there is anyone out there that might be able to shed some light on this for us, I would really be grateful. Thanks

Has anyone heard/experienced NSLC spreading to the ovary? My mom was diagnosed with Stage IV, 8cm tumor in lower right lobe with cancer cells found in fluid around lungs. No mets to brain or bones only 4cm mass found on right ovary. ONC did blood draw Friday at her first treatment to determine tumor marker. ONC stated that if marker was the same as the lung, lung has spread to ovary. If the marker is different than the lung than she will be sent to GYN/ONC.

I have only found one story of lung adenocarcinoma spreading to ovary and that was a rare case.

Anyone experienced this?

Next up NSCLC: Enrollment will be complete for this study before April. If you want to consider this very safe trial time is at hand.

Hi all:
I mentioned in my previous posts that I would let you know of the progress of the clinical trials.
Geron has announced that the clinical trial for metastatic BC has completed its enrollment goal ahead of schedule. Additional trials are underway for brain mets and NSCLC also.
See link:
http://ir.geron.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=67323&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1656213&hig hlight=

From the release:
"This Phase 2 study enrolled in just over a year, ahead of our expectations, attesting to the need for effective treatments for metastatic breast cancer and driven by the interest among clinical investigators for compounds with novel mechanisms of action against new targets," said Stephen M. Kelsey, M.D., Geron's Executive Vice President, Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer. "We continue to expect to report top-line results from this trial by the end of Q4 2012, provided a sufficient number of progression events have accrued in order to estimate the progression-free survival for patients receiving imetelstat in addition to standard of care. Currently, we believe an improvement of approximately three months in PFS over standard of care, assuming a representative patient population was enrolled, would be consistent with a clinical benefit."