(no subject)
Grandhootsie had her first follow-up appointment today. Mom just emailed me with a description of the meeting, and I'm just going to post it as is.
"Hi Everyone, Here's the report--
Cancer is StageIIB. Stage II means it has spread beyond the tumor to lymph nodes. B refers to the size of the tumor--A is smallest.
Doctor said that the "important" lymph nodes were clear of cancer. The one lymph node with cancer cells was at the tumor site.
Doctor recommends chemotherapy, but only four cycles. Good news!
I asked what the goal of treatment was--Cure? The doctor said "yes", emphatically; that everything that had been done was "curative", not "pallaitive". I asked the doctor if "Cure" was the "five years cancer-free" definition. He said that that is the benchmark typically used, but that he thought we could think about 10 years and beyond.
I asked about the success rate for lung cancer, since everything I had read talked about advances in success rates for breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, but not so much for lung cancer. The doctor said that this was because those types of cancer were easier to detect in the earlier stages, whereas lung cancer typically wasn't detected until much later, and that the fact that Mom's cancer was discovered early was very good. The doctor recommended two oncologists in Abingdon that he said were "excellent". We called Vickie on the way home and had her start working on getting Mom an appointment ASAP.
I had a few other questions that he said could be answered by the oncologist. He said that Mom's xray looked "perfect", that her lung was fully inflated, no fluid present, and that the incisions looked good. She is to see him again in six months.
So, we all left the hospital feeling quite a bit better than when we walked in. I told Mom that I would email all the info to you, just to have it all at once. Happy news!
Love, Denise"
So I'm feeling much better about all of this, as you could guess. :-) It's really the best news that we could have gotten.
"Hi Everyone, Here's the report--
Cancer is StageIIB. Stage II means it has spread beyond the tumor to lymph nodes. B refers to the size of the tumor--A is smallest.
Doctor said that the "important" lymph nodes were clear of cancer. The one lymph node with cancer cells was at the tumor site.
Doctor recommends chemotherapy, but only four cycles. Good news!
I asked what the goal of treatment was--Cure? The doctor said "yes", emphatically; that everything that had been done was "curative", not "pallaitive". I asked the doctor if "Cure" was the "five years cancer-free" definition. He said that that is the benchmark typically used, but that he thought we could think about 10 years and beyond.
I asked about the success rate for lung cancer, since everything I had read talked about advances in success rates for breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, but not so much for lung cancer. The doctor said that this was because those types of cancer were easier to detect in the earlier stages, whereas lung cancer typically wasn't detected until much later, and that the fact that Mom's cancer was discovered early was very good. The doctor recommended two oncologists in Abingdon that he said were "excellent". We called Vickie on the way home and had her start working on getting Mom an appointment ASAP.
I had a few other questions that he said could be answered by the oncologist. He said that Mom's xray looked "perfect", that her lung was fully inflated, no fluid present, and that the incisions looked good. She is to see him again in six months.
So, we all left the hospital feeling quite a bit better than when we walked in. I told Mom that I would email all the info to you, just to have it all at once. Happy news!
Love, Denise"
So I'm feeling much better about all of this, as you could guess. :-) It's really the best news that we could have gotten.