Getting Through a Lung Cancer Diagnosis

I often get asked by many people in the lung cancer community, especially the newer diagnosed, how I get through it. This year, I'll be celebrating my 10-year cancerversary.

Staying strong to give hope

People often look up to us, the ones that have been living longer with lung cancer. I sometimes feel they are looking for hope and advice from us; it gives them a sense of hope.

I often hear, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you." Hearing that we give the newly diagnosed lots of hope gives me more reason to advocate and bring them hope in any way possible. But it also gives me hope, and it lights up that fire in me so that I can continue to fight and be their role model.

Just because I'm living longer with lung cancer doesn't mean I lose hope or get discouraged. It's not easy living with lung cancer, especially the side effects of our treatments.

In the last almost 10 years, I've suffered so much with side effects. I know others have had it worse, but regardless, it's not pretty.

My first line of treatment was chemo and radiation. Because I was fit and healthy, chemo didn't affect me as badly as others, but boy, it did take me out. I remember I couldn't eat if my life depended on it. I struggled so hard to eat anything, and I was often told if I didn't eat, I was going to make matters worse.

I remember lying in my bed, crying and asking whoever created us to just take me because I couldn't do this anymore. Then I turned my head to my left, and my son was sleeping next to me and said, "I'm sorry, don't take me; my kids need me. Just help me to eat." I then started forcing myself to eat.

I didn't care what it was at that point. I would devour cereal, because that was the only thing I could tolerate along with a chocolate protein shake.

But I would force other foods down my throat, and I'm glad I did because I started to develop strength. So, I set my mind to do something, and I did it.

Side effects and gratitude

When I started on the first line of targeted therapy for ALK-positive, I was so happy because I didn't have a lot of side effects. I only had constipation, and I was able to take care of that with over-the-counter medicine. So, you can imagine how happy I was, but then came the targeted therapy that stopped working, and off I was to the next one.

Now, this was probably considered the second line of targeted therapy. When I started the new one, it was going ok, or so I thought.

By the second week, I started to develop side effects, and my side effect was diarrhea. Oh, my goodness, it was not pretty. It was so bad that every time I went out, I had to take anti-diarrhea medication and wear Depends in case of accidents. Yes, I often had accidents, and that made me feel so worthless.

But my husband told me, "I'd rather you soil yourself than visit you at your gravesite." When he told me that, I sucked it up and said, "Juanita, deal with it and don't worry. Thank goodness for Depends and anti-diarrhea medication; you got this."

I was on that medication for 7 years; it gave me 7 more years with my children and husband, and I got to meet my first grandchild. I'm grateful for that.

Getting through the toughest times

It was time to say goodbye to the targeted therapy, and I started on a new one. This was, for me, the worst of all. I had every side effect you can think of I got.

I suffered so much on this one, but my oncologist reduced the dosage, and I was able to tolerate it. I don't like it, but it bought me more time to meet grandbaby number two. So, I can't complain; I'm thankful again.

It's not easy dealing with lung cancer, but we must find a way to overcome it and find something that will help us get through this awful disease.