One year ago today, our world changed forever. It was the day I was told that I have advanced cancer.
I didn’t even believe it. I knew it was a fact. But I didn’t really believe it. My wife cried for probably a week straight before I even shed my first tear. It took days to even sink in that it was real. I was only 44. It just couldn’t be.
First, I owe you an update from my previous post.
My test for the T790M mutation in my cancer cells came back positive. This is the result we were hoping for. It means I can stay on a targeted therapy, thus still avoiding chemotherapy. (Good resource on the different kinds of treatments for lung cancer here).
My new medication is still a daily pill and is called Tagrisso. Hopefully it will kill the cancer back to near-remission like the Tarceva did last year. I have been taking it for 6 weeks now. On Thursday of next week, I will get my first CT scan since changing treatments and we will find out.
Until then, we just don’t know how well it is working yet.
Also from my last post, I did have the pleural effusion drained off of my left lung. There was almost a quart of fluid removed. I took a picture of the bottle full of brown liquid but I’ll spare you that. Along with being back on Prednisone, it really helped my breathing feel better starting the next day.
Being on my second line of treatment already was a bit of a wakeup call for us. The 5-year survival rate for stage 4 lung cancer is in the single digits. Therefore, I am making further changes in my lifestyle to be able to beat those odds, including a massive overhaul of my diet.
Refined sugar is completely out. No candy, cake, pie, etc. So is all soda. I’ve switched to drinking either all filtered water or iced tea sweetened with stevia. I’m also eating mostly a vegan diet now, though my research and reading continues on this. I may add poultry back in sparingly, if it is organic.
That’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll have a positive update after next week’s scan.