my doctor did a mediastinoscopy and they found squamous in my mediastinal areas and parachymal. so no lobectomy . the treatment he says he wants to do is cisplatin and epotiside, with 7 weeks of radiation. I also have a 10mm spot on my lung. I'm a little worried as I just read epotiside can actually give you more cancer, I know you don't know my case, I want more aggressive, but I don't want more cancer then I already have . which is why I"d like your opinion, I"m already scared enough, don't want something that's gonna make it worse,. is this a good grug for squamous in your opinion the epotiside ? and can you name off anything to add to those two to like something new like new trials of something to enhance the chemo /rad, anything would be appreciated. I know people put a lot of stock in you opinions, and I do know its just an opinion, but I want to live
squamous chemo - 1266109
leahkyle1
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Reply # - September 23, 2014, 08:33 AM
Hello leahkyle1 and welcome
Hello leahkyle1 and welcome to Grace. I’m very sorry you need our help but I’m sure we’ll be able to help you come to a clearer understanding of this whole disease. It sounds as though you have stage III/locally advanced nsclc and will be treated to cure you of this cancer. So that’s where my hopes will be.
Etoposide doesn’t cause cancer to grow and we couldn’t guess at what your doctor may have meant though I’d say it’s a good idea to ask him/her what was meant, if just to help in increasing the dialogue between the two of you.
I’ll ask a lung cancer specialist to comment so you should hear back from him/her within the day.
It’s never a bad idea to get a 2nd opinion if you’re not already seeing a lung specialist. While our doctors are lung specialists and also have dedicated enthusiasm for educating people each person’s lung cancer is different and so we can’t give opinions about anyone’s individual process.
I’ve heard more than one of our faculty say there are as many different lung cancers as there are people with lung cancer. So we can’t give individual opinions. I don’t know if you’ve looked around the site but we have a huge and ever growing library of blog posts, videos, and slide shows of every topic discussed here. What makes us different (other than our faculty is the best ;) )is that you can pair what you’ve read on your own with questions on how that applies to you or vis vera. I think the best way to find what you’re looking for here is to use the search engine, however depending on what browser you’re using you may have to log off to get results. Don’t hesitate to ask for what you need here and from your doctor’s team. Nurses are amazing so don’t hesitate to find 1 or 2 or...that can help make sense of all this. They are in the throes of this day in and day out.
All best,
Janine
Reply # - September 23, 2014, 08:41 PM
Etoposide has a very small
Etoposide has a very small chance of causing a secondary cancer years later, but it's really not a relevant worry compared with the threat of the cancer. People can usually understand that there may be a chance that they could die as a complication from surgery that is being done to cure the cancer. By the same token, there is a chance of serious or even fatal side effects of chemo/radiation, but that risk is minimal compared with the risk posed by the cancer. Moreover, the risk of a secondary cancer comes years later, maybe decades after treatment, which will only be an issue if you're cured of the current cancer.
I think the key issue is that it's more important to focus on the current, real problems at hand than the much smaller probability of a future potential problem.
-Dr. West