Lung Cancer 11 comments

7 Apr 2005 @ 01:40, by Gerald Vest Peter Jennings announced that he was joining with 10 million other lung cancer victims and beat this thing. My wife had her left lung removed 3 years ago along with some nodes and went through the chemo and radiation therapy for several months. She was fortunate that a small tumor was discovered in her lung while undergoing gallbladder surgery, so catching these cells early is important. Everything in her body looked so good, for about 3 years, with positive reports from all of the body scans, but my partner suggested to her oncologist that she should also receive a brain scan. Sure enough, the body scan showed a small tumor, just under her skull. So, she chose to have the tumor surgically removed. It was a successful operation and she came home, feeling pretty good, following a couple of days in intensive care. On April 1, my partner received the Gammaknife radiation treatment. This is very high tech radiation treatment that focuses on the surgical spot and/or if other cancer cells are detected, they shoot gamma rays for several minutes into these areas. The team consists of a physicist who sets the parameters, the oncologist and surgeon. The nursing staff were well trained and stayed with us throughout the experience. The real downside for us was having my partner wear this head brace, screwed into her skull in 4 places. She wasn't given any real pain medication for this procedure. Perhaps the worst part of this treatment was arriving in the hospital at 5:00am. We left home at 4:00am to make the trip from Las Cruces, NM to El Paso, TX. We had to wait 4 hours for the surgeon to arrive and push the button on the radiation machine. I can tell you for certain that the "Laying-on-of-Hands" exercise worked perfectly during this time. Lou was most comfortable sitting in a chair so I rested my hands on her shoulders for much of the time while we observed and experienced the unity of our breath and of our being. The Power of Touch andLearning to breathe After the treatment, Lou was unscrewed and freed of this contraption. There was some blood on the bandage that she held on her head, so the treatment obviously penetrated her skin. We were given a room and after about an hour, we headed for home. I learned that my partner is determined to beat this cancer thing. She has been through more medical interventions than a human should ever have to endure in a life time. She just gets stronger following each challenge and intrusion. We are having a great life right now and every moment with Lou is very precious. Pain Management and Pain Advocacy

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