Need info

kaydc
kaydc Member Posts: 3
in Lung Cancer #1

I was diagnosed last November with stage 3b nonsmall cell adenocarcinoma in my right lung with spackling on my chest wall. I have finished 6 weeks of radiation 5 days a week and one day of low dose chemo taxol/carboplatin.  This helped immensley with the pain I was experiencing and now no longer need pain meds, I start high dose chemo next week.

I'm just a little scared because my doctor had stated my first appointment that I would need treatment for life and everything i have read on the internet is not very optimistic about reaching remission. Would love to here some positive news from survivors or any advice would be welcome. 

kaydc

Comments

  • dennycee
    dennycee Member Posts: 857 Member
    #2
    Kaydc, welcome to the ACS

    Kaydc, welcome to the ACS lung boards. The shape of survivorship and that bell curve those numbers are based on are changing as well.  The numbers are based on outcomes for tens and hundreds of thousands of patients.  There is no way to predict exactly where you will come out on that curb.  

    On 10/10 I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, adenocarcinoma.  At that time I was told that I might survive 10-15 months.  That more than 5 years ago.  I've a friend who was diagnosed 17 years ago when his lung cancer was found after they discovered his brain mets.  

     

  • kaydc
    kaydc Member Posts: 3
    #3
    dennycee said:

    Kaydc, welcome to the ACS

    Kaydc, welcome to the ACS lung boards. The shape of survivorship and that bell curve those numbers are based on are changing as well.  The numbers are based on outcomes for tens and hundreds of thousands of patients.  There is no way to predict exactly where you will come out on that curb.  

    On 10/10 I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, adenocarcinoma.  At that time I was told that I might survive 10-15 months.  That more than 5 years ago.  I've a friend who was diagnosed 17 years ago when his lung cancer was found after they discovered his brain mets.  

     

    Thank you so much for sharing

    Thank you so much for sharing that i need to hear stories like yours. 

    kaydc

  • jorola
    jorola Member Posts: 243 Member
    #4
    kaydc said:

    Thank you so much for sharing

    Thank you so much for sharing that i need to hear stories like yours. 

    kaydc

    my husband was diagnosed

    my husband was diagnosed april 2014 with squamous lung cancer stage 3b. he was given less than 10% chance to make it a year. He has been NED since 2014. It was a tough road to get here; i won't lie. There were times we thought he would not  make it. Yet here we are. we don't know how long this will last but if one good thing has come out of this we sure appreciate life more and live for each day.

  • Dleu_2000
    Dleu_2000 Member Posts: 3
    #5
    I was diagnosed with stage 4

    I was diagnosed with stage 4 nsclc and given less than 1 month to live due to the spread to my liver and lymph nodes around my heart. Next month will be my one year. It seems that I live my life in 3 month increments because you never know how the next scan will turn out, but I will tell you that treatment has made great advancements in the past few years. Hang in there- I know that the unknown is very scary but the life span for cancer seems to be increasing day by day due to medical advancements. 

  • cphifer
    cphifer Member Posts: 1
    #6
    dennycee said:

    Kaydc, welcome to the ACS

    Kaydc, welcome to the ACS lung boards. The shape of survivorship and that bell curve those numbers are based on are changing as well.  The numbers are based on outcomes for tens and hundreds of thousands of patients.  There is no way to predict exactly where you will come out on that curb.  

    On 10/10 I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, adenocarcinoma.  At that time I was told that I might survive 10-15 months.  That more than 5 years ago.  I've a friend who was diagnosed 17 years ago when his lung cancer was found after they discovered his brain mets.  

     

    Thank you so much, reading

    Thank you so much, reading this gives my family great hope.  My 63 year old Father was just given the news of a small orange sized mass on his lung last week.  Stating 95% sure it's Lung Cancer.  We go for a PET scan today so we are all praying very hard for news so we can begin our fight.  It's such a blessing to see survivors.

  • kaydc
    kaydc Member Posts: 3
    edited July 2016 #7
    Thanks for everyone's

    Thanks for everyone's responses, I think I'll stick to the boards and not the statistics on the internet.

     

  • eclc
    eclc Member Posts: 18
    edited July 2016 #8
    19 year survivor

    Kaydc,  I was diagnosed with Stage IIA adenocarcinoma at 34 years old.  I underwent a right pneumonectomy followed by high dose adjuvant treatment of Carboplatin/Taxol with 30 days of radiation therapy.  It's been 19 years and I'm still here.  Your attitude has a lot to do with your survival.  Also, take control of your own health...search online for treatment options that are worth looking into, look in to clinical trials (that's what I did), take time to ask your doctor questions (they should take time to answer all of your questions) and finally, do not tolerate a bad doctor!  By that I mean, you need to be absolutely comfortable with your doctor...he/she needs to take time with you and answer your questions...they need to respect your input...Remember that if you, God forbid, don't make it through this cancer, YOUR Doctor WILL have another patient but there is ONLY ONE OF YOU....Make sure that YOU are the priority.  That is probably the most important thing that I learned going through my cancer treatment.  I wish you luck and am happy to answer any questions you may have.

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