From alt.support.cancer:
In May of 2006 I had surgery to treat an enlarged prostate. The doctor told me to be alert to pain, especially in the limbs, as this can be a sign of a blood clot. A few days after leaving the hospital I started to experience sharp pain in the right chest -- behind the breast it seemed. When the pain persisted for a day or so I called. The Dr said to go to the ER for X-ray and CT. The X-ray was clear.
The CT showed a "nodule" in the right lung. During surgery in June this was found to be adenocarcinoma with pleural effusion. They removed the upper, right lobe. After recovering for a few months I entered a 4-month program of chemo (Cisplatin and Taxol). Upon completion my oncologist said I should consider myself cancer free.
Every few months I went in for a follow-up CT. Everything was fine until a few months ago when I began to have trouble breathing -- short of breath, coughing, etc. CT and PET showed malignant pleural effusion. The cancer is now stage IV, multiple small tumors on the chest wall plus it's spread to the lymph nodes.
The doctors said this type of cancer is "a monster," killing most within a few months. I opted for talc pleuradesis, where the fluid is extracted from the chest and talc is used to "bind" the pleura together so I can breath better. Standard chemo after the surgery was projected to give me 4-6 months at most.
After researching online I asked if there are any experimental programs that might offer more hope. It turns out there's a random study being done which (now that I asked) they told me about. The lab reads the DNA of the tumor from the biopsy and the chemo is customized to match the cancer cells. Prognosis -- about 18 months life expectancy. I said, "Sign me up." The treatment is every two weeks for 6 months.
Last week (Sep 4) I took my first chemo. It was far worse than the first round. I had a reaction to the chemo. It looked like a heart attack with chest pain and intense pressure, pain radiating to the left arm, dizziness, nausea. Agk!!! I thought I was dying!
They stopped the chemo, gave my a bag of Benadryl and after 1/2 hour continued the dose. Day two I came in for Neulasta. That was easy.
Two days later. Intense bone pain everywhere. Nausea. Diarrhea. Dear Lord, this is awful!!!
Today is day 8 and the pain is mostly gone. The nausea is minor. The diarrhea is finally under control. Goodness, how can I do this for six whole months?
Regards, Robert
Header: news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:12:15 -0500 From: "Robert L Bass" Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer Subject: From the beginning... Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:09:48 -0400 Organization: Bass Home Electronics