21st November 2024 got my diagnosis. The shock I will never forget!
68 years old happy with my lot girl, have a lovely partner and a dog. Living the dream of retirement and bam, a huge shakeup call.
I feel like my future is now totally out of my hands. I am at the mercy of politics, drug funding, postcode lotteries and having an oncologist who can think outside the box and know their stuff.
Is my life going to be fluffy socks and a huge pity party for my friends who really won’t know what to say. Hell NO!
Im hoping all the talk about how cancer treatments are getting better is true.
My dad died of cancer, pancreatic cancer in 1988.
I have got lung cancer NSCL - adenocarcinoma, stage 3B, T3N2M0.
Treatment plan to start on 12/12/2024
3rd December got a call from the oncology team to update me on my gene bio marker testing from the biopsy and have been told I am not able to have immunotherapy but I can have targeted therapy. I am EFGR positive. That felt like a set back, I fear being a bit left field might mean I have less chance.
update 14/12/24
My treatment plan did change. When the oncologist and radiographer sat down to do the radiotherapy mapping it was clear too many beams would compromise my oesophagus and wind pipe. So too risky.
So I am on 4 cycles of GemCarbo in the hope it can shrink and then rescan for radiotherapy suitability.
I also established I am harbouring exon 21 L858R an EGFR+ mutation commonly affecting Asian women who never smoked. I could not be further removed from this profile so am an outlier and feel very much left field.
I was told I’d be put on Osimertinib which is a tablet but that treatment does not work so well for this mutation so I am really hoping chemo reduces the tumour to enable radiotherapy and then a resection. You got to always have hope right?!
I started the GemCarbo 2 days ago you have it on day 1 then day 8 and then 13 days rest. I also have steroids inbetween. The steroids push up my glucose level which gives me a muzzy head as I am just under the NHS level to be prediabetic on my last check in September this year. Also I have hot rosy cheeks that looks like sunburn and I am drinking at least 2.5 litres of water a day so a frequent visitor to the loo day and night.
So that’s my update until I go down the scanxiety route for my first CT scan to see the effects of chemo and if I can move into radio therapy. Cross your toes and fingers for me please.
