Peaches22

Boy, do I agree with your pinboard post! It gets so tiring to be strong for everyone when you're falling apart inside!

Hi, Peaches22, I read your comments on depression. I've been living with carcinoid cancer with metastises to liver for over 10 years. I've gone through several severe sessions of depression. The one thing that has helped me the most is an incredible psychiatric therapist. She has been literally a lifesaver more than once. I encourage you, if your insurance will help pay, to think about taking steps to find one you can really talk to. I still see her occasionally, even though she's thinking about retiring. It just helps so much. God bless you. Hang in there!

Hi Peaches22. I never stopped working. I was teaching part time so I was able to work my treatments around my teaching schedule and training appointments. I found working very therapeutic, otherwise, I'd be bored at home and would have probably worried a lot more than I did. I wasn't going to let cancer affect my life or the lives of my loved ones any more that absolutely necessary.

I have changed careers, however, and am now having a very difficult time in my new career (which was my original career out of college - teaching allowed me the flexibility to stay home with my children, but I am a software engineer) as I have chemo brain and learning very technical material has proven to be very challenging and very, very frustrating. But I had been out of the field for 20+ years.

It is a new way of life. Sometimes I feel so angry and frustrated that I'll never be able to do the things I used to love doing (because of the platinum poisoning - ototoxicity), but after crying and having occasional melt-downs, I realize I'm fortunate to be alive. I didn't think I'd see my boys graduate high school. Now they're both in college and I look forward to my older son's college graduation next year. I'll be turning 50 next year, and I will be one proud 50-year old. It was a trade-off and I just have to learn to accept the "new" me. I am a better person, wife, mother and friend (not that I wasn't a good person before) and for that I am grateful...not that I would wish this upon my worst enemy.

I went through a lot of physical therapy and my PT was impressed because she didn't think someone with such severe bi-lateral damage would recover as well as I did. I never lost my hearing, but had a lot of severe vestibular issues. I still have a lot of problems, but I'm functioning within a normal range. It's the new normal.

I still wonder why I had to go through all of this. They say there is a reason for everything. I either think it's because my younger son needed to mature (he was only focused on basketball at the time, now he is a pre-med student) or perhaps I was meant to inspire others. I truly, truly enjoy being a mentor/coach and writing here on WhatNext. I see it as my turn to give forward. I'm glad I'm able to help you. Keep focused, optimistic and strong!

meyati

Join ASCO for a start. . Just do a Google search- It's the official association of all oncologists. Another source is KevMD.com where all types of doctors write and produce medical data. Both are online and free to join.

ASCO is tyring to increase federal funding for lung cancer. I read an article about funding and lung cancer. Do you realize that more women die from lung cancer every year than breast cancer-that there are more new diagnosis of lung cancer than for breast cancer. And this oncologist treated breast cancer.

Sign petitions about getting proper funding for other cancers. I have a rare form of incurable skin cancer-that if it comes back-it'll eat through my brain- I've had nurses and patients tell me that I was wasting resources and medicare and insurance money that could be used on a real cancer like 'breast cancer'. I tried going to a support group that was negative to me because of BC survivors or whatever. Here I was face red from radiation, part of my nose and mouth gone. and these twits were telling me that I needed for my cancer hat to be pink to remind people of breast cancer, that it should be bought from Susan Komen, and have pink ribbons and sequins. Look at all of the gear made to cover up and hide the scars of breast cancer., and they wanted me to draw more attention to my face. I sat there and thought of how badly lung cancer patients must be treated. I made a comment to Greg, and he said most of the members are BC patients- and the majority rules.

I actually read a German paper (translated to English of course) on Depression in cancer patients on Dr.Kev. They went through the stats, had comments from oncology mental health counselors. At the end, they commented that all the above was inaccurate, because of breast cancer patients. So many survive-do well, but they use the research, clinic resources, and mental health resources, and there is very little left to help other cancer patients. Then the researchers worked with American oncologists and mental health oncologists, and they found the rates similar. 48% of BC patients are clinically depressed and many haven't had a re occurrence. 41% of lung cancer patients are clinically depressed-and many are dying.

The AMA, American Association of pediatrics, ASCO, NIH all have been trying to get money for lung cancer, colon cancer-and one other-but I forget. honestly- people call up for donations for BC-legitimate organizations- and I cuss them out for not helping women with lung cancer.

I went to a meeting 2 weeks ago. There was a woman that was whining that her insurance wouldn't do plastic surgery on her face. She had a stage 1 squamous cancer removed from the very tip of her nose. Nobody noticed it until she pointed it out. I guess that mentality is applied to breast cancer. Yes, a person should be treated. Yes a person should look as normal as possible. The person sitting next to the ruined nose said, "But I don't see anything wrong with your nose. It's not even as big as a birth mark." and the woman screamed that she was disfigured for life.

Thank you for your replies!

I had surgery to remove tumor in upper right lung path at time of surgery came back negative in lower right lung , then 10 days later came back cancer, i've had radiotherapy in lower right . After 3 months did another pet & found it was 2 different cancers ???
If it were the same I would be stage 3 ??? I've never heard of this and am scared & confused ?!?!!!! With a chest tumor which cannot mod anything about since it's by aorta ??? How are you dealing with your diagnosis ? I'm having a very hard time .

Now that you're off chemo, are you taking anything? On maintenance?

Thanks Peaches.....check my original songs below and my rants on my facebook page.

https://www.youtube.com/user/barrydbutler/videos

Good Luck!
Barry

Hi Peaches. I wondered what drugs were used for your chemo. My husband will have 4 rounds of adjuvant therapy in a few weeks. I have heard horror stories of chemo and then some good ones. He was staged at IIIA because the tumor size was 4. Otherwise they believe the cancer was all contained in the right upper lobe of his lung. They removed it and now we do the chemo. Vickie

Thanks for your kind words, Peaches22! Welcome to WhatNext. This is my time to give back. I wouldn't have made it through without the support network I had. I truly enjoy coaching/mentoring and providing inspiration and encouragement to those going through cancer. Please let us know how we can help you.

Hello and welcome, we are glad you found us. Please feel free to join in the conversations. Here is a link to our cancer dx page for your type of cancer. Take a look at it to get you started on some information. You will notice at the bottom of that page 4 of our active users who have had that journey already, you may wish to contact them for their experience and wisdom. Also, I encourage you to go to the questions page now by clicking on the questions tab at the top of the page and post what is the most pressing issue you have right now. This will introduce you to the community and get you started on the help you need right now.

https://www.whatnext.com/conditions/cancer/lung-cancer

There are also subtypes listed on this page to narrow down the type of cancer to match your dx.

Also, if you can take a few minutes and fill in some details of your journey so far, it will help others as they try to answer questions for you, it also helps others as they search through the data base to find someone like themselves. Confirming your email will allow you to receive updates and notices from the site when someone answers your questions or writes on your wall.

Thanks for being with us and let me know if I can help you find any information on the site. After you have an opportunity to look the site over and see what great things there are here, we encourage you to invite your friends, family or anyone you know that may be helped by the connections on WhatNext to join the site also. Just click this link to invite them to join. http://www.whatnext.com/recruit-a-friend

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GregP 3X Survivor
Team WhatNext Community Mgr

Welcome to the WhatNext family! The WhatNext family is made up of people like you who are looking for help or looking to help others. To help you along your journey the WhatNext family has put together a Beginner's Guide to Cancer that I highly recommend you check-out here: http://bit.ly/10BQKCi. Also, please do not hesitate to reach out to others or ask for help.

Wishing you the best.

David
Founder, WhatNexter