My Disease Is Progressing

[Andi]

I went for my quarterly check up the week before Christmas, and had some concerns with a cough that would not go away. I had followup tests on Dec 21 which included blood, chest xray, and ultra sound of the lymph nodes in my neck. The nodes were ok, my tumor markers were normal and my liver and kidney function appear to be ok, but I had a considerable amount of fluid on my lower left lung, so..I had surgery on the 22nd to put a chest tube in. They found a couple of very small spots in the pleural cavity that were cancer. The path report shows I am now er,pr- and her++, rather than her+++. My onc has been out of town for vacation, so I will be seeing him Thursday after taking more scans. I ended up being in the hospital from the 22nd until yesterday, so my Christmas certainly wasn't as planned. The good news is, my daughter was home and my son lives here, so my family was able to be there with me. I'm hoping the New Year will have some good things in store for me. If anyone has any suggestions as to treatments, etc. I am all ears. Happy New Years to all of you!

[Adriana Mangus]

Dear Andi: Me too have mets to rt lung. I was on navelbine and herceptin, now due to progression of disease will start xeloda in about 10 days! Do not worry navelbine is a very effective chemo for mets to lungs. Stay positive.

[TriciaK]

I'm so sorry, Andi, to hear of your unexpected Christmas in the hospital! I guess the fluid in your lungs may have been a blessing in disguise, though, because it did lead to the discovery of small lung mets before they became larger. My lung mets were discovered because I had a heart attack 2 and 1/2 years ago, and I consider that a blessing because I never would have found them otherwise until too late. Thanks to navelbine, herceptin and femara the lung mets shrunk and I am now NED. I sincerely pray finding yours early on will lead to quick control. I hope you can hang in there and enjoy having your family around, and think positively about this whole experience. May 2007 be a really good year for you! Hugs, Tricia

[Sherryg683]

I had Taxotere, Xeloda and Herceptin and it cleared up my 2 small lung mets, I have been NED for 9 months, I am on Herceptin indefinately..sherryg683

[Andi]

Thanks each of you for your kind words. It is comforting to know that there are things out there that can work. Tricia - my surgeon said the same thing you did, that the fluid was a blessing as the spots were so small they wouldn't have shown up anywhere yet. I feel getting a pathology of them is also good, so we know exactly what we are dealing with at this point. This site is such a positive place, everyone here is so great, we are so lucky to have Joe & Christine!

[mamacze]

Dear Andi,
I don't care how we slice it or dice it; it is always devastating to find that we have a recurrance, I am so sorry to hear about your lung mets. And to find this all out over the holidays...ugh...what a way to put a damper on your plans!
Hang on to your oncologists words; it doesn''t hurt to get a second treatment opinion; they are used to it and it can give you peace of mind. I too had navelbine in may of 2004 for extensive mets to the lungs and I continue to be NED today; but I understand they have even better therapies now for lung mets, so make sure you do your research. Please stay with us Andi and let us know what you end up going on.
Love Kim from CT