After finishing a post, I usually try to put labels on them, so that it'll make it easier to find posts on particular topics. I put "lung mets" on my post from last night, but after doing a bit of web surfing and thinking about having low tumor marker numbers and the possibility that these spots are an infection or inflammation of some kind, I decided that since we don't know for sure they are lung mets, it'll be better to call them "spots". Takes away their power. Reprograms the mind.
Good night again!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
P.S. I changed my "label" from "lung mets" to "lung spots"
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5 comments:
"Reprogramming the mind". I'll have to remember that phrase. LOL. I'm with you on that, Dee. Attitude, attitude, attitude. Big difference.
Keeping my fingers crossed that its something minor and not the Big C.
I'll keep my fingers crossed Dee. You know I thought about that because they were so small. I've had lung nodules that were sub cm which my doctor was sure were benign and then they got smaller until they disappeared. I didn't have any active disease when they showed up and they weren't very bright on PET but I'll keep everything crossed that you will have a situation like that. Benign lung nodules are actually very common.
Hi Liz,
Glad you liked that phrase - not sure where it came from, but reprogramming fits. I learned how to take on a different attitude from you, you know. You're a good teacher. I'm hoping that it's something minor.
And, Carver, based on what you wrote, I guess I'm thinking that it is minor. A combination of having a bit of a cough and chest congestion tonight with the low tumor markers makes me think it's an infection or inflammation. So, we'll see . . .
Thank you both for your support. I really appreciate it!
Hi Dee,
I wanted to respond to you after your comments to me.
I don't have a blog. I just have been reading other people's blogs. I think I have learned a lot and I take a lot of strength from the strength of others.
I have Inflammatory Breast Cancer and have had chemo with Herceptin, taxotere and carboplatin followed by a double mastectomy and then radiation. The cancer is Her2pos so I use Herceptin every three weeks and Tykerb intermittently. I had a complete response from chemo and Herceptin. There is something about your story that really resonates with me and I know what you are going through. I think you will find a rapid decrease in the lung spots with targeted therapy. I can't remember the measurement of the spot that showed up in my lung. At first the doctors did not pay much attention to it and assumed that it was just scarring. On a subsequent PET scan, the size had reduced. This lead to the acknowledgement that this could be lung mets because it would be unusual for scarring to reduce in size. (It can be sampling error--the samples are taken from different levels of the spot and will have different dimensions.) Then on a subsequent CT scan, there was no spot at all. This is why I think you should have total belief in the spots going "poof"...
The ointment that my dermotologist prescribed is called "Duac". It made a tremendous difference.
I wish you much confidence in knowing that the next scan will be clean.
Joanna Moore
Hi Joanna,
Thanks for letting me know you don't have a blog and for telling me your story.
I was on Tykerb for about 11 months prior to surgery and Xeloda for about 10 months (although I'd really been decreasing my dose on that). And, when I restarted Tykerb, I had the acne and the sleep started to deteriorate. It had been gradually getting better. So, I thought that I could try to go off of it and see what happened. I'd been thinking that I didn't have any more active cancer because my markers were relatively low, so the news about the lungs surprised me. In the end, we don't really know.
How often did you have the CT scans?
IBC is scary. My lobular cancer started acting like IBC - it got into the lymph channels in the skin and then erupted through the skin. Radiation took care of it.
At any rate, I'm glad you've had a complete response with the chemo and targeted therapy. It's really nice to hear good news stories!
Take care!
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