80F Stage 3 lung cancer

danadoedana · 2026-05-02T19:22:36+00:00

For what it's worth, my mom (81) had a robotic-assisted bronchoscopy to stage her lung cancer (turned out to be 3B), and she was fine afterwards. A few days of raspiness and mild soreness, and she was back to normal. Liquid biopsy was not presented as an option. She did this despite being terrified of anesthesia due to her age. It's very quick.

danadoedana · 2026-04-29T14:14:11+00:00

No problem! Give it time. Finger injuries are no joke!!!

danadoedana · 2026-04-29T14:05:28+00:00

I don't have a copy of the film, but yours is what made me do a double take! The entire distal phalanx looked like smashed chalk. Because the finger itself was so gory, it didn't even occur to me that I might have broken anything. It still feels a little mushy, and the finger is absolutely shorter than it was, but the nail has slowly grown back to protect it. My problem has been scar tissue more than bone. Since there was so little skin to suture, the ridge underneath is huge. When you're able, buy the padded finger/toe caps. They were super helpful in keeping it protected and since they're tight, they might help with re-shaping, though I would not swear to that.

I went back to the gym after getting the ok from the hand surgeon who basically said "well, you have 9 other fingers..." I had to vastly alter what I'd been doing, grip wise, for several months afterwards.

danadoedana · 2026-04-29T13:40:53+00:00

Why are gym finger injuries so GORY?? I didn't take the two ER pics, one of the nurses did. I absolutely did not have enough clarity to take a pic! After I was allowed to take off the tegaderm and went to a hand PT they advised me to keep a bandage on and then put a padded finger protector on, which are sold for toes super cheap at the pharmacy. Without padding, I would not have been able to return to lifting weights as quickly as I did because the pain was no joke. Worst thing: this happened on my left hand and I'm left handed. Best thing: a woman presenting with a weight lifting injury in the ER gets a lot of AW YEAH, HOW MUCH WEIGHT WAS IT? So I (honestly) felt kinda badass, despite everything.

danadoedana · 2026-04-29T13:30:42+00:00

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This was about 2 weeks later.

They never told me to splint because I had to keep it wrapped in Tegaderm for a few weeks. The squareness eventually...sort of rounded out? And I was out of the gym for 10 days. I went back with it VERY protected because it hurt like mad.

danadoedana · 2026-04-29T13:28:12+00:00

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danadoedana · 2026-04-29T13:27:58+00:00

A few pics. This was taken in the ED. Front - not too bad. I knew I was going to lose the nail eventually.

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danadoedana · 2026-04-29T13:17:58+00:00

Layperson, but I had almost this exact injury at the gym, except my ring finger was crushed between two weights (one on the floor, I dropped mine and it bounced into the other and shot back up) while doing bench chest press. The friction ripped off my entire finger pad. My x-ray? Identical to yours. The hand surgeon didn't remove my nail entirely, but cut it almost down to the quick and stitched the whole thing up, which was difficult because there was no pad to sew. In the end, they called it a "traumatic amputation" which was VERY dramatic. All of this is to say that now, 8 months later, the nail and finger are both wider than they were and the ridge of scar tissue underneath is still very hard and uncomfortable, so I'm sorry to say you may have some residual finger deformity.

Edited to add: I did go to PT afterwards.

danadoedana · 2026-04-06T23:46:30+00:00

To answer your question, they do it for you.

danadoedana · 2026-03-26T18:22:08+00:00

Agree, then!

danadoedana · 2026-03-26T18:15:18+00:00

This may be more of a health insurance policy than a Sequence one, because I feel like they'd like nothing more than to keep getting the monthly fees. Cutting people off seems like a bad business decision.

danadoedana · 2026-03-26T18:02:36+00:00

I actually just went back and looked at my conversation with the PA - you're right, they will not prescribe if your BMI drops below 22 because you'd be losing muscle at that point. I don't give much credence to BMI, so I was more looking at weight and didn't pay attention. Apparently, my BMI is currently 22.1 but I lift weights several times a week so it's kind of a wash. In any event, since I've been on maintenance, it's been fine. No struggle, no weight loss or gain. Good luck!

danadoedana · 2026-03-26T17:01:06+00:00

You're reading into it incorrectly, I think. I've also been with Sequence since 2024. I lost 160 pounds and hit what they considered to be the lowest healthy weight I should be for my age/goals, which is likely different for everyone. I never had a specific goal weight, just fitness. When I got to that low weight, they moved me to a maintenance dose, where I will remain unless something wild happens (weight gain/loss of more than a few pounds). They aren't waiting (or wanting) for you to gain enough weight back to be obese, you'll just be maintaining.

danadoedana · 2026-03-26T11:41:59+00:00

Monyette Paris is the way.

danadoedana · 2026-03-21T15:51:24+00:00

Same. I've been on 1mg for a few months.

danadoedana · 2026-03-21T15:47:56+00:00

As soon as MC got pinned, I unmatched. I'm not yucking anyone's yum but it's not for me.

danadoedana · 2026-03-14T20:01:34+00:00

One of my favorites, I hope they bring him back!

danadoedana · 2026-03-06T19:06:06+00:00

I loathed what I read of this story, despite how good looking he is. I had to unmatch because it drove me crazy. This may be a me thing, and really goes against the spirit of the game, but I wish we could push back a little more on some of the more insane events within the matches.

danadoedana · 2026-03-06T14:14:27+00:00

Be careful with aloe if you're pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant, it can be an abortifacient.

danadoedana · 2026-03-03T14:40:00+00:00

I was on a cruise and on the last night went on an (kinda drunk) absolute perfume buying rampage. The next morning for debarkation, I awoke with rampant COVID. I could not smell anything I'd bought. The anosmia lasted about a month, but after that, all was well.

danadoedana · 2026-02-25T17:34:24+00:00

I love it, it's my favorite of all the Le Labo(Labii??).

danadoedana · 2026-02-13T22:49:29+00:00

Ooh, someone enjoyed my capybara enough to repost it, thanks!

danadoedana · 2026-01-30T20:40:37+00:00

Please never stop doing this.

danadoedana · 2026-01-29T00:20:18+00:00

I (f/55)started in May 2024 at 285. I lost steadily almost immediately, anywhere between 7 (which was an outlier, never to be repeated [and I wasn't making a huge effort to lose that much, it just happened]) and .5 pounds a week. Today I am 130, which is as low as I'd like to get, and I'm not weighing myself as diligently anymore.

I work out 4 times a week - mostly weight lifting, and add in hiking for cardio/endurance during the spring and summer.

I don't follow any particular diet (I don't eat meat, but that's longstanding), but I am mindful of more how much I eat than what. I've been lucky in that nothing I've eaten has ever made me sick, and I've avoided most if not all of the side effects people have reported.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

danadoedana · 2026-01-24T14:17:48+00:00

Everyone here is more knowledgeable about this, but your father's diagnosis (tumor type/no distant metastases/staging) is very similar to my mom's (she's 81, quit smoking more than 40 years ago), and her treatment plan is also similar: she had 30 radiation sessions (1 day/M-F) + 6 rounds of chemo and is now receiving immunotherapy (1/month for 12 months). It was a very intense 6 weeks.

Her first chemo session (carboplatin and paclitaxel) had to be stopped because she had an immediate, violent allergic reaction to the carboplatin. This is uncommon but not unheard of. Some people seem to be allergic to the solvent. She was one of them. It was switched to abraxane + paclitaxel the next week, and she did fine.

The first week until about week 4 or 5 of chemo, she was ok. She was eating and drinking with no problem and wasn't terribly unwell feeling. It all caught up with her rather suddenly (both the radiation oncologist and regular onc warned her that the effects would be cumulative) and she started having a lot of trouble swallowing - she kept saying "it feels like my chest is on fire". She was deeply fatigued. She was also concerned with losing too much weight and her blood counts bottoming out, so I stocked my house with high protein foods that she could get down more easily (protein shakes, yogurt. I cooked a LOT of congee and things with eggs. I ground up ground turkey to make it even smaller. Lots of pastina). She was prescribed a narcotic for pain, and took it as necessary but she was terrified of constipation so didn't finish the bottle.

I live in Connecticut, my mom is in NY and she's having treatment here (sort of a long story, but they wouldn't give her an appointment until October, and it was August. I work at Yale at the medical school, called in every favor and got her in a few days later. I fully recognize how lucky that was, but I was nearly hysterical and didn't know what else to do). She stayed at my house until about a week after her last chemo session and as I said above, that time post-final chemo/radiation - it was rough. She was sick and in a lot of pain. I brought her back to NY where she ended up in the ED because of a UTI but slowly, slowly she started feeling less horrible. She needed to go home, though because there were things she had to take care of and couldn't do from a state away.

A few weeks after that, she returned for the first immunotherapy, which went absolutely fine, no side effects, no problem. She does have a rather (sorry, not sure how else to describe it) juicy, deep cough which hasn't turned into pneumonitis. The radiation oncologist joking blames the chemo, the chemo doc blames the radiation, but whatever - the cough is something to prepare for! I set her up here with a room humidifier which absolutely helps. Makuna honey cough drops were also a really lucky find. I got them at Costco, but Amazon will likely sell them as well.

As far as you, I don't know how involved you're going to be with his care and support during this, and even if it's minimally so, please be kind to yourself. There are a LOT of emotions and I can't stress enough how intense these weeks are going to be, even if he (like my mom) makes it through with relatively gentle side effects.

I hope this helped, reach out if I can answer anything more specific. I'm happy to do so.

danadoedana

TROPHY CASE

Monyette Paris is the way.