Postby kiwiinoz » Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:50 pm
I was diagnosed as stage IV so I had 2 primaries (colorectal) and 1 x lung met in my lower right lobe. I had surgery to remove my primary, then time to recover, then was introduced to an Oncologist who sent me for a PET scan to ascertain if my lung nodule was active and it was active with 3.5 FDG uptake meaning, in the opinion of my medical team, that it was CRC.
I met with a cardio thoracic surgeon, and had VATS.
It was then that after I recovered the option of chemo was raised.
I had done a lot of reading, and I met with my onc who offered me chemo (FOLFOX). I asked him about this as my reading suggested that there was no difference between getting chemo, and those not undergoing chemo in terms of recurrence free survival rates.
His opinion was that there was a very slight improvement in recurrence rates and I simply asked him what he would do in my situation. He told me he would take the chemo, which is what I had already decided to do.
In my opinion chemo can do 2 things.
1) Give you a shot at remaining recurrence free (NED) which is about 30-40% based on my situation.
2) Extend the NED period prior to a recurrence
I was happy with either of the above outcomes.
As this is your Father's first lung node, and without knowing his medical history or health, I would always recommend going for VATS as it does less collateral damage, and is the gold standard in surgery
Good luck and best wishes
Kiwi
Stage IV Rectal Cancer (39 Year old male at dx)
pT3N0M1 (wish that was M0)
Diagnosed 05 Dec 2012
LAR 05 Jan 2013
VATS 27 Feb 2013
FOLOFX April 2013 - Sep 2013
Clear Scan 03 Dec 2013 - August 2020
Port Out 26 March 2015