Question for Craig concerning upcoming Thoracotomy
Nice picture of you. OK, that's not my reason for starting this thread. I also thought let's get these technical questions off the Buzzard thread and into a different on. I do hope he is OK though...
You mentioned:
"CyberKnife is a device that delivers highly concentrated radiation with surgical precision. It is actually considered and called "Radio Surgery." It is effective and RFA and CyberKnife cleaned up my liver tumor locally - the tumor was the size of a small orange. Ouch!
I believe in both procedures as I am here today partly because of those surgeries and my chemo regimen did the rest - although 8 months later, It has metastasized to the pleura of my lung - I've been waiting over 10 weeks since before joining the board to get this nailed down - the hammer will fall on me next week when the onc gives me the news that I already know - Cancer has returned for the 3rd time for me...an open Thoracotomy awaits me."
I'm glad you were able to make use of the procedures out there but you mention having to have a Thoracotomy. I checked that out and it looks like its surgery though the front chest to get to the area. All 3 of my lung surgeries have been done through the side or back. Why are they going in through the front, is it because of the position of the tumor? The nodes I have left as of my last scan are between my lungs. I wonder if I elect to have surgery at some point if they will go in the same way.
Hope you're feeling OK old timer
;-)
-p
Comments
-
I'm Still Trying to Follow That Up
That's a good question, Phil. Actually, I'm looking for a follow-up visit with the chest surgeon to go over all of the details of the procedure. The first visit went very badly and the facility mailed my scans back to me instead of forwarding them to the chest surgeon for review for my appointment.
It's been back and forth for several weeks between this new onc and the surgeon - I got a letter in the mail from the surgeon at the hospital in which he recommended that the surgery be done to resect that area.
In our prior meeting with the surgeon, he had cancelled the VATS surgery and mentioned that the thoractomy was going to be the way to go. But since it went very badly that day, maybe he meant something else but said that. I read the procedure too and it was quite unnerving to me as well.
I remember you telling me about the "muscle sparing" technique that you got - so this is one of the items that I wish to speak to him about before I commit. I want a more complete understanding of the procedure, and the location etc.etc. Maybe they can and will go on the side, he just has not communicated that with me yet. I can't remember the exact location of the tumor, but I know that it is towards the back of the lung. I've had this huge lump sticking out of my ribs too, for awhile it was big like a marble, now I still feel it but it seems like it has shrunk - docs don't know yet what it is...I'm hoping that it could be cleared up with the rest.
So, next week we run another CT at the new place - they will compare this with CT I had ran in late May - the PET scan showed uptake value of 6.4 to one of the nodules - if the new CT scans shows evidence of the mass increasing, then they recommend the surgery...if it is stable, they may make me wait longer and keep eyeballing it.
But really, I wasn't born yesterday, the spot has uptake value that is significant, it has grown to 1.4 cm now and has probably grown some more, so I'm just waiting for the confirmation next week. Wednesday 12th I do the CT and on Friday 14th I'll meet again with the new onc to go over the results - if surgery is the recommended step, then I want to meet with the chest surgeon to get the specific details and see about the muscle sparing technique.
I've had alot of pain in my ribs from front to back, so I just can't imagine it being anything other than the confirmed Cancer again. The pluera is a funny place and the tumor is a unique spot, but the hopes are that a resection is possible and it at least sounds like it is operable, so I take something good from that. I'll just have to pay the cost - to be the boss
You must have looked in Expressions and saw the picture of me that I added last night. It's the only decent one I could find - I just do not take good pictures of myself.
Thanks for thinking about me and writing Phil - you fellow ol' timer
-Craig0 -
A quick question for Phil and CraigSundanceh said:I'm Still Trying to Follow That Up
That's a good question, Phil. Actually, I'm looking for a follow-up visit with the chest surgeon to go over all of the details of the procedure. The first visit went very badly and the facility mailed my scans back to me instead of forwarding them to the chest surgeon for review for my appointment.
It's been back and forth for several weeks between this new onc and the surgeon - I got a letter in the mail from the surgeon at the hospital in which he recommended that the surgery be done to resect that area.
In our prior meeting with the surgeon, he had cancelled the VATS surgery and mentioned that the thoractomy was going to be the way to go. But since it went very badly that day, maybe he meant something else but said that. I read the procedure too and it was quite unnerving to me as well.
I remember you telling me about the "muscle sparing" technique that you got - so this is one of the items that I wish to speak to him about before I commit. I want a more complete understanding of the procedure, and the location etc.etc. Maybe they can and will go on the side, he just has not communicated that with me yet. I can't remember the exact location of the tumor, but I know that it is towards the back of the lung. I've had this huge lump sticking out of my ribs too, for awhile it was big like a marble, now I still feel it but it seems like it has shrunk - docs don't know yet what it is...I'm hoping that it could be cleared up with the rest.
So, next week we run another CT at the new place - they will compare this with CT I had ran in late May - the PET scan showed uptake value of 6.4 to one of the nodules - if the new CT scans shows evidence of the mass increasing, then they recommend the surgery...if it is stable, they may make me wait longer and keep eyeballing it.
But really, I wasn't born yesterday, the spot has uptake value that is significant, it has grown to 1.4 cm now and has probably grown some more, so I'm just waiting for the confirmation next week. Wednesday 12th I do the CT and on Friday 14th I'll meet again with the new onc to go over the results - if surgery is the recommended step, then I want to meet with the chest surgeon to get the specific details and see about the muscle sparing technique.
I've had alot of pain in my ribs from front to back, so I just can't imagine it being anything other than the confirmed Cancer again. The pluera is a funny place and the tumor is a unique spot, but the hopes are that a resection is possible and it at least sounds like it is operable, so I take something good from that. I'll just have to pay the cost - to be the boss
You must have looked in Expressions and saw the picture of me that I added last night. It's the only decent one I could find - I just do not take good pictures of myself.
Thanks for thinking about me and writing Phil - you fellow ol' timer
-Craig
Although I understand that everyone is different, did you happen to see a rise in your CEA while this activity was taking place? If so, did your CEA go down with treatment? Thanks guys!0 -
CEAJONinAPPLEVALLEY said:A quick question for Phil and Craig
Although I understand that everyone is different, did you happen to see a rise in your CEA while this activity was taking place? If so, did your CEA go down with treatment? Thanks guys!
Hello Jon -
It's been several months since my CEA was last checked. I've been out in left field having left my original onc and moving over to a new facility and going through all of that process.
But they had dropped to 0.8 at its lowest and the last reading I had was 1.5 - no idea what I am right now. No blood labs have been ordered, maybe that will come.
My CEA did drop during chemo treatment - with this latest met, I'm curious myself as to what the current CEA reading would be for my current condition.
-Craig0 -
CEAJONinAPPLEVALLEY said:A quick question for Phil and Craig
Although I understand that everyone is different, did you happen to see a rise in your CEA while this activity was taking place? If so, did your CEA go down with treatment? Thanks guys!
When my CEA rises, the cancer is acting up. Normally I am around 1.8. When I've gone in for surgeries it's only between 5-6 but that is all it takes for me to know that I am in trouble. At the last checkup it was 2.2 so I'm not sure what's in store. I will find out in a few weeks. Everyone is different with regard to CEA. I've seen here where some have it in 4 digits. Go figure...
But yes, it goes down with treatment
-p0 -
Will Keep You PostedPhillieG said:CEA
When my CEA rises, the cancer is acting up. Normally I am around 1.8. When I've gone in for surgeries it's only between 5-6 but that is all it takes for me to know that I am in trouble. At the last checkup it was 2.2 so I'm not sure what's in store. I will find out in a few weeks. Everyone is different with regard to CEA. I've seen here where some have it in 4 digits. Go figure...
But yes, it goes down with treatment
-p
Phil
I'll certainly keep you in the loop as to what I find out from the surgeon - I sure hope that you don't have to join me in the OR and have anything else done in the chest area too. Please let me know what you find out as well - I'm concerned for you and hopefully the CEA is nothing to worry about - I think you've had enough for both of our lifetimes.
We'll help educate each other on this lung issue - man, us ol' timers can't catch a break can we?
The best to you
-Craig0 -
TimexesSundanceh said:Will Keep You Posted
Phil
I'll certainly keep you in the loop as to what I find out from the surgeon - I sure hope that you don't have to join me in the OR and have anything else done in the chest area too. Please let me know what you find out as well - I'm concerned for you and hopefully the CEA is nothing to worry about - I think you've had enough for both of our lifetimes.
We'll help educate each other on this lung issue - man, us ol' timers can't catch a break can we?
The best to you
-Craig
You old timers are like a timex. Take a licking and keep on ticking. I don`t know what it would take to break you. I don`t even think throwing you up against a wall or drowning you in the toilet would do it. There is no expired warranty on you guys. You have to have a battery replaced now and then but you keep your longevity and you are still reliable.
Eric } : . }0 -
I am praying for all youSundanceh said:Will Keep You Posted
Phil
I'll certainly keep you in the loop as to what I find out from the surgeon - I sure hope that you don't have to join me in the OR and have anything else done in the chest area too. Please let me know what you find out as well - I'm concerned for you and hopefully the CEA is nothing to worry about - I think you've had enough for both of our lifetimes.
We'll help educate each other on this lung issue - man, us ol' timers can't catch a break can we?
The best to you
-Craig
I am praying for all you guys!!! Great pic. Craig. God Bless, Patti0 -
Timexeseric38 said:Timexes
You old timers are like a timex. Take a licking and keep on ticking. I don`t know what it would take to break you. I don`t even think throwing you up against a wall or drowning you in the toilet would do it. There is no expired warranty on you guys. You have to have a battery replaced now and then but you keep your longevity and you are still reliable.
Eric } : . }
It's more like we take a beatin' and keep on eatin'
;-)
I think I'm running a few seconds behind now and then but I am in better shape than many people I know who are not in my (our) shoes.
Craig, good luck and in a few weeks I'll know more.
Eric, hang in the buddy, you will get through this. "Sometimes you have to go through things and not around them" a friend once told me.
-phil0 -
Thank you everybody!
Thanks guys for your posts - they were very nice, brightened my day!
Patti - thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Mike - thanks, I appreciate your response as does Phil.
Eric - another classic from you. Me and Phil are both too darn stubborn to lay down!
you'd think we'd take the hint - but not us!
Phil - thanks for your friendship. i'll know more too and we'll compare notes.
Take it EZ, Ol' Timer
-Craig0 -
question for craig re upcoming thoracotomySundanceh said:Thank you everybody!
Thanks guys for your posts - they were very nice, brightened my day!
Patti - thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Mike - thanks, I appreciate your response as does Phil.
Eric - another classic from you. Me and Phil are both too darn stubborn to lay down!
you'd think we'd take the hint - but not us!
Phil - thanks for your friendship. i'll know more too and we'll compare notes.
Take it EZ, Ol' Timer
-Craig
And they thought swine flu was a pandemic...now there is a run on lung mets?????.....geeze you guys may be having chest cutting, well SO AM I!!! What a price to be one of a group. I wonder if we could get bunk beds, a group discount and have restaurant food delivered in the hospital?
I have two "lit up" lung nodes, had an ultrasound biopsy last Friday which said, "yep" they are rc mets so saw my chest cutter yesterday and will be having them and all lymph nodes removed from my right lung in two weeks.Surgeon needed to go on his vacation before then. The spots are in the precarinal and hilar areas so the incision will go thru the back scar of the one they took out a year ago.
Seems I have surgery every summer *( this is summer #3) rather than a vacation in the Bahamas, ha ha, don't I wish.
Lets stay in touch; survivors unite.
Serrana0 -
Hi Serranaserrana said:question for craig re upcoming thoracotomy
And they thought swine flu was a pandemic...now there is a run on lung mets?????.....geeze you guys may be having chest cutting, well SO AM I!!! What a price to be one of a group. I wonder if we could get bunk beds, a group discount and have restaurant food delivered in the hospital?
I have two "lit up" lung nodes, had an ultrasound biopsy last Friday which said, "yep" they are rc mets so saw my chest cutter yesterday and will be having them and all lymph nodes removed from my right lung in two weeks.Surgeon needed to go on his vacation before then. The spots are in the precarinal and hilar areas so the incision will go thru the back scar of the one they took out a year ago.
Seems I have surgery every summer *( this is summer #3) rather than a vacation in the Bahamas, ha ha, don't I wish.
Lets stay in touch; survivors unite.
Serrana
It's very nice to
Hi Serrana
It's very nice to meet you. A pandemic - you may be right, this is ridiculous! Hey, maybe we can get our very own wing in the hospital - the CSN ward
It's a heavey price to pay alright, but if I have to pay it, I'm glad I got all of you guys with me now! With the prices we have already paid, our rooms and food should be FREE!
Hey Serrana, stay with me on this - I want to know when your surgery is, I don't want it to slip by me.
You've had to pay a heavy price, but I'm so glad that you are here! Wow, all of this is unbelievable...
We're united alright as we Stand Up To Cancer!
I'll be thinking about you, thanks so much for posting and it was a real pleasure talking to you tonight.
-Craig0 -
lung surgeries
Wow- so many of you having lung surgeries coming up! I have the lit up nodules in my lungs too, but too many of them in both lungs to consider surgery. You'd think having them be small would be a good thing, but not when they're too small for any type of RFA, cyberknife, stereotactic radiation, etc. Bummer- I've just got to count on the Folfiri to do the trick!
Also- nice to see everyone's new pictures! Serrana, you've got to post one of yourself now, too!
Have a good evening,
Lisa0 -
Craig- thinking of youSundanceh said:I'm Still Trying to Follow That Up
That's a good question, Phil. Actually, I'm looking for a follow-up visit with the chest surgeon to go over all of the details of the procedure. The first visit went very badly and the facility mailed my scans back to me instead of forwarding them to the chest surgeon for review for my appointment.
It's been back and forth for several weeks between this new onc and the surgeon - I got a letter in the mail from the surgeon at the hospital in which he recommended that the surgery be done to resect that area.
In our prior meeting with the surgeon, he had cancelled the VATS surgery and mentioned that the thoractomy was going to be the way to go. But since it went very badly that day, maybe he meant something else but said that. I read the procedure too and it was quite unnerving to me as well.
I remember you telling me about the "muscle sparing" technique that you got - so this is one of the items that I wish to speak to him about before I commit. I want a more complete understanding of the procedure, and the location etc.etc. Maybe they can and will go on the side, he just has not communicated that with me yet. I can't remember the exact location of the tumor, but I know that it is towards the back of the lung. I've had this huge lump sticking out of my ribs too, for awhile it was big like a marble, now I still feel it but it seems like it has shrunk - docs don't know yet what it is...I'm hoping that it could be cleared up with the rest.
So, next week we run another CT at the new place - they will compare this with CT I had ran in late May - the PET scan showed uptake value of 6.4 to one of the nodules - if the new CT scans shows evidence of the mass increasing, then they recommend the surgery...if it is stable, they may make me wait longer and keep eyeballing it.
But really, I wasn't born yesterday, the spot has uptake value that is significant, it has grown to 1.4 cm now and has probably grown some more, so I'm just waiting for the confirmation next week. Wednesday 12th I do the CT and on Friday 14th I'll meet again with the new onc to go over the results - if surgery is the recommended step, then I want to meet with the chest surgeon to get the specific details and see about the muscle sparing technique.
I've had alot of pain in my ribs from front to back, so I just can't imagine it being anything other than the confirmed Cancer again. The pluera is a funny place and the tumor is a unique spot, but the hopes are that a resection is possible and it at least sounds like it is operable, so I take something good from that. I'll just have to pay the cost - to be the boss
You must have looked in Expressions and saw the picture of me that I added last night. It's the only decent one I could find - I just do not take good pictures of myself.
Thanks for thinking about me and writing Phil - you fellow ol' timer
-Craig
Hi Craig,
I don't have much of anything to offer about lung surgery, but just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you and will pray that everything will go well, and that it will be clear what needs to be done- also that you will be able to hook up with the best lung surgeon in your area.
Take care-
Lisa0 -
Lung OperationMike49 said:I follow the oldtimers with admiration
Phil and Craig, Best of luck with the surgeons, the hardest part is the waiting sometimes. One thing I know is no matter what needs to be done you two are more than up to it. Thinking of you guys.
Mike
Mike, as of now I have nothing planned as far as surgeries go. This is the first time in 5 years that I've gone longer than 1 year w/o surgery. My last 3 spring/summers were spent having lung operations. It is certainly a treat!
To all of you who are getting ready to have any surgery, may they go smoothly and be non events.
-phil0 -
Best of Luck
I'm hoping that what you are experiencing is something minor and not cancer again. I pray that all goes well for you. Keep that great attitude - it looks mighty good on you
Kim0 -
lung surgery clublisa42 said:Serrana- your surgery date?
Hi Serrana,
I'm going to send you a PM. Since we live so close, I'd like to be able to come visit you when you have the surgery. Talk to you soon-
Lisa
Hi Lisa
Yes visiting me in the hospital is a great idea!
The photo issue is a bit tricky since i don't know how to post a pic on this site; I am computer challenged to say the least. If I send you a pic of me by email can you do it?
Thanks to all who have been thru this and share.....I see this surgery( my fourth, as an inconvenience, not a big deal. I rarely have surgical pain and take so many tapes, CDs, DVDs etc with me I am a walking electronic superstore. The big date is August 26.
Peace and Blessings to all
Serrana0 -
TimexesPhillieG said:Timexes
It's more like we take a beatin' and keep on eatin'
;-)
I think I'm running a few seconds behind now and then but I am in better shape than many people I know who are not in my (our) shoes.
Craig, good luck and in a few weeks I'll know more.
Eric, hang in the buddy, you will get through this. "Sometimes you have to go through things and not around them" a friend once told me.
-phil
Phil you are so great. You always make me laugh! Good luck guy! You have helped us soooo much.
Craig good luck to you also. You guys have so much knowledge for us that are new at this s***! You give us great hope and lots of info. Love Paula0
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