Chemo?

Sasha · Regular Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 49

How many times do you have to go to chemo before a change?
Sasha

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1142

Sasha,

Do you mean how many times will they give you a certain chemo before they change the type of drug?

Or do you mean how much chemo does it take to make a difference with the cancer?

Either way, it all depends on how well the patient's tumors respond to the chemotherapy drugs. Some can begin shrinking after the first chemo, while others have to do many different types of chemo to get any reaction from the tumor.

We'd love to help you, but can you give us a little more information?

Best wishes,
PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Sasha · Regular Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 49

How much chemo does it take to make a difference with the cancer is what I meant, just trying to get some ideas, my Dad has gone for 2 treatments and they are going to do a scan after the forth, kindof wondering what to expect.

A little backround on my Dad, he has never had anything wrong with him, he is the type of person who never stops, has never missed a day of work, does not stop working after he gets home from work and all of that stopped feb. 15, 2008 that was his last day of work, he went to the doctor a month before because he thought he might have lung cancer, and they said he had bronchittus, he went back on the 15 of feb. and they did a chest x-ray and the doc told him she wanted a cat scan then after all that she said she thought he might have lung cancer, next day he had alot of pressure in his head and had to go to the emergency room they did scans and found 2 brain anurysms, so he got rushed to a Chicago hospital and they did a coiling surgery the next morning came out of surgery went back to his room, and they let us in just to tell us they had to rush him back to surgery because he had lost eyesight in one eye, they got his eyesight back again and everything was supposedly fine with the coiling, he started to come home 6 days later and on the way home lost eyesight again and had to go back to the ER, this time it was to late and he is now blind in one eye, they did a biopsy while he was at the hospital in chicago and called and told us he had NSCLC adenocarcinoma stage 4, we got him to go to cancer treatment center of america and they told us everything he has, its in his lungs and has metastisized to just about everywhere else lymph nodes, bones(arms, hips, spine,ribs,legs), 20 in his liver, adrenaline glands and I am probably leaving a bunch out, he also has fluid around his heart. They got his pain under control and that is a blessing, he has done 2 chemo treatments, when he went for the second one they said that according to his blood the cancer had doubled but they told him that chemo does not start working for three weeks and his cancer could have also been higher then this and already came down because of how much he has. This really bothered him because he felt that he was getting better. Getting better mean he got out of bed for a little while after being in bed for a week or two and did this for a few days before he went back for the second chemo. 2nd chemo was april 3 and he had a few bad days, but got up for 2-3 three hours today(longest he has been up since the begining of all of this), very bad depression also.

That is pretty much the whole story, I have pretty much moved in to help my mom with my dad and just go home to feed my animals. The first week when all this happend I was 9 months pregnant and in labor for three days(I have to have ceserean births so I knew it wasn't coming out) running around hospitals because I wouldn't leave him until I knew he was ok, when things calmed down I called the doctor to see if he could get me in, he took me in I had my baby boy and 2 days later he was coming home and lost his eyesight(which was because of a blood clot that couldof caused a stroke)and I had to have them give me an emergency release from the hospital. It has been extremly hectic!
Sasha

brainman · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:17 am Post subject: Re: Chemo?

Sasha, I am very sorry about your father's advanced cancer. I am also very sorry that all of this is happening at the time of the arrival of a new son into your life. That should be a joyful time but I am sure the joy is tempered by your father's health.

I assume his chemo is once a week? It is standard practice to have a scan to follow how effective the treatment is on a monthly basis. As PBJ said, some cancers will show significant response after just one month while other cancers will hardly show any change.

You, your father, and your newborn baby are in my thoughts and prayers.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

Sasha · Regular Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 49

Thank you for your response, his chemo is every three weeks and they are going to do a scan on the forth one, I think he was in to bad of shape for more than that. He also has a chance of bleeding from the anurysm so I think they have to watch how much they do.
Sasha

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1142

Hi Sasha,

Thanks for filling us in on more details -- it helps. You and I are neighbors. Smile

Typically, in lung cancer situations, they do scans every three months, depending on the doctor and especially depending on the patient. They may be doing more brain scans to monitor the problems in your father's head as that is a scary and dangerous situation. (As you have found out.) Sometimes they will bump up the scans for the body earlier in cases of extensive metastasis to make sure he is having a response to the first line of chemo. It does take at least a cycle or two to assess response and our oncologist always felt it took three cycles to let it work. Every doctor operates differently with timing of scans. If he has fluid around the pericardial sack, the chemo may or may not help reduce the fluid. I'm sure they are monitoring this also.

Are they considering any type of radiation to help with pain associated with any of the mets? They also will probably put him on Zometa, in addition to the regular chemo. Zometa helps build the bones and helps prevent new mets from forming in the bones.

This is a new and frightening situation for you and I can seriously identify. I was well into a twin pregnancy when my mom was diagnosed with late stage cancer, so understand the strain you are under. One word of advice to you. Your mom is there to take care of your Dad and you need to focus on the new baby, your family, and your own health. I do know how difficult this is, but I'm sure your mom is handling things quite well. Years down the road, as a parent, I needed to know my grown children were tending to their own responsibilities when my husband was ill. Be careful and don't let yourself get overwhelmed.

I know it's a terrible time for you and your family, but try to hang in there and let the chemo do its job.

Depression is also very common with a late stage diagnosis. If he doesn't snap out of it, they may consider giving him anti-depressants -- very commonly done.

My very best wishes to your entire family!
PBJ

It's a wait and see game at this point to know if the chemotherapy is working. They will give him the best possible, but if he doesn't respond, there are many, many other agents out there that he might respond to.
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Sasha · Regular Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 49

They said he is to bad for radiation right now. He is already on a few different anti-depressants, he is taking 25-30 pills a day.
Oh by the way he is 48.

Are there many people with this much cancer when they find out?
Sasha

brainman · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:30 pm Post subject: Re: Chemo?

Sasha, unfortunately, the answer to your questions is "Yes". Lung cancers can go undiagnosed for a very long time. When they are found early, it is often by accident... for example, when they are having a chest X-Ray for a totally unrelated reason such as what used to be a common annual TB check.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1142

Sasha,

I have to agree with Brainman. Yes, many people are very advanced by the time they are diagnosed. Lung cancer is known as a silent killer because by the time symptoms appear, it is usually very late stage.

That's not to say that there isn't hope for more time with your Dad. If he gets good response to chemo, he can be around for some time yet. I've addressed this in another post to you.

Best wishes,
PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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