The Penn Proton Center only treats lung, prostate, and spinal cord tumors. I think it was an insurance issue, insurance companies are selective on what tumors they will cover, as proton treatment is more expensive than standard radiation. There is some controversy on whether patients have better ou...

BrownBagger wrote:Yes, good luck Jim. I sure hope it turns out to be nothing. JulieJ had something like that. They determined that it was benign after removing it. So, CT scans aren't all that revealing.

Thanks Eric - benign would be nice

H is for Hawk wrote:My nearest proton therapy center, Univerisity of Pennsylvania, (Penn Medicine) refused to treat my metastatic liver tumors.

Curious - what was the rationale?

Dear Jim: When my recurrence was confirmed in March 2015 after nearly 4 years NED, my oncologist cried. I was terrified--why would he do that in front of me? It had spread to the liver, peritoneum and pelvis. I figured it was time to plan my funeral. But I went for consults and meanwhile started ch...

I think that any onc who says that needs to be your former doctor. While the 100+ year old science of immunotherapy is in its infancy right now, more breakthroughs are coming each year. Palliative chemotherapy will not cure most stage IV patients, but there is hope in immunotherapy. I admit I was a...

Chiming in late, but just want to add my voice to the others--you DO have options, as others have pointed out. There are more clinical trials for mCRC now than ever before, if you want to go that route. Check out DK37's scientific posts thread. The trial I did (which has rendered me NED) is in my s...

Jim, I also go to MSK and Dr. K was very aggressive with my lung mets. I'm sure her response would be to put you on chemo immediately. My local onc was very pessimistic about my case, but once I switched to Dr. K, I felt I had someone in my corner. Dr. Weiser is my colorectal surgeon so I can highl...

Ams, I am sorry you have more to deal with , I hope you have a plan worked out soon. Jim, my initial thought is that you probably can't go wrong with anyone at MSK. I didn't realize you were being treated there when I wrote my first post. I know that they'll do right by you. I don't think it will h...

I think it is a realistic and common strategy to "wait and see" with lung mets. When my lung mets were first discovered way back when, my local oncologist's plan was to wait and see, have a few scans and see what happens. I got a little antsy with that approach and ran off to NYC to meet ...

I am a little concerned at the Onc response - essentially telling me that no treatment at this point is intended to cure and what's the rush to get more chemo - and if I had been willing to wait three months for another CT scan instead of doing a prompt biopsy, I think she'd have let me. My oncolog...

I know the feeling. When my first lung node was diagnosed, I figured I was not long for this world. That was about 6 years ago. I've since regained some hope that if I hold out long enough, there will be new treatments and procedures that will allow us to kick the can down the road while they figur...

I think everyone has given you some good advice here. I would most definitely consider a second opinion at a major cancer center. I've had a couple of go-rounds with lung mets. I had a scan last week and it looks like I may be dealing with them for a third (fourth?) time. :cry: The first time a cou...

Cavitating in medicine implies: Formation of a cavity, as in the lung in tuberculosis or with development of a bacterial lung abscess. This could be a fungus and the enlarged lymph node would be your body fighting the infection/ fungus. I'd get to a lung specialist right away. I also saw pneumonia ...

Hi, Its a blow for sure but there are so many options . I think most people with a possible spread get the pessimistic speech as they don't know for sure how your disease will behave. With time we have learned to accept the speech as part of their medical care but not to let it define your own outc...

I'm in the same boat as you. I had my sigmoid removed in 11/14 did 11 rounds of Folfox and on my first recheck scan I showed two .8 mm nodules one bottom right, one bottom left. My onc hasn't that encouraging either. I had a 2nd opinion at the James at OSU where they agreed with my onc and wanted m...