Lung cancer with brain metastes

silm0209 said:

hi
yesterday she went to
hi
yesterday she went to meet with her oncologist for the first time. He had he biopsy results. it is lung cancer that has spread to her brain. Next week she will undergo brain surgery to try and remove the tumor. then she will have radiation to the brain to try and kill any stray cancer cells.
drs are more concerned about the 2 tumors on her lung (both in same side of lung) they will give her chemotherapy after the brain surgery.
I think it is positive they are doing surgery and have a plan - but she has lost all hope
it is devastating
thank you for asking x

david f said:

lung and brain tumors
Slim, my wife was diagnosed exactly as your friend. She had surgury for the brain tumor followed by 3 weeks of radiation. It is now completely gone according to the MRI she had on Nov 22. She was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer on June2. After the radiation treatment she underwent 4 chemo sessions using taxtol and avastin (spelling). According to the Ct scan done last Monday the tumor in her lung was reduced by half. The doctor was very excited to see that.
The next treatment she will have is a phase two clinical study of Imetelstat. That is a maintence drug that is being tested at our Cancer center and shows pretty good promise for success on dilling of the cancer cells by attacking and enzyme called telomerase. We will find out more specifics on it tomorrow.
I hope this gives you some positive hope for your friend.
Dave

Lisa958 said:

Brain tumor/Lung tumors
Slim0209,

I am sorry to hear about your friend. Cancer is such a terrible disease, and I really wish they would either give out the cure, or find treatments that target only the cancer cells.

The following is what my husband went through.

My husband's first diagnosis with cancer was in June 2000. Stage 4 Melanoma. He had a mole, which had grown and spread the cells along his left upper arm. Surgery was done but at that time, there wasn't a lot of treatments for that stage of the disease. However, his surgeon was acquainted with a specialist in Pittsburgh, PA, who was doing clinical trials. Rodney decided to participate. After one year of the treatments and all the follow up tests, doctors appointments, etc., it appeared the clinical trial was working.

In November 2010, he started complaining of headaches and kept dropping things. Finally he went to the ER and they diagnosed him with a brain tumor, which he had surgery to remove in December 2009. Pathology showed it as a secondary tumor. It took a month to find the primary tumors. Two small tumors, sitting on the lymph node, in his right lung. Finally, in February 2010, they started radiation therapy on the brain. In March, they started chemotherapy treatments. In August 2010, his PET scan showed the lung tumors were shrinking, so they put him on 4 more cycles of chemo. Then he started going numb on his right side, then falling. An MRI showed the brain tumor had returned. On 10/28/10, he had the brain tumor removed, and 5 gliodel wafers inserted, to kill of any lingering cells. He did well afterwards, but had a bit of problem with his short term memory and really bad headaches, which the doctors said had to do with brain swelling from the wafers and once the wafers dissolved completely, the headaches should go away. On 12/20/10, I came home from work, found him on the floor, trying to get up. He had fallen several times trying to get to the telephone to call 911. He was admitted to the hospital and on Christmas Eve we were given the news: the brain tumor was coming back; no more chemo, radiation, surgery...it was now quality, not quantity of life. On 12/31/10, I brought my husband home, under hospice care. I watched the life slowly seep away from him, and on 1/7/11, I was in our bedroom with him, when he passed. Until the very end, he was fighting it, he really had a lot to live for and I am really angry that cancer took him from us, at such an early age.

All I can suggest is to keep a positive attitude, get second opinions, and ask the doctors any question that comes to mind, no matter how silly it may sound to you. Ask anyway.

This is not easy to write, but it shows that you can survive the disease. Rodney was a 10 year survivor, before it came back.

z said:

Lisa
Hello Lisa,

I'm so sorry for your loss. I agree a cure or a way to treat just the cancer cells. Thank you for sharing your story, that cancer is treatable and your husband survived 10 years with a stage 4 cancer, as it does offer hope to us. I wish you well Lori.

stayingcalm said:

It's scary
Hi silm,

Is is most definitely scary to get news like this! All I can tell you is from my own experience, although my brain tumor didn't show up until I had been on a clinical trial drug for my lung cancer for a couple of years. The drug couldn't pass the blood/brain barrier and so didn't protect my brain from the stray cancer cells that like to go there ;P

Surgery removed the main brain tumor - contrary to popular belief, brain surgery is pretty simple, for the patient, anyway! I went home 2 days after. I eventually had WBR (whole brain radiation) to get rid of lingering cancer cells. That's a whole other story, and if the time comes for that for your friend, there are alternatives out there that she might prefer.

Tell her to make sure the docs send out tissue from the tumor to check for at least the EGFR and ALK mutations, so her doc will know if drugs like Tarceva and Crizotinib (in trials, still) are likely to work for her. It's also possible to have a tumor assay done, where the biopsy material is checked to see what chemotherapy drugs have more chance of working for her. I'm not sure how many insurance companies cover that, however...

I went on Tarceva after brain surgery, which worked very well for me, put me in remission. I've just recently been told I have a nodule on my lung, but we've upped my tarceva dosage schedule (it's a pill) to everyday, and we'll see. I'm not worrying ;-)

That's the story. I was dx 5 years ago, still kicking, still working, still making Thanksgiving dinners. I'm not inclined to go out and run a mile, but that's because I also have COPD ;-)

I just want you and your friend to know it's not the end of the world, even if it seems that way!

Best wishes and hopes,
stayingcalm

Thank you for writing your story.you gave me a hope. Having 3 brain metadtises,will have radiation next week on Linac mashine. We don't have gamma knife and cyber knife,they are newest version, here. Very nerves....