Community Spotlight: James (Part 1)

James Petzing is a retired 59 year old professional poker player living in Las Vegas. Before retirement, he worked at a high-end steak and seafood restaurant and martini lounge in Douglas, MI. He spent most of his business career building his international marketing training and consulting company which offered him the opportunity to travel the world (90 countries) supporting international marketers working for USA corporations.

In 2017, James learned he had lung cancer. He is now dedicated to sharing his story and offering support to those faced with the uncertainty of cancer.

What started as walking pneumonia...

I was diagnosed with Stage 3B non-small cell lung cancer in October 2017 and have been in treatment for 2 1/2+ years. This unfortunate finding came after a chest x-ray indicated I had walking pneumonia. It also showed a large gray area in my right lung area that my general practitioner was very concerned about, so he recommended I get a CT scan. I did and the cancer was found.

Three months ago, a PET scan showed progression of my cancer into Stage 4. So, I’ve been receiving chemotherapy treatments again in conjunction with monthly immunotherapy infusions and clinical trial test drug injections.

And I had just beaten neck cancer

I was shocked and devastated when I received the “bad news” from my doctor, as I had just beaten neck cancer in early January 2015. I had never smoked and couldn’t understand how I now had advanced-stage lung cancer. The only symptoms I had experienced were an ongoing hacking cough and wheezing for six weeks prior to getting the x-ray. I just thought it was a minor respiratory infection, but I was sadly mistaken.

The ups and downs of my treatment plan

My initial treatment plan consisted of two weeks on and one week off of two chemotherapy drugs and an immunotherapy drug for over four months. During part of this time, I was having trouble breathing as the large tumor in my right lung was infringing on my windpipe. So, I went through 12 days of radiation to shrink that part of the tumor, which helped improve my breathing.

This initial plan did not work. My tumor actually grew a bit. Since I was deemed to be chronic, incurable, and inoperable, I was put on an immunotherapy program. Then, by being very public with my cancer plight on Facebook, a clinical trial opportunity came to me through an old high school friend. I was approved for the study and under the Compassionate Use program, I was put on a combination of Opdivo and the test drug for 15 months.

It was a miracle and kept everything in place! I lived fully, felt great, and checked off my bucket list items during this time. I felt “normal.” Then, three months ago, I got the bad news that my cancer had progressed to Stage 4.

Currently, I’m the only person in the world receiving Taxotere, Cyramza, Opdivo and the test drug in combination (The QUAD.) Keeping my fingers crossed that this intensive approach stabilizes the progression of the cancer.

Locating reliable, helpful information

I, like most, turned to the internet to get all of the information I could about my diagnosis. I researched many different sites, frantically looking for any information I could find about quality of life and longevity expectations. I don’t recommend doing this. A lot of the statistics are not current. They don’t take into account personal circumstances or all of the new cancer treatment options and technological advances/improvements that have been made over the past five years.

I think the most reliable and helpful information I received came from my chemo and radiation oncologists/nurses and my pulmonologist. The most unhelpful information came from friends, who knew someone that had survived a similar or different type of cancer. They would say, “You should do this, you should do that.” Most folks don’t realize that cancer treatments today are quite customized.

Reflecting on my neck cancer and lung cancer

The biggest difference is that my neck cancer could be cured, but lung cancer cannot be.

Additionally, the neck cancer treatment program was absolutely brutal and I didn’t think I’d get through it. I was required to have daily radiation all across my neck area five days/week for seven weeks (35 treatments), along with weekly chemotherapy. It ripped apart the inside and outside of my neck. I couldn’t eat, breathe, drink, swallow, or talk. I had a feeding tube in my stomach for two plus months. I fed myself canned Ensure-like liquid food and was on liquid morphine throughout. I was in horrible pain and had a non-stop post nasal drip that felt like cement glue mixed with shards of glass every time I tried to swallow.

Lung cancer treatments have been much more manageable and easier to handle. Although, the side effects of extreme fatigue/exhaustion and general body aches have been debilitating on many days.

Read the continuation of James's story and his thoughts on advocacy and life after diagnosis in Community Spotlight: James (Part 2).