Mom has Lung Cancer

D Day....
On August 3, 2005, what I now call D Day (diagnosis day); we went into the Doctors office to get the results of mom’s brochoscophy. We knew something was wrong, she wanted to just pick up the results the day before…but they wouldn’t allow it…she had to see the doctor.
Since this doctor was not an Oncologist, he couldn’t tell us what stage it was, he did however tell us it was Non small cell lung cancer type adenocarcinoma. He told us this type is the slower growing type. After a bit of crying and talking to the doctor, he gave her some prescriptions for acid reflux, because the procedure he had done to biopsy the lymph nodes also revealed a hiatal hernia.
During the procedure, from what I can tell, he went into the esophagus and looked around with a camera, he biopsied some lymph nodes, he found a hole in her esophagus and did some looking around to some of her other organs, the report said they looked good.
He noted that the lymph nodes looked necrotic and saw some necrotic debris. The biggest mass in her left lung is 10cm. Back in march it was only 8cm.
Mom had her gallbladder taken out in February, then started having the breathing problems, thus the chest x-rays and scans. They did the first biopsy, and it came back negative, so did the second biopsy. From what we figure, and from a comment the doctor had made, we believe they biopsied the diaphragm instead of the lung mass. Her Diaphragm is stuck in the up position. The Oncologist said this very likely might be due to nerve damage from the cancer.
Well, onto the first Oncologist appointment. The Oncologist we were giving an appointment with was Dr. Han. He was a very nice man, he spent a good hour or so on the phone trying to track down moms x-rays and scans. Our appointment time was at 9:30am, and we didn’t leave till nearly 1:30pm. He was very informative, answered all of our questions. His recommended course of treatment was radiation and chemo. He said the mass is too big, and mom is in stage 4, and could not be operated on. The cancer has gone into mom’s lymph nodes, and into the lymph nodes below her diaphragm. A PET scan next week should reveal where exactly it has moved to into her body.
The first couple of days after this diagnoses were like a blur, like I was moving through life looking into a hazy tunnel. Not sleeping well at night, and wanting to sleep during the day. I will post all I can here about treatments and such that mother receives. Please continue to be a prayerful and power source of hope and inspiration for her.