Precautionary Chemo after Successful Surgery

jalexander said:

Yes, yes, yes. I reccomend the post op chemo to eliminate any last cancer cells that may be floating around in your body. This was the suggestion of all of my 5 cancer doctors. I am a 43 year old male NSCLC IIIB survivor diagnosed 12/2002. Removed my right lung 01/2003 that had 2 tumors. Had a clear surgical margin. Had 9 weeks of post op chemo including Gemzar and Carboplatin. Had some pre op radiationand chemo too. I am still cancer free!!! My doctor tells me the latest successes for LC are with post op chemo. I was not part of the national study group that supposedly proves this theory, but he tells me I could have been and he is considering submitting my results to help bolster the success rate.

I am currently probably more healthy and capable than I was before LC. I just returned from a week of canoeing with my 13 year old son and his Boy Scout troop in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area between the Minnesota and Canada border. It was fantastic!!! I carried a 50 pound canoe on my shoulders across some very rough portages for 5 days straight.

Starting tomorrow I am going to Boy Scout camp with my son for a week. After that I will post my pictures and story on this web site. I hope it will offer encouragement to others battling this same awful disease.

Positive attitude is everything. If you think you can survive this wretched disease then you can!!!!!

Good Luck and contact me if you need someone to talk with. You can e-mail me on this site or at jsaindy@comcast.net.

Be well!!!

Hello...I had a left lung upper lobe removed for two masses...one just 7 mm and the other at 2.5 centimeters. NO METS and the lymphs were clear. I will begin the Taxol and Carboplatin a week from tomorrow...it will be for four doses, once every three weeks and I am sure to lose hair and have other nasty things happen BUT it will eliminate any wandering cancer cells, so I am looking forward to it being done and over.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE have the precautionary chemo treatments if recommended. I had half my lung removed on 11/17/03 and although my surgeon said no chemo or radiation was necessary, I spoke with an oncologist who said there had been a very large study that showed absolute benefits to follow-up chemo for lung cancer surgery patients. I knew then that I had to go through it so I would know that, no matter what happened, I had done everything in my power to become and stay cancer-free. I went through 12 weeks of Gemzar/Carboplatin. My oncologist's nurses were FANTASTIC and did everything they could to help make my treatments as comfortable as possible. I only took two days off from work during the whole twelve weeks, and they were to stay home and try to get built back up alittle after 2 blood transfusions. Chemo has come a very long way and, even though it is a very scary experience to think about going through, it is nothing like the horror stories from years ago that we have all heard. I truly believe that anyone who can should undergo the chemo just to be sure any lingering cancer cells are killed. I also did not completely lose my hair, it got VERY thin, but didn't completely disappear. I know that was one of my biggest fears was that I would be bald - it's only natural to feel that way because alot of times that's the only outward sign that you have cancer. Whatever I have been through and am still going through as far as pain and discomfort are well worth being cancer-free for almost 2 years. Best wishes to you and keep smiling and have a positive attitude - enjoy every day!!!