Update on hubby's lung surgery

[ilivebyfaith]

My hubby opted to have a metastasectomy of his lung mets despite the fact that he had a new spread on his liver and retro peritoneal lymph nodes. He was originally scheduled for a bilateral surgery but the thoracic surgeon had to make a quick judgement call, and decided to clear the median area of his right lung first where he was able to remove 24 mets, and according to him, my hubby have 3 more on the upper portion of the right lung, and another 3 on the lower right lung. Plus a similar (estimate) number of mets in the left lung. According to him, my husband might want to have chemo first, then after which, he can come back to totally clear dh's lungs, in hopes that the size and number of mets will decrease due to chemo.

Right now, the tumor will be under genetic testing to determine which chemo would best benefit my dh. We've already gone thru folfox, folfoxiri, folfirinox, vectibix, erbitux and Avastin. I don't know what other options do we have (hopefully not stivarga).

We're also considering a clinical trial (immunotherapy), as we view this as one of the best option.

Right now my dh is resting in the hospital, oxygen removed, catither removed, pain reliever decreased, and tomorrow, his lung tubes will be removed as well.

Every now and then, I would always encounter in the forum that "cancer treatment is not a race..." I think I'm getting the meaning of it now. There's no short cut. Right now I am very grateful that the surgery was uneventful unlike the last surgery where my hubby was reopened due to internal bleeding.

Healing thoughts to you all!

[Nik Colon]

Glad he is doing good. Best wishes

[Cb75]

It's wonderful that you found an aggressive surgeon. Where is your husband being treated? Please keep us posted on how things go. Folfiri worked really well for me.

Cb

[Sophy]

Thanks for your update. It sounds like good news that your DH now has fewer tumours and a surgeon who hasn't ruled out future surgeries. Praying for a quick recovery from the surgery.

I don't have any information about suitable chemo, I have only had lung mets and am trying ADAPT, but I hope that you will get good advice about chemo options or immunotherapy trials.

Thinking of you
Sophy

[ilivebyfaith]

Hi everyone.

Sorry was out of the loop for awhile. Got busy because of familial and work stuff.

My husband got his results from his molecular profiling and it looks like it's folfiri plus vectibix or erbitux for my husband. His chemo will be on the 16th. He had his operation last October 30 and now we are both eager to have him back into his routine chemo as he is experiencing continuous cough with phlegm and he already lost some weight. How odd that we actually find comfort if his under chemo. His total chemo break after a year of chemo was around 3 months, 1.5 months before lung operation (metastasectomy) and 1.5 months after operation.

We are also doing an anti-TB vaccine, it's supposed to wake up T-cells in hopes that it will help activate natural defense to kill cancer cells. (This is our own experiment, surgeon gives the shots)

My regards to everyone and advance happy Christmas! Advance happy holidays!

[musicluvr]

Same reg as I am on currently. Get ready for Erbitux rash, and stomach cramping from Irinotecan (part of FOLFIRI). Feel free to ask me anything at all......

[KElizabeth]

Same reg as I am on currently. Get ready for Erbitux rash, and stomach cramping from Irinotecan (part of FOLFIRI). Feel free to ask me anything at all......

About that Irinotecan stomach cramping..
I suffered through this for several treatments, then one day the nurse tells me that she can give me more atropine if I start feeling flushed or my stomach starts cramping. I had no Idea that was what the atropine was for. Since then, I get one shot at the beginning of infusion and one shot halfway through, and have not had the insane cramping since.
I totally recommend asking for the atropine injections during infusion. It doesn't take care of late onset issues, but infusion day is much better now!
Hugs!