Preparations for Focused Radiation to the Lung

Yesterday, I had the planning session for the focused radiation to the left lung.  It was not a fun process.  They have me laying down on my back with my arms over my head for over half an hour while there is a structure pressing on my diaphragm so I can’t breathe deeply.  My arms just ached and my stomach still feels a bit queasy from the pressure on the diaphragm. 

As an added bonus, I am now a tattooed lady!  I have 2 dots over and 1 under my left breast and 1 under each armpit.  Lucky me – something I will always have with me to remember my cancer!  They use these dots to line me up with the lasers exactly the same way for each treatment.

The treatments will be Wed-Fri, May 4-6 and Monday, May 9.  It will be good to have this over with!  The good news is that they can't even see the lung tumor clearly - just some faint broken up scar tissue.  They will be overlaying my original PET and CAT scans from the time of diagnosis with the current scans to confirm the proper target area.  You may be asking, as I did, why I should even go through this uncomfortable treatment if they can't even clearly see the lung tumor anymore.  The answer I was given is that Tarceva alone is not known to "cure" cancer and if that is the only treatment that the lung mass is subject to, it will likely come back.  The focused radiation, on the other hand, has a 90% "control rate," which means that by zapping the problem area no other cancers are likely to reappear in that area in the future.

The Victory Run - Last Sunday's 8K Shamrock Shuffle

Last Sunday, April 10 was the annual Shamrock Shuffle 8 kilometer (4.97 miles) run through the heart of Chicago's downtown.  Doug and I run this race almost every year and we had signed up to do it again this year several weeks ago. 

When we got our happy news that my cancer had subsided on the Thursday before this race, the Shuffle took on a whole new dimenstion - this was to be a celebration of triumph, health and happiness.  A Victory Run.

It was much warmer than usual - I think it reached 80 degrees during the run - and I was overdressed so I  tired out more than I normally would, and even had to walk a bit on the last uphill leg of the race.  But I didn't want to take my jacket off because it not only had my race number, but the sign you see in the picture was pinned on my jacket just above my butt. 

For the first time in any race, Doug ran by my side the whole time.  We didn't care about how fast we were, so he skipped his special start corral for the faster runners.  We just drank in the beautiful day in the beautiful city.  Several runners congratulated me as they saw my little sign.  When we crossed the finish line of our Victory Run, Doug and I were all smiles as we held hands and raised them up in triumph.  Here is a link to view some pictures from our run: 

http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?RaceOID=12852011W1&LastName=PAWLOWSKI&BibNumber=6901 

Time to Get on My Soap Box - Lung Cancer Facts

As I have gone through this lung cancer journey, I have learned a lot about a lot of things.  Obviously, I've learned a lot about lung cancer and the statistics relating to the disease.  There were a lot of surprises and some were even shocking to me.  As Breast Cancer Awareness month came and went in October, it struck me how little publicity lung cancer gets even though it is the deadliest cancer for both women and men by far.  As I looked into it, I learned that the stigma of smoking associated with lung cancer has created many misconceptions and prejudices, which has further led to less publicity, support, funding, research and cures. 

I was challenged by my dear friend Beth when I was telling her about this and she said, "So what are you going to do about it?"  Well, this is my first step.  As long as I have an audience here on my blog, I thought I would take a first step right here and now to set the record straight with facts about lung cancer.  These come from the website http://www.lungcancerfoundation.org/about-lung-cancer/fact-sheets/, a pretty reliable source:

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

Got the results of Tuesday's scans today.  [Insert drum roll here.]

There is NO EVIDENCE of brain lesions anywhere in the brain.

The lung tumor is stable and INACTIVE.

We are stunned and delighted.  Even the doctors were a bit surprised by this great outcome. 

YIPPEE!!  HOORAY!! WHOOPY!  HAZZAH!

We are still going to pursue some focused radiation on the lung to zap any microscopic cancer that may still be there but not showing up on the PET scan.  The focused radiation has a 90% success rate.  I will also continue on the Tarceva as long as it seems to be working.

Although I'll never be able to say I am cured and the cancer can come back at any time, this is as close to being free of cancer as I can ever hope to come.  I'll take it!

Please feel free to pour yourself your favorite alcoholic beverage and raise your glass in virtual celebration with Doug and me - you all get part of the credit for this wonderful news.  I know the tremendous support I've received throughout this whole ordeal has a lot to do with this success.  Thank you.

Scans Today, Results & Options Discussed Thursday

This is just a quick update.  I had the PET scan this morning and the Brain MRI this afternoon at Rush.  Everything went smoothly, but it was a long day with a lot of waiting in between the procedures and no food since 7:00 this morning so I am wiped out.  As I expected, no results were provided today but these will be provided and options for next steps discussed with Dr. Bonomi and one or two of their radiation oncologists this Thursday afternoon.  My brother Rick will be joining Doug and me for this meeting.  Rick, my sister Susan, Doug and I have all been doing some research to educate ourselves and we've been preparing questions to ask at that meeting.  Thanks to those who offered suggested resources - I checked out everything suggested by everyone.

Meanwhile, I have about a 1/2 inch of hair growth on my head but still have that sparser area in the front and center.  I've started to venture out occasionally without covering my head, but I still get cold a lot and wearing the hat makes a difference in maintaining warmth.

I will post again on Thursday evening, of if I'm too tired, Friday with the results and outcomes from the doctors' meeting.  Stay tuned!