mets to lung
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Hello everyone, Hope you are all doing well!
Had my first CT check from this new treatment and the report (haven’t talked to MO & don’t see her for another few weeks) that lists one of the tumors that’s 1cm unchanged in size showing ‘new central lucency suggestive of an airway’. I’ve tried to look up whether that’s good news or bad. Some of the other masses & nodes are unchanged, have 3 new nodes, and a few that have grown. Another comment wasn’t that one node appears ‘fuller’ what does that mean? If you have any infor or experience with this to help ease my curisome (curious/worrisome) brain I’d really appreciate it. Good or bad. Even if I see my MO this week it feels like you can never know soon enough. It’s makes me nervous that’s she’s released these scans from today and not my brain MRI from last week. Too much on the plate and need something! Good news is no other mets were seen in visceral organs so yay 😁0 -
Well, I can't say for sure but the definition is as follows:
A lucency on an X-ray image represents an area absorbing less radioactive energy than the surrounding tissue. Lucent areas appear dark compared to the surrounding area. An opacity indicates an area absorbing more radioactive energy than the surrounding tissue and will appear as lighter spots.
Given this, I would read it as good news... i.e. less radioactive uptake = less active cancer. But others might have more information.
I know the waiting is torture. Hang in there!
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I’m as doctors often put it, cautiously optimistic, about this. Thanks Sadie
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Hi ParryND1- I’m new to the stage IV boards do I can’t help but I hope you get news. Being cautiously optimistic what I am trying to do too.
Jaylea I’m sorry you are having such awful GI dice effects. I hope you can find relief soon
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Parrnd1 - maybe pm djmammo on this site, who is a medical person who helps people interperet imaging reports....?
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Parrnd1 - maybe pm djmammo on this site, who is a medical person who helps people interperet imaging reports....?
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Parrynd1, it sounds like overall positive news to me. But to relieve your curisome mind, can you email your MO? At my facility there's an on-call MO that calls with results if you ask. Is that an option for you? Sending positive energy for good news all around.
Novagirl, thanks for the good wishes. Brain MRI came back negative, so I'll take that. Had a long talk with a dietician and I'm reorienting my diet around calorie shakes with some bites of tolerable foods added for good measure. It makes life easier and I'm feeling better with more energy.
Sending hugs to all.
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Through every treatment, my lungs seem to be the only place that progresses (have eye, brain, bone mets too). Had cyberknife a few years ago on an area of my lungs but my MO says the newer tumors are too close to my heart to zap. Has anyone here had proton therapy to treat lung mets? I'm thinking that, with proton therapy, I could spare my heart while radiating my lung (right side only). The medicinal treatments don't seem to be able to clear up my lungs and I hear that lung resection is horribly painful. Also, the tumors in my lungs are multiple and small. The largest one is 1cm.
Would love to hear what has worked or not worked for my lung mets sisters.
Hugs, Susan
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Susan, I've not heard of proton therapy so don't have anything to offer, but keep us posted if you decide to go that route. I hope they find something to knock the buggers back. I recently showed progression in lungs, liver, and bone and am on a short course of taxol/gemzar. I scan next month, will let you know how it goes.
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Thanks Jaylea! Hoping your taxol/gemzar treatment works and is tolerable.
My MO wasn't enthusiastic about proton therapy but she asked the Rad Onc to comment. There isn't a proton machine here in the Bay Area. I think the closest one is in LA at MD Anderson.
Hugs, Susan
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Hi Susan, I had 5 weeks of proton therapy to neck, axillary and mediastinal lymph nodes in November of 2017 in San Diego. The proton therapy center was associated with Scripps at the time and is now called California Protons Cancer Therapy Center. All my lymph nodes except one stubborn axillary node have remained inactive. I had an excellent experience. The radiation oncologist who treated me has relocated. I know santabarbarian (not stage IV) recently had proton therapy for left-side breast cancer in New Jersey. Many proton centers don't want to treat Stage IV patients. The Loma Linda Proton Center would not treat me. Insurance companies are reluctant to pay for proton radiation. In the end, my proton therapy was covered after the proton center lawyers went back and forth with my insurance. At the time, my husband was consulting and had the best-available Covered California plan. A company-based insurance policy should be better.
Hugs! Theresa
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Thanks Theresa! Glad your treatments worked!
Found this article, which gives me pause: https://californiahealthline.org/news/boom-in-proton-therapy-is-a-bust-for-some-blame-a-shortage-of-patients/
My MO said she has a BC patient who had proton therapy and her entire chest wall slid off.
Hugs, Susan
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Susan, was thinking of you and wanted to check in to see if you moved forward with the proton therapy or went a different route.
Today is my last Gemzar treatment, and Monday I scan. Best case is that the taxol/gemzar protocol knocked back the progression and gives me space to go back on an oral treatment. I have noticed some improvement with my GI issues, so I'm heading into scans with a positive attitude.
Sending hugs to all ~
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Jaylea,
Thanks for checking in on me. I found some really scary things about proton therapy. First of all, the centers they built were so expensive that most of them went bankrupt. Studies showed that proton therapy wasn't any better than target radiation therapy and the proton therapy was much more expensive. A friend of mine had proton therapy on her chest and her chest literally melted down the front of her body. A chain has been buying them up but most of the experts left when they were bought out. She had hers recently and the doctor who did it didn't know what he was doing.
Scripps in San Diego had a proton therapy unit and they sold it to a chain called California Protons Cancer Therapy Center.
How were your scans?
Hugs, Susan
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My scan results were mixed. After 3 cycles of dose-dense taxol and gemzar, my liver and lung mets were markedly improved. But bone mets progressed. My esophageal met, which never showed on scans, still didn't show, but I am taking more foods orally so I think it responded as well. My next tx will be Halaven, which I start in a couple of weeks. Since I am still GI compromised, that eliminates oral chemo therapies like Xeloda. But she says Halaven should be easier tolerated than taxol. The Halaven thread backs that up - most say it's a doable tx.
I hope the Alpelisib trial is still going well for you.
Sending hugs to all ~ JL
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Hello Ladies. Joining you with recently found recurrent and metastatic cancer. Multiple chest lymph nodes and a "cluster of small opacities" in my left lung. Starting Ibrance soon, with debate over a second drug. I just want the coughing to stop.
All the best
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moving soccer mom, I’m so sorry you are here. I was diagnosed 6 months ago. I have lung Mets too. I was coughing so hard over an extended period of time I fractured my spine. My cough was terrible and improved greatly after my first cycle of Ibrance. I think by the end of cycle two I was no longer coughing. The relief will come!
Ibrance shrank all of my lung Mets and my bone Mets are stable, I hope you can get in a better place and have symptom relief. Hugs
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movingsoccermom, I think you'll get pretty immediate relief from the coughing once you start treatment. I went months with a cough while we tried to figure out what it was (allergies, asthma, the usual). Once I got the diagnosis, I started on letrozole, and literally felt better the next couple of days. I started Ibrance about three weeks later and had good success with the combination for about 18 months. If you haven't already, check out the Ibrance thread. There are women there who have been on Ibrance for years. As with any med, it takes a little time to adjust, but once you do it's quite an easy protocol. Sending massive hugs your way. ~JL
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Thank you very much Novagirl and Jaylea. Huge to see relief on the horizon. I have been lurking on the Ibrance thread and am hoping it works a long time!
All the best!
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Hello Ladies. Started Ibrance and Faslodex today. Not my favorite shots I can say.
All the best
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Movingsoccermom, here's to immediate relief from your cough and a good, long run on Ibrance.
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Bum
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Bum
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Bumping this thread for others who might need it.
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Any particular reason Grannax? It’s never been that active as we all tend to migrate to the treatment related threads I think and also, most of us have mets elsewhere. But I monitor this one just in case someone has a question. When I was diagnosed there were a couple of wonderful ladies (sadly both gone) who provided much support.
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I am fairly new to these boards and currently have mets only to the lungs. My doctor has stated that the breast tumor is not the problem, rather the cancer in a major organ will be my demise. I have responded very well to my first line of chemo. The lung tumor appears to be dead, but no one is using the term NED yet. I will be getting some SBRT treatments later this month to see if it can be killed twice. I would like to learn more about lung mets and compare treatment protocols with others. I have not found another board that speaks directly to lung mets.
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Welcome JCSLibrarian. My treatments are listed in my profile, with the exception of a 2016 2 week trial on Arimidex (I would not take another AI to save my life-literally). I have lung nodules that are assumed lung mets and many chest lymph nodes with metastases; the lymph nodes were confirmed by EBUS. I started Ibrance and Faslodex about a month ago and my constant, irritating cough has completely resolved (much to my relief). I will not have another PET scan until late August, so cannot provide any other evidence that the medications are working on the cancer. I can say that annoying side effects abound, light headedness, fatigue, and headaches (including ocular migraines). However all of these are annoying more than difficult, and I am slowly learning management, such as carrying salted peanuts everywhere, and using caution with exertion in the heat. My consulting oncologist felt that this diagnosis is close to being a chronic disease rather than deadly, due to the many new treatment options. However, many members here have passed, so those treatments did not work for them. I am choosing to be cautiously optimistic, but I am also moving some house projects forward so that I have a chance to enjoy them if things turn bad. I hope you attain NED and stay there for a long time!
All the best
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Sadie. There was someone who started a new thread "anyone living with lung mets" because they could not find this one. So I told her I would try to find this one that I used to post on occasionally. That's why I bumped it.
I do have lots of lung mets, pleural effusion and several lymph nodes near my esophagus that are involved. I've had them 2 1/2 years. That's how I finally was DX w MBC in lung chest and liver. A cough that would not go away got me to the doc.
Now I've had several types of TX and they don't give me much trouble. After IL and AA failed I got with a new MO and just finished cycle 4 of Xeloda. I will find out if it's working on July 15..Right now the only SE from lung mets is SOB waking up hills or stairs. Even that has gotten better since I've been on X.💞
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JCSLibrarian, I'm sorry you have joined us but hope you can find answers to questions, support, and hope on these boards. You've posed an interesting question about lung met treatments. I'm not sure if lung-only is treated differently from other mets. But I'm no expert and hopefully others will chime in. Sadie is right, this can be a sleepy thread but usually folks jump in when someone has a question.
I'm so glad to hear the Abraxane is working. And I love the idea of killing the cancer twice. Heck, let's go for a hat trick! Sending positive vibes from one coast to another. Hugs, JL
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Thanks for the information, Movingsoccermom. I convinced my MO that I wanted to be treated with curative intent. Next week I will have a lumpectomy to remove the scar tissue and dead cells from the breast tumor. Once recovered, I will have Stereotactic Body Radiation to the lung tumor. It also no longer lights up on the PET scan.The plan is to reduce the tumor burden through surgery and radiation while continuing with chemo. So far I have not qualified for immunotherapy, but will retest in the future. I am fine with the idea of maintenance, but would love to find something that is not systemic chemo.
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