Prayers up for our dear kayak! . . . May God give her the strength she needs to make a complete and speedy recovery!
Your situation is exactly the same as mine was in August of 1997. I was diagnosed with lung cancer and it was inoperable.. The cancer was wrapped around my aorta.
I started Chemo in early September with Taxol every three weeks. It was terrible. At nine weeks into the treatment (3 doses of taxol) the doctor ordered a cat scan. It showed the cancer had been reduced by half. He ordered two more treatments of the CHEMO. At the end of the 5th treatment he had a second cat scan done. The cancer was now 1/4 the original size.
At that point we went to a combination of less potent CHEMO and radiation. The negative side effects of TAXOL are terrible. That lasted until the end of January 1998. At that point a cat scan showed I was cancer free.
They then ordered 15 additional radiation treatments to make sure they had it all. At the end of my treatments I was as weak as a sick kitty, but I was cancer free. But within a few months I was doing fine.
At that point, they started blood tests and chest X-RAYs every 3 months for two years. Then every six months for 2 years. At that point they said I was cured.
Then just about 10 weeks ago I had a seizure while driving my car. The cops found me passed out in my wrecked car and called the emergency squad to take me to the Local Hospital. A cat scan showed a brain tumor and they life flighted me to Columbus. There they removed the cancerous tumor. The doctor told my daughter that the odds said I might live a couple of more years in a nursing home.
But after I recovered from the operation, I killed the Nursing Home bit and came to my own home. My Children stayed with me for a week.
I have been living alone since then. Last Monday I had my first MRI and blood tests. The MRI showed no cancer and the Blood tests showed no cancer as well.
I started driving again last week.
The interesting thing is I went to my GR last week. She told me from the original reports she read,t she was pretty certain I would not survive.
Yes the treatments today are far better than they were a few years ago. But a lot of survival is in never giving up. I kept my self alive during the lung cancer in 1997 by telling myself that I would recover to the point I could wash my car. In May of 1998.. I washed my car. I washed it in 1/4ths. Between each 1/4th I had to sit down and rest.
A couple of years later I was doing 5 mile walks at 16 minutes a mile.
After the brain tumor was removed, I told myself I would recover enough to sing at the Paint Valley Jamboree. Two weeks after I was discharged from the hospital, I walked onto the Stage of the Paxton Theater and sang my songs.
I would urge you to eat a balanced diet. ... heavy in anti oxidants. I would urge you to eat all you can keep down. The CHEMO causes most people to lose a lot of weight. Their immune system weakens. I forced my self to eat all the stuff that skinny people are not allowed to eat. I actually gained weight on CHEMO.
Last Friday I went to see my GP doctor. She is very pretty. When she saw me she said, "You look fantastic!" I pretended to lose my balance and fell into a chair. When she asked what happened to me, I replied, "You are the first woman to ever say that to me!"
Keep believing you are going to kill the cancer. Refuse to let it kill you and keep your sense of humor. Ask God to help you defeat the cancer. Ask your friends and family to pray for you and don't forget to pray for yourself.
I recently saw a study that showed that those that believe in God, pray, and have others pray for them do the best at defeating cancer. But remember God helps those that help themselves.
You can defeat lung cancer. If I can do it, anyone can.
God Bless and Keep You.. You will be in my prayers.
Ray Malone .. 'Tator