Well, well, well...

ksusan

It was suggested to me that I check out CancerGrace.org to learn about my diagnosis of NSCLC Stage III so I did.

After reading one of Dr. West's posts on lymph node involvement, it was clear that when mediastinal lymph nodes appear normal but during surgery test positive for microscopic cancer cells, a 5-year survival is out of the question. This means my doctors have been lying to me. 

I  can't function now and don't trust my doctors because I have asked about my prognosis many times and never was I told treatment would be useless. Not sure what my point was in posting this but I now feel hopeless and have wasted time with useless treatments.

z

Ksusan

Sorry you had to find us.  Will you please check out the inspire web site.  There is a lot of activity there, and probably someone with your dx that might be helpful.

Please don't give up hope, there are many new txs coming out everyday.  I wish you well. Lori

Ex_Rock_n_Roller

"After reading one of Dr. West's posts on lymph node involvement, it was clear that when mediastinal lymph nodes appear normal but during surgery test positive for microscopic cancer cells, a 5-year survival is out of the question."

Are you sure it really said that? "Out of the question" means zero probability, which amounts to certainty, which is wrong. The stats may not be good, but group stats do not apply to individuals, and I would all but guarantee that there are more than a few individuals with the above characteristics who are looking back at five years.

Your docs haven't told you that treatment would be useless, because nobody can predict the future, and the odds are your treatment would NOT be useless.

P.S.:

What Z said about checking out Inspire. There's a fair amount of folklore, fiction, and fluff to wade through over there, but the traffic is so much higher than at any other site I've checked that you have a high probability of getting a lot of useful response.

dennycee

glcs52