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Just an update on our son Dan, who has inoperable lung cancer (small cell). The initial chemos did some shrinking so they moved on to a combination chemo and radiation.

After 4 sets of chemo and 35 radiation treatments, he is being given a 3-4 week rest before they do more scans and tests to see what the situation is. He was fortunate in that the "sunburn" effects of the radiation did not really hit until the last week. Ankles a bit swollen, but should go down over a few days now that the treatments have been paused.

He actually gained 12 pounds or so over the last couple weeks which is encouraging - he is 6'3" or so and was down to 105 pounds (he was never much more than 145 pounds, so the change wasn't as dramatic as it sounds).

He was pretty sick from time-to-time from the treatments, but tried to stay as active as he could and do some small tasks to keep moving and engaged in life. When they put the port in, they must have damaged a nerve because when he woke up the next morning, his left hand was all but useless. he did some gaming with the hope that using the controls would assist in getting the hand working again and there was some improvement. He is now being scheduled for physical therapy to try to assist his body as he tries to pack on some more pounds before any more treatments that may be needed.

The doctors broached the topic of radiation treatments for his brain, but did not divulge whether they think it needed as a prophylactic or if they believe that it may be infected (the cancer did engage his lymph nodes so it is very possible that some migrated to his brain).

Original prognosis was up to 6 months w/o treatment and 6 months to 2 years (25 % chance to reach 2 years) with treatment. Won't know if that has changed until the end of Feb when they do the next scans.

At any rate, life does go on and our hearts also go out to those who have cancer or who have friends and relatives with it - it is a nasty business and our prayers are with you all.

God Bless
Bob and Ruby B.