Post by Jade93 on Jul 3, 2017 12:01:50 GMT -6
Hello I'm new here, I just joined to ask about my father. He was diagnosed with lung cancer adenocarcinoma a month ago in his right lung (5cm x 3cm x 2cm), with bone mets, lymph nodes, and a few in the liver as well. We got a good news that he has been tested ALK Positive and could receive targeted therapy.
My father was is doing great so far with targeted therapy Crizotinib (Xalcori). He's been on it for 3 days, and so far his respond is very good, he doesn't face so many side effects, just a bit nausea on the first day.
Here's the thing. Suddenly a week ago, he felt numbness along his thighs to his legs, and sometimes tingling, 'electricity' sensation along his thighs when he coughs. It was very challenging for him to walk because of this numbness. Until a few days ago he couldn't urinate, we went to the hospital. MRI showed that he has spinal cord compression on his thoraic area (T10). The bone mets are also in T8, and in lumbar area T2. So he is currently given 3 sessions of radiotherapy using 3D CRT, he'll do 2 more tomorrow and the day after. He felt so muh better after dexamethasone injection they've been giving him twice a day. He can urinate now without tube. He can walk by himself.
But our concern is, we know that dexamethasone is only treating him temporarily. And since the spinal cord has been compressed by the tumor, we still need to do fast, urgent treatment to his spine. The doctor was not sure that radiotherapy is enough to shrink or remove the tumor, and Crizotinib won't be fast enough to shrink or remove it. We are currently waiting for opinion from a spine specialist, but time is sensitive.
Our question is, what can we do now to his spinal cord compression? Do you think surgery to his spine with tumor compressing is risky? Is there a way to do fast way to remove the tumor, so that it won't press the spinal cord? How fast should we treat spinal cord compression? Because once the spinal cord was compressed, time became very critical to prevent him from paralyzing. But we're worried that surgery will be risky and radiotherapy/Crizotinib will take long to shrink or remove the tumor.
Your stories and answers will be very helpful and supportive to us. Thank you very much.
My father was is doing great so far with targeted therapy Crizotinib (Xalcori). He's been on it for 3 days, and so far his respond is very good, he doesn't face so many side effects, just a bit nausea on the first day.
Here's the thing. Suddenly a week ago, he felt numbness along his thighs to his legs, and sometimes tingling, 'electricity' sensation along his thighs when he coughs. It was very challenging for him to walk because of this numbness. Until a few days ago he couldn't urinate, we went to the hospital. MRI showed that he has spinal cord compression on his thoraic area (T10). The bone mets are also in T8, and in lumbar area T2. So he is currently given 3 sessions of radiotherapy using 3D CRT, he'll do 2 more tomorrow and the day after. He felt so muh better after dexamethasone injection they've been giving him twice a day. He can urinate now without tube. He can walk by himself.
But our concern is, we know that dexamethasone is only treating him temporarily. And since the spinal cord has been compressed by the tumor, we still need to do fast, urgent treatment to his spine. The doctor was not sure that radiotherapy is enough to shrink or remove the tumor, and Crizotinib won't be fast enough to shrink or remove it. We are currently waiting for opinion from a spine specialist, but time is sensitive.
Our question is, what can we do now to his spinal cord compression? Do you think surgery to his spine with tumor compressing is risky? Is there a way to do fast way to remove the tumor, so that it won't press the spinal cord? How fast should we treat spinal cord compression? Because once the spinal cord was compressed, time became very critical to prevent him from paralyzing. But we're worried that surgery will be risky and radiotherapy/Crizotinib will take long to shrink or remove the tumor.
Your stories and answers will be very helpful and supportive to us. Thank you very much.