We spent over 2 hours with the radiation oncologist group of the Clearview Cancer Institute, and actually very little of that time was "waiting"... most of it was in discussion with the nurse or one of two different doctors. Our primary doctor there will be Dr. Hoyt Childs, who is actually the Medical Director and CEO of the Center for Cancer Care. He spent a lot of time with us answering questions in a very caring manner, and explaining the need for radiation treatment in Lisa's case, and how it would likely go forward.
Yes, it's true that chemo alone is occasionally used with lung cancer, but survivor statistics favor the combination with radiation at some point. Presuming there are no surprises when the next scan is done towards the end of this month, Lisa will have radiation five days a week for five weeks, possibly stretching out to seven weeks, starting in early April. Although this will occur ever weekday, it will only be done for a few minutes each day, and be carefully targeted to just the area where the tumors are. Radiation treatments have come long way in the last couple of decades.
Side effects from this type of radiation therapy are typically a lot less problematic than from chemo (though she'll still be getting weekly chemo doses during that time), with the expectation for some skin redness in the area, more fatigue and coughing, and possibly a sore throat since the edge of the esophagus will be in that targeted region. It will take about 5 weeks after the last dose of radiation before we'll know how Lisa's cancer responded to it. It's a long road, and that puts us into July, but if all goes well, at that time she'll have the biopsies taken from the area outside the lung, and if clear, the upper lobe of Lisa's lung will be removed, taking the last remnants of the cancer with it.
Michael
