{"id":27757,"date":"2021-12-29T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/how-i-balance-being-optimistic-and-realistic-during-advanced-lung-cancer\/"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:06","slug":"how-i-balance-being-optimistic-and-realistic-during-advanced-lung-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/how-i-balance-being-optimistic-and-realistic-during-advanced-lung-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Balance Being Optimistic and Realistic During Advanced Lung Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This post was first published on<\/em> <\/em>The ASCO Post<\/a>, October 25, 2021. It has been edited for content. <\/em>The ASCO Post, in partnership with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (<\/em>ASCO), communicates news of evidence-based multidisciplinary cancer care to a broad audience of oncology professionals and ASCO members.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Sierawski lives with his wife, Kathryn, in Omaha, Nebraska.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first indication I had stage IV lung cancer<\/a> was a persistent cough during the beginning of the cold and flu season in the fall of 2013. I was 35 years old, never smoked, and in otherwise excellent health, so I ignored the cough for several months until I noticed my breathing had also become more labored. A chest x-ray showed a partial collapse of the lower lobe of my left lung, which my primary care physician said could be the result of pneumonia. He recommended deep breathing exercises over the next month to increase my lung capacity and then took another chest x-ray to monitor my progress. The second image showed the condition was worsening, and I was sent to a pulmonologist for additional testing.<\/p>\n

By now, the coughing had been going on for 6 months and was becoming disruptive. Finally, a computed tomography (CT) scan<\/a> of my chest detected a mass in my left lung. A bronchoscopy, which is a test used to see inside of the lungs, later confirmed the presence of a tumor, and my doctor referred me to a thoracic surgeon.<\/p>\n

Going for a cure<\/h3>\n

After meeting with the surgeon, my wife and I decided to get a second opinion<\/a>. We knew that despite my age and otherwise good health, we were probably facing a lung cancer diagnosis and wanted to know exactly what our options might be if the tumor was malignant. After getting feedback from a friend of ours insisting we should not waste any time, we made the trip to Rochester, Minnesota, for an evaluation at a medical center there. I believe that decision may have saved my life.<\/p>\n

Following a series of imaging scans, another bronchoscopy, and finally a biopsy of the tumor and cancer genome sequencing, I was diagnosed with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-mutated non-small cell adenocarcinoma, which is associated with specific features, including a nonsmoking history and younger age. A full battery of tests later, including positron emission tomography (PET) scans<\/a> to identify areas of suspected spread, CT-guided biopsies to verify spread, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)<\/a> of my brain and spine, it was determined that the cancer had spread to a rib, part of my spine, and several lymph nodes, although, thankfully, not to my brain.<\/p>\n

My wife, Kathryn, is a nurse, so we knew what stage IV lung cancer meant and that the prognosis is pretty grim, with a meager 5-year survival rate of just 7%. But I\u2019m an optimist and have a positive attitude that keeps me from imagining the worst-case scenario, so I didn\u2019t see the Grim Reaper looming over my shoulder. I was just thinking, \u201cOkay, what are our next steps? What do we have to do to fix this problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

It also helped to hear my oncologist say, \u201cWe are going for a cure. You are 35 with no other risk factors. We are considering every treatment to get you cancer-free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the tumor harbored ALK rearrangements, my initial treatment was with a targeted therapy<\/a> that reduced the size of the tumor in my lung. That enabled me to have a lower lobectomy, which is a surgery to remove an entire lobe of the lung, to remove the primary cancer and completely resolved the metastases in my bones and lymph nodes. The cancer did, however, eventually spread to my brain, which was successfully treated with radiation therapy. To prevent recurrence, I was treated with another targeted therapy, which I\u2019ve been taking for 5 years. So far, I remain cancer-free.<\/p>\n

Staying in the moment<\/h3>\n

As I\u2019ve already stated, I\u2019m an optimist, but I\u2019m also a realist. I know I may have a shorter life span than my healthy peers, and that awareness is a great kick in the pants to get in the game of life. Cancer has been a reminder to live my life to the fullest because I don\u2019t know when it will end or whether my death will be from cancer, another disease, an accident, or old age.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m comforted by the fact that my wife has a great family support system and is a strong human being, so I don\u2019t worry about her ability to carry on without me. I do have 3 young sons, ages 13, 11, and 9, and would like to see them grow into adolescence and adulthood, but I\u2019m not thinking that far ahead. I\u2019m just enjoying being with them and staying in the moment.<\/p>\n

Living fearlessly<\/h3>\n

Being a cancer survivor has given me an appreciation for the tremendous work researchers are doing in finding more effective treatments to keep people with advanced-stage disease like mine living longer, high-quality lives. It has also introduced me to a whole new way to impact the lives of others going through what I\u2019ve gone through.<\/p>\n

When I was first diagnosed, I remember saying to my wife that I have led a charmed life. I never really had a cross to bear, and if cancer is my cross to bear, let\u2019s make the most of it. So, I\u2019ve become a member of LUNGevity\u2019s Survivor Advisory Council and a mentor to other lung cancer survivors. The LUNGevity Foundation had been a great resource for me when I was first diagnosed and looking for reliable information about my type of lung cancer. I want to give back to this community of researchers and survivors who have given so much to me.<\/p>\n

Although I don\u2019t want cancer to define who I am now, I can\u2019t deny that the disease has changed my life and refocused it. I live more fearlessly and fully now. I\u2019m a survivor.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was first published on The ASCO Post, October 25, 2021. It has been edited for content. The ASCO Post, in partnership with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), communicates news of evidence-based multidisciplinary cancer care to a broad audience of oncology professionals and ASCO members. Mr. Sierawski lives with his wife, Kathryn, in Omaha, Nebraska. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43480,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27757\/revisions\/43480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}