I thought I'd log in to let you know what has been happening in this neck of the woods. The chemo and radiotherapy that I had last year wasn't able to kill off the tumour. Surgery wasn't an option for me as the cancer had gone into my windpipe. After scans and tests I started a new course of chemo (four cycles) a couple of months ago, to try to shrink the tumour. Unfortunately the chemo made me very ill and I was hospitalised three times. After two cycles I had a scan that showed no change in the tumour at all and we have therefore decided not to continue with the chemo. My oncologist believes it will do me more harm than good. I am mightily relieved that it was not a difficult decision to say 'no'. I am still recovering from the effects of the chemo and keep picking up infections. It has been a horrible few weeks. Before the chemo started I had been doing well, ticking off things on my bucket list and enjoying life and having fun with family and friends. I'm hoping I'll soon be back to that. I know my time is limited but I really want to enjoy the here and now and leave some good memories. It's our 45th wedding anniversary on Saturday and I hope I will be well enough to go out for a celebration lunch.
Love and good wishes to everyone
Jenny
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It sounds as though you have had a tough few months. In some ways getting to a tough decision is hard, but you are taking the right approach in letting your body recover from chemo and doing things at a pace that is right for you.
I hope the side effects diminish and you are able to put this hard spell behind you.
If you are not able to go out for your amazing celebration, would there be a family member or friend who could host the party for you? You could then rest and join in as much as you felt able, but know there was somewhere to lie down if you wanted.
I hope you feel able to have whatever kind of celebration you want on Saturday. 45 years of marriage is an amazing achievement, congratulations to both of you.
Hi Jenny and sorry to hear about your experience with chemo. A chance we all take and the stats are not brilliant but most of us have a try! I have had my first session of docetaxel and I thought the side effects would be much worse, but they are doable. I wont know if its working for a while. I had cisplatin and pemetrexed and then was on tarceva for 23 months, although I didn't have the EGFR mutation.
Perhaps ask your oncologist about tarceva? Also the lung matrix trials which are open to everyone with lung cancer and no placebos. Hope you recover quickly and enjoy your anniversary. I have my birthday sunday, and anniversary Tuesday. We are off to see family 350 miles away for the weekend. Chemo again Wednesday.
You can always try something else when you feel better and stop it if you don't want it.
You are so very very brave. I admire you enormously. It is not easy to undertake this awful chemo, and all the other things that go with this terrible disease, and you have done so well. I am desperately sorry that the outcome is not better but hopefully you will be able to attend and enjoy your anniversary lunch. I will be thinking of you and hoping you'll have great memories of a wonderful occasion.
I'm sending love and strengthening thoughts to you.
I am sorry the chemo did not work for you ,45 years of marriage is worth celebrating so I hope you manage to make your lunch,have a great time with your family and friends.Best wishes.
Stewart
Jenny,
Most of us know how tough some of these treatment regimes are if I start to feel that the treatment is becoming worse than the disease then I hope I can be brave enough to do as you have done. I hope you start to feel better real soon.
Jenny. I am new to this site and the world of cancer. My husband has stage IV lung cancer and just finished second chemo chemo blast. Tolerating chemo fairly well so far. We too have been married 45 years and I wish you a happy anniversary and better health. Dorcas
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