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does chemo and radiation really work? What is this ?

 
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staceym
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Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:58 pm    Post subject: does chemo and radiation really work? Reply with quote
My mom has had five chemo treatments and five weeks of radiation.This past week the radiation started shrinking her esophagus and when she swallows she feels as if she is having a heart attack.That's what the doctors think anyway.Also her chest hursts constantly and she seems to be getting worse.Her doctors stopped radiation on Friday and today they didn't do it either and said they were having a meeting today to see what the next step would be for tomorrow.Has anyone had this happen to their family?I feel as if this was all a waste of time and she is worse than she was in January when they told her she had stage IIIB lung and throat cancer?
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pbj11
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Joined: 12 May 2007
Posts: 1405
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:29 pm    Post subject: Re: does chemo and radiation really work? Reply with quote
Hi Stacey,

Welcome and I'm very sorry about your Mom's diagnosis. Cancer always comes as a shock. Then you move into therapy with a lot of questions and your head is probably spinning.

Radiation toward the middle of the chest often produces very painful swallowing for many weeks. What she is experiencing is not unusual and they should be prescribing a numbing agent for her to take prior to eating so that she has a little relief in swallowing. They also may give her something to help with the heartburn/GERD issues. Hopefully this will pass soon. Sometimes patients have an esophagus stretching procedure done to relieve the scarring/effects of radiation. I hope this doesn't turn out to be the case for your Mom, but if it is, it will help.

Chemo/radiation at the same time is a very tough thing to go through and yes, she will appear to be worse for the time being. Many of the side effects of both will vanish once she gets a break in the treatment. It's like you have to get worse before you get better with the one, two punch of chemo and radiation.

As for your question about whether it really works -- yes, most of the time it does shrink the cancer. Lung cancer is a nasty disease and has a very high recurrence rate. The battle will continue. With a IIIb diagnosis, no one can give a survival guarantee. You do what you have to and hope for the best.

I'm sorry she is going through so much and I know it breaks your heart to watch this happen. Many hopes for better days and that this aggressive treatment is successful.

PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
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