Not the best, but not the worst, either

Well, today was the day for information from doctors. The first visit was to the oncologist. Dr. A is to be the captain of our team.

Not the best of news, but not the worst either. John has Stage III-A squamous cell carcinoma (non-small cell carcinoma) in the left lower lobe (LLL) of his lungs, with 4 left lymph nodes involved. His PET scans and brain MRI last week were clear. Dr. A says this is “curable” with treatment with chemo and radiation. His recommendation is for radiation with chemo give at the same time, weekly for seven weeks. The drugs would be Paclitaxel and Carboplatin. And he said the treatment would be “tough”.

John asked about getting a second opinion, so Dr. A’s office is going to set him up with a visit to another top oncologist here. We’re hoping to get that done in the next few days, so the treatment schedule can be set up and started.

Next we went to see the pulmonologist. Dr. B told us again what he had found. He’s going to set up full breathing function tests, and see John again in 3 months. He said he was 100% sure that this was due to John’s many years of smoking - even though he quit 30 years ago. Dr. B is also concerned about the possibility of a lesion on his larynx, and wants to be sure John sees the ENT doc. This is set up for Wednesday.