Newly Found Lung Mass

Please let us know how your scan goes - I am sending you best wishes from here! - Kimberly

ClaCla said:

starrkat

Starrkat, I just read your post about where you are at with treatment for lung cancer.  So I withdraw my question above.  Wishing you the best.

ClaCla, I updated my profile--added some info on side effects, etc. If I can answer any questions about what comes next, please let me know.

Connie

Griffithds - please help me understand your PET results. What does it mean when they say "lung is primary site and no metastases". I consider myself pretty educated, but these doctors speak a language that we don't understand and they purposefully don't try to explain it to us - I think to keep us dependant on their advice instead of making decisions on our own. Who are you meeting with at Mayo/Jax on Monday, sorry, I mean what kind of doctor. Sorry if I sound so intrusive and you don't have to answer of course if you don't want to.....Did you get your PET results the same day that you took the test? Kimberly

Griffithds that does sound like good news!

ClaCla - you are not wrong, I feel like I am learning or trying to learn what is going on all by myself. Switching pulmonlogist would be the best thing for me. I made an appointment with my GP on Friday just to try to review with her what has occured and see if she can help me to understand what everyone has written in their notes. Maybe she will have a good recommendation. 

Yes, hair started falling out about two weeks after first chemo treatment--slowly at first but then more and more. I was prepared for this and shaved my head before the next chemo round started. I had a wig, scarves, and hats all ready to go. 

Also yes, I lost appetite and weight (about 25-30 pounds so far). Your oncology team will most likely give you anti-nausea drugs (probably steroids) along with pre-med fluids prior to your chemo drugs. They may also give you a prescription for oral anti-nausea drugs to use between chemo cycles. Zofran worked the best for me. But I have not had more than a few nausea-free days since this whole thing began. Taste and smell has changed completely for me; I can usually count on yogurt, Ensure, bananas, and Special K with fat-free milk. If you have radiation, you may have nausea and pain associated with that. I don't see why you couldn't continue Jennie Craig. If your course is like mine, you'll be lucky to find anything that doesn't make you sick. Sorry to sound so pessimistic, and keep in mind that your experience could be completely different from mine. 

I went to many web sites for information on lung cancer (American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Mayo Clinic, Web- MD, verywell.com, etc.) and found some good information. It seemed the more information I found, the less scared and more curious I was.

I hope this helps. Let me know how your PET scan went when you get the results.

Connie

Everyone

I went to my regular doctor and she wants me to see another pulmonologist. So I have my PET scan tommorrow, old pulmonologist Thurs and making new appt with new pulmonlogist this week.

I wanted to ask - does anyone cough up blood? I cough up blood like this evryone once in awhile for a couple of hours in each event.

Everyone

I got my PET scan done today. A horrible thing happened, becasue I was going to a new pulmonologist next week, I started asking for copies of reports and scans (electronic form). So when I left, I don't know about you, but they gave me a copy of my PET scan. And yep, you guessed it, I looked at it right once I got home. I spent an hour doing a flip out dance, took a xanax and now I am starting to calm. I don't know what I saw. I know if things light up - that is bad. Things lit up. 

Everyone, catch me up to where you are please! I think it will help me focus. I am parying for all of you.

Kimberly

Clacla,

Looking at the inside of your body is really creepy. But what I saw before I flipped out was lighted areas in the brain, the area in the lung that has been a concern was lit up (upper right next to esophgas, lower bowels area was lit up (but that makes sense if the solution is attracted to sugar). It seemed like there were a few small areas, but to be honest, I am not fully sure I really knew how to use the software. I can see the heart and they saw that is fine. But there seems to be two other irregular areas on each side of my low back sort of. Then they show that picture looking from top of head down the chest and it is lit up like bright christmas tree. 

Clacla, maybe you could ask for a copy of yours and compare.

Anyway, I am praying for you - Thursday is a long time to wait for results. 

Clacla

It depends, the software seems to let you change the colors of the 'interested' portions to any color you want. But there is a big difference between the 'not lit' portions and 'lit' portions. Believe it or not, we are all entitled to one copy for ourselves of the copies of our tests. 

Kimberly