Chemo after single lung met?

[Hapa]

Dh is having vats tomorrow. We met with oncologist & he said 6 months 5fu staring about 4-6 weeks after surgery. For those of you who had a single lung met, did you do chemo after surgery?

Guess I need to change dh signature. No longer stage 3.

Thanks

[KWT]

If he can do xeloda and handle it well,it would be like a walk in the park.

Good insurance.

[kiwiinoz]

Hi Hapa
You know that there is never any clear answer on these things. There is no proven benefit in any of the studies I have read that having chemo provides any greater benefit than not having chemo. Saying that, whilst I was in a different stage than your DH as I was diagnosed from outset with a single lung met, I had 12 rounds of FOLFOX. Even if there is no proven benefit there "may be" some benefit for individuals so if I was in your DH's situation I would certainly be having some sort of chemo as some insurance.
You all on top with the VATS recovery? First week is a bit tough usually due to pain in muscles that have been cut and it is hard to lie down. I slept inclined for a week, but after that it is a lot easier than LAR
Kiwi

[Hapa]

Kenny- xeloda was discussed. DH is in a bad position. Has been dealing with leaking fistula since May 2014. Also, he doesn't have a colon- so not sure how much of the pills would be absorbed. That is why Oncologist suggested IV 5FU. But we will see where he is at in 4-6 weeks. Xeloda would be the easiest option.

Kiwi- Thanks for the heads up. The Surgeon told DH that it would hurt like hell for 3 weeks. He also said that compared to what DH has already been thru, it may not be that bad. DH is not a complainer & he will do whatever it takes- including hitting the pain med pump every 10 minutes

Thanks so much for the input!! You know how much it means.

[kiwiinoz]

Hapa
I had a surgeon that was a really good surgeon but lacked in a lot of other areas. I was sent home with no pain meds, and ended up in ER due to that. However if I did it again I would make sure I had adequate pain meds, keep on top of the pain and then reduce from there. After 1 week I was "fine" in my opinion, but listened to my wife's advice to take another week to recover. After 2 weeks I was back to work, and 3 weeks later I was running again, albeit at a slower pass and lesser distance.
Not sure about the "hurt like hell" but compared to having to suck up the morphine via the pump whilst in hospital it was easy. I only stayed overnight as my surgeon forgot to fill in my discharge form which was consistent with a lot of others in the forum.
Kiwi

[betsydoglover]

I did Xeloda and Avastin. There is no clear answer, but I decided that I couldn't live with myself if I had a recurrence and hadn't done some chemo. My advice is to start with some chemo - you can always stop.

Take care,

[Ottoline]

I had Vats for a single lung met in 2014 , having had my primary in 2001. Very unusual I'm told. I started Folfox but immediately got coronary artery spasms and they discontinued it. My surgeon thought there was no need for it, and my oncologist said it was marginal as to whether it was necessary. Hope they're right! Delighted not to have to have it. It was horrible, but that's probably due to the chest pain.

[CRguy]

For those of you who had a single lung met, did you do chemo after surgery?

I had a single "clean margins" VATS resected lung met and did 12 cycles FOLFOX pseudoadjuvant chemo afterwards.
I'd done Xeloda with neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemo so my Onc and I wanted to up the ante.
My Onc is the one who was recently featured in the…… New Personal OncoGenomics treatment success at BCCA topic
…..glad I listened to him
He said he was going for curative intent not palliation.
so far so good …next scans in a few months !

Best wishes
CRguy
on the Journey…on the road !

[Sophy]

Hapa, hope your DH's recovery going well. I had thoracotomies in England and the hospital I was at had published a study showing very clear benefots for perioperative (before and after surgery) chemo.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.118 ... ltext.html the differences in both OS and DFS are quite large.

The surgeon was disappointed that this trial has not been taken notice of by oncologists and as a result I did not have chemo before surgery. I am taking it after (3 years on ADAPT).

I don't suppose that this will be as effective as if I had taken it before as well, but I do expect it to offer me some advantages over no chemo at all. In NZ chemo for my situation is at the patient's request and usually only 6 rounds of xeloda. I was pleased that my onc contacted dr Lin and I am following his recommendations.

This is a tough decision and I whatever you decide I hope it will go well wharever you decide

Sophy