please give some information

• By cuddles53
• Posted October 26, 2009 at 10:50 pm
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Dear Jeong,
I was switched to another chemotherapy drug because I was allergic to it. He may be switched because the one they tried did not work. so this is a good thing, take him off, and give him another one instead.
You will have to ask the doctor why he isn't getting radiation. Maybe there is no solid tumor only small cells clumped together, and no actual large tumor for radiation to destroy.So ask all the questions you can, some hospitals have interpreters if you can't understand the language. just tell them ahead of time before you go for the doctor visit, they can usually get a volunteer to come and help;
Good luck. Sandy

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• By sunshine2gal
• Posted October 26, 2009 at 11:24 pm
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My mom switched to a pill called Tarceva after her chemo did not work anymore. She had maybe 4 rounds of chemo, and then they changed to the Tarceva medicine. There are different things the doctors might try and do for your father. Good luck to you.

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• By linnea
• Posted October 27, 2009 at 7:34 am
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Jeong, there is always hope. I am stage IV, and last summer I was seeing a psychiatrist to help me prepare for my own death as my cancer was not responding to any of the treatments that had been tried. And then I took a chance and enrolled in a phase I clinical trial that was effective. A year and a half after I began those preparations to die, I am still here, and hopeful. Get all the information you can, and if he is being treated at a facility that uses a language that is foreign to you, request a translator. I don't know about smaller hospitals, but certainly the larger hospitals would provide this. Best of luck to you and your family, Linnea

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• By mbartusch
• Posted October 27, 2009 at 8:47 am
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Jeong-
My mother is on her 6th different kind of chemo. She has had many rounds of each kind or combination of chemotherapy drugs. When one stops working, it's time to move on and try something else. She has only received radiation to bone tumors that were bothering her and to a few brain tumors to prevent symptoms. She is still around 2 years later and is doing very well. There is always reason to hope even though this is a difficult battle. I wish you and your family all the best. I'm glad you are here.

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• By StacieK
• Posted October 29, 2009 at 11:22 pm
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Dear Jeong, I'm sending lots of prayers for your dear Dad. Make sure to ask the doctor plenty of questions even if you can't be there at the appointments.

Stacie

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• By REG
• Posted October 30, 2009 at 12:05 am
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I had 8 cycles of Carboplatin and Etop. The first 4 caused 90% reduction, then relapse occurred (new tumors started to grow). Sometime between 6 and 8 SOME tumors started growing while others were shrinking. This made some doctors think there were two kinds of cancer. Sometimes that is the case. I had another biopsy that only showed one kind, small cell. Sometimes the cancer cells in the small cell tumors develop defenses that make them resistant to the chemo. Now I have started on a new chemo regimen--Topotecan and Taxol. I wish they had made the switch earlier. I think I wasted time on the last 2 rounds of chemo before the switch.

Also, I did not get any chest radiation. I was told that they do not do radiation if the cancer has spread outside the lung area. I had cancer cells in the fluid around the heart and lung and also along the descending aorta. I don't know why this is the rule, but I have heard this twice.

Good luck to your father and family.

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• By warren_b
• Posted October 30, 2009 at 10:17 am
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Dear Jeong,
Do not dispair on the need to switch. Keep up the faith that the next one will work better! Everyone responds differently to these drugs.

Reg,
They will not give my Father chest radiation for the same reason you described, Extensive SCLC.

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• By jeong
• Posted October 30, 2009 at 12:02 pm
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Thank you guys.
I got the hope from you and I'll send that hope to my parents.
Thank you so much again.

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