stage iv lung and brain metasis

• By Kmdaniel
• Posted January 3, 2009 at 11:29 pm
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Hi There...

Well your story is very similar to mine; however, my mom had 3 small brain mets but one was in the back on her cerabellum. It affected her balance and mobility so she was on a walker most of the time. We too had WBR...10 treatments and our first line of treatment was carboplatin and taxol. She handled that one just great....they gave her a big dose of decadron before the chemo to help with side effects. She was lucky she never had any side effects from the chemo other than fatigue. Over time she did develop some tingling in her fingers but nothing major. The carbo/taxol did slow her progression for a while but then it started to grow and we went to Alimta...it didn't work for her. But what you need to hear is that EVERYONE is different. It's like DNA...no two are alike even though they seem similiar. Attitude truly makes a difference.

Hang in there...

God Bless
Karen

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• By chessie-too
• Posted January 4, 2009 at 5:21 am
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Rosie,

I haven't any words of wisdom since I've never had to face what your mom is facing, but I wanted you to know that you all are in my thoughts and prayers. Put it in God's hands, He will take care of it.

God Bless

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• By Threepeat
• Posted January 4, 2009 at 8:03 am
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I was diagnosed stage IV in August 2007. Had carboplatinum and taxol for six cycles, which stopped progression of the disease.

I had 10 brain mets identified in January 2008. They were treated with the Gammaknife (rather than whole brain radiation). I have been on Alimta as a single agent since March 2008.

My disease is stable and my quality of life is really good.

Live each and every day. Pray. And keep a positive outlook.

There's a lot of different therapies out there -- and more being developed each day. There is much to be positive about.

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• By Cancerblog
• Posted January 4, 2009 at 6:11 pm
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I did cisplatin and taxol for 8 weeks and 35 treatments of radiation simultaneously; then I did 16 weeks of cisplatin and navelbine; then brain radiation and that followed a clinical trial for Stage III NSCLC. My dxs was October of 2007 with inoperable locally advanced Stage IIIA NSCLC. My tumor, when found, was 9CM in size -- as big as a baseball. Today I am NED-- we can hardly find scar tissue.

There are many people on this site surviving with Stage IV lung cancer. Your Mom can survive too. This is not just false hope! Be posiitive and help your Mom develop and maintain a potitive mental attitude. Make the most of every day! I believe that a good attitude helps with longer term survival.

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• By gypsy818
• Posted January 4, 2009 at 6:51 pm
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I agree with the person who said put it in Gods hands and he will take care of it. I had lung cancer too and it is like a weight lifted off your shoulders when you beleive and put it in his hands and things willwork out.

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• By penny53
• Posted January 4, 2009 at 8:20 pm
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Did they operate at all? My tumor was about that size and inoperable, After chemo and radiation I became operable and had surgery. I am now NED but I have a huge scar.

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• By rosie422
• Posted January 4, 2009 at 9:34 pm
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Thank you all for you replies. It really helps to here positive attitudes. I do believe putting it in Gods' hand and he will work it out. Thanks

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• By deciccork1
• Posted January 5, 2009 at 6:03 pm
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My husband was the same.....Got dx in Jan. 2007 and I lost him in May of 2008... He had a 5 hour Head operation, full head Rad. and lots of chemo for the lung. Go to deciccork1 and read my posts. BUT MIRACLES DO HAPPEN.............Pray, pray, pray. I am with you.
Prayers from my house to yours,
Rox

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• By rosie422
• Posted January 5, 2009 at 9:46 pm
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I am so sorry about your husband. Thank you so much for your prayers it means so much. Rosie

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• By dwareham
• Posted January 6, 2009 at 11:08 am
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My dad was diagnosed in Oct with Stage IV and four brain mets. He did 15 treatments of WBR that we were pretty afraid of, but he came through with flying colors. We think they have been shrunk but are awaiting a CT to prove it.
He will do his second round of chemo this week (carbo + alimta). He did okay with the first round; he stopped eating and drinking and dropped almost 15 pounds the first week. Had to get him on Magace, which helped him regain the desire to eat and now he's gained six pounds and is still going.
Quality of life is good; his confusion, speech problems and memory issues (from mets) have almost gone away. Aside from the doctor's appointments and fatigue, the cancer has not really interfered with his lifestyle.
As far as prognosis, it's anyone's guess. Could be a couple months, could be 10 years or more. You'll probably find doctors to tell you both, and everything in between. I don't really believe they know and it is incredibly confusing to hear wildly different opinions.
So much depends on unquantifiable things -- attitude, determination, support system, family history, other health issues, quality of your doctors, etc. And ultimately, medicine is an art more than it is a science.
Just magnify the gains and downplay the obstacles; plan your future with her as you always did. Hope is often overlooked as the most important component of treatment.
Good luck.

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• By nmonreal
• Posted January 6, 2009 at 7:49 pm
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I am 44 yrs old and was diagnosed with Stage IV NSCLC in January 2008 (exactly one year ago). I had a tumor on my lung, spine and three brain tumors. The brain tumors were treated by gamma knife in February 2008. Recently, several more grew so I just did the gamma knife treatment this morning. I was on taxol/carboplatin, but was allergic to the taxol. They tried taxotere, but was allergic to that, so ended up on gemzar/carboplatin. In june 2008, I was switched to just gemzar. That worked until December, when I was switched to Tarceva.
There are LOTS of treatment options out there. Make sure your mom's oncologist knows that she plans on fighting it. Make sure she eats well (gets lots of protein) and exercises.
Be supportive!
Nannette

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• By rosie422
• Posted January 9, 2009 at 10:22 pm
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It is all so confusing - I hope your dad is ok - thanks for your info - the more info you get the better you understand what is going on and we are all not alone.

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• By Ramona
• Posted January 12, 2009 at 7:09 am
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I was originally dx 2/13 because of a large brain met that was suragically removed. Then I went through 4 rounds of carboplatin and taxol. I have since had chest surgery and chemo supported radiation to the chest. My 12/29 scans were very good and my brain MRI clear. Thew beast is currently at bay.

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• By rosie422
• Posted January 12, 2009 at 9:22 am
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Thanks for the info and please keep that beast at bay.

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• By D25
• Posted February 6, 2009 at 5:56 pm
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Hello, I would love some info on brain mets as a dear friend of mine has this, however not from the lungs but its testicular mets. sorry to post here but its the closest i could find, and he also has lung mets too. My question is, is it possible at all to survive brain metasis??? like forever? I do hear testicular cancer seems to be a easier and not as resistent to chemo. Would love some hope through this and just some info on survival from you guys who have or had someone experience this... thanks so much. hard time

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• By rosie422
• Posted February 6, 2009 at 7:25 pm
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My Mom is going through chemo and she finished brain radiation-next week she will get a brain scan to see what is going on. Not really sure on how to answer your question it is all so complexed. I will pray everything works out.

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• By lsguenther
• Posted February 7, 2009 at 3:34 pm
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Hello,

My mom was diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC on April 13, 2008 at age 53. Her only symptom was soreness in her right ankle, which was thought to be a torn ligament from working out with a trainer. After an MRI confirmed that she had a tumor in her ankle, a family friend admitted her over the weekend to run the tests to rule out that the ankle tumor was a met. That Sunday they told us she had State IV NSCLC, with small mets in her brain, spine and the tumor in her ankle. Needless to say it was shocking.
Right away we started radiation on the brain, spine and ankle. After we followed with chemo Carboplatin/Taxol. She was rescanned in July to find out that the cancer had progressed to her liver and kidneys as well. We changed the chemo to taxotere/avastin. She seemed to be responding well, and there was visual shrinkage of a tumor on her neck and she was feeling much better. The second week in August we met with her Onc. who told us that her response to the new treatment was really positive, and while she was now in a wheel chair, she seemed to be doing much better. Four days later she broke three ribs while sitting at breakfast. We rushed her to the ER by ambulance where they gave her more pain meds and sent her home. Over the next two days, she seemed to be completely out of it, and by monday morning, she couldn't really use her legs and was having a hard time communicating. The onc. office had us take her back to the hospital and they were certain that she experienced a drug overdose at the hospital the days before. Over the next few days, her MRI's showed that the brain mets had not progressed and they were certain she was now experiencing withdrawl from the drug overdose. We took her off everything completely, to clear her system out, and she continued to hullucinate, was very restless and disoriented. After two+ days of this, the dr. determined that she was having complications from the lung cancer. They said that she most likely had "meningeal carcinomatosis", and that her lung tumor had "seeded" into the lining of her brain and this was causing the problems she was having and that we were at the end. She rested more peacefully for the next three days and we lost her on Aug 23rd.
She went much faster then her onc. thought, and we were all surprised and devistated by the outcome. It has been 5 months since she passed away, and I have done a great deal of research to try to understand what we could have done differently... the short answer is nothing. Like you have seen over and over again, every patient is different. Some last a few short months/weeks others years. One thing I was happy that I did during her treatment was ask a lot of questions and understood everything we were doing, and what all of our options were. This is such a confusing and horrible disease, but I believe that god has a plan for each one of us, and you have to trust in that and always have hope....miracles do happen.

I wish you all the best in this life changing journey and will keep you and your family in my prayers.

Lindsey

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• By bixbabe44
• Posted February 8, 2009 at 9:58 am
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Hi,
I know nothing about testicular cancer, but I do know about brain mets. I had 3 tumors in my brain. One was removed surgically. The others were treated with Whole Brain Radiation. I did lose my hair, had some short term memory loss and was very tired. All minor things,. My last brain scan showed nothing in the brain. Scary isn't it?? Ha! Ha! Am now on chemo for the ones left in the lungs and lymph nodes. After first treatment, tumors were reduced over 50%. You are in my prayers. God Bless!! Eileen

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• By D25
• Posted February 8, 2009 at 10:22 am
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Oh, so can you survive brain mets??? even if other mets in your body are still present? im hearing that once you get brain mets you cant survive, but here otherwise from other patients like yourselves... confused. thanks.

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• By D25
• Posted February 9, 2009 at 5:25 pm
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Hello. I was just curious to see if you can survive Brain Mets, period. Im hearing all over the net that if you get brain mets, you cant survive. But, here otherwise from patients like yourself. My friend has from testicular, and am very worried. It is in his lungs as well. If all the cancer cant be removed, can the mets in brain be removed and not come back? thanks.

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