Vancouverite Completes Several Cycles Of Alimta
74 year-old Jane Doe has lived in Washington State all of her life. She
and her first husband raised four children, started their own company,
and together built the home that Jane still calls home.
Jane enjoyed a healthy lifestyle. She never smoked tobacco or imbided in
alcohol. “I never found either of them interesting.” Some
of her friends would accuse her of being “no fun!”, but Jane
was always quick to state “my idea of fun is fishing!” She
and her current husband own a pop-up trailer they keep at home and take
on weekends to go fishing and on camping trips. When they find time, they
also travel to the coast where they have an RV.
Jane was never afraid of picking up a shovel, axe or broom. She would regularly
load her pickup truck with a load of firewood, take it home, unload and
stack the wood. She regularly made all the meals for her family. Jane
and her husband are raising two of her grandchildren, which she really
enjoys. She loves taking them on trips, including to Florida and Disney
World and to Yellowstone National Park.
In June of 2010, Jane’s life took a reverse. She began to feel unusually
rundown and short of breath. She thought she may have been suffering from
asthma and went to her family physician. She was prescribed an inhaler.
After a few weeks, her condition did not improve so she returned to her doctor.
Jane then underwent a pulmonary function test. Several chest films were
also taken. The films revealed a mass on her left lung. A biopsy was performed
and the pathology returned a diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma.
When Jane saw her x-rays she was struck by how much they resembled first
husband, whom she had lost to lung cancer in 1986 after 30 years of marriage.
She recalled that he had fluid drained from his lungs, but his doctors
had never mentioned mesothelioma.
Jane was referred to thoracic surgeon Dr. Alexander Farivar at the Swedish
Cancer Clinic in Seattle, Washington. Due to the size of her tumor, Jane
was not a candidate for the extrapleural-pneumonectomy (EPP) surgery.
Dr. Farivar instructed her to complete multiple rounds of chemotherapy
in the hopes that the tumor would shrink and make the surgery a possibility
in the future.
In September of 2010 Jane began chemo treatments utilizing Alimta and continued
receiving treatments until July of 2012, and while the tumor did not increase
in size, it also did not shrink. She is due in for a CAT scan in January
of 2013 to monitor the tumor and to determine if she will begin a new
chemotherapy regiment.
Jane is glad to be off of the chemotherapy, “I feel so much better,
and while there are days, overall I have improved quite a bit. I take
my vitamins and make sure to eat five foods every day: broccoli, celery,
beets, red apples, and carrots."
Jane recently purchased a bicycle and has been riding the paths near her
home. She hopes to eventually be able to ride all the way to the beach,
with her grandchildren chasing her the entire way.
*** Posted on November 20, 2012 ***