I am sorry that I am so behind in keeping this blog up to date. I just have been feeling so wiped out and being on the computer for any length of time also "kills" my neck and back. Thankfully this has more to do with the Fibromyalgia Battle than it does the Cancer battle and that a good thing.
As for me and my battle -- I'm now 19 months since the day I was diagnosed (3/26/15)and still taking each day as they come. I'm currently on another treatment break (from Opdivo), which is the Immunotherapy Drug I'm now on and have been for almost a year. Unfortunately it has a lot of side effects and I have developed Pneumonitis for the third time. UGH! It's low grade, so they had again stopped my treatment and I'll go back on December 1st and see how it's going. I do HOPE I can go back on the Opdivo, as it does seem to work for me, despite the side effects. Jump back to last November, I had learned that my lung tumor had come back and was quite aggressive -- I was immediately started on Radiation and began my Opdivo treatments in December. My tumor is currently "stable" and significantly smaller that it was last year -- It's gone form 4.1 X 2.4 cm to 18mm, which is wonderful.
But, I did want to tell you a bit more about Lung Cancer and share the November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month to help promote more awareness and to share some fact about Lung Cancer!!
Lung Cancer is the deadliest of ALL the Cancers -- and I admit, until I learned I had Stage IV Lung Cancer I had no idea. I would have guessed Breast Cancer or possibly Colon Cancer, but I would have been wrong. Sadly Lung Cancer has a huge "Stigma" attached to it and that is "Smoking". It's as if everyone assumes that people with Lung Cancer are or were all smokes and therefore, they did this to themselves. Now how sad is that. The fact is every day people are diagnosed with Lung Cancer that have never smoked -- there are many ways to get this dreaded illness and more that I'm sure we do not even know about yet.
Today, I went to a local Support Group but was sad to find out that it's not likely to continue much longer as there has not been much interest. They started meeting last December and meet monthly, but have had a hard time getting the word out, so there has not been many people at the meetings! Bummer. There was only one other person there along with the Group Coach who is also battling Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and has been for many years. I really had hoped to connect with more people my age, to help me with ideas and support, so it was disappointing. And some of what we talked about, I learned are support and care I'm not eligible for since I'm under 65 and not income eligible. Geesh!! -- Young people get cancer too!!! I do plan to go back next month if they hold it again, but if not I will continue in my online groups which have been awesome. If you would like to learn MORE about Lung Cancer -- here are some sites that share a wealth of information --- If you are a new Cancer patient (any type) -- and need a friend, please message me!!
Thanks for stopping by....
