the future is bright...

last week i had the opportunity to join a group of lung cancer patients and the penn thoracic oncology team for a dinner and presentation focusing on the current state of lung cancer care at penn and the plan for where it is headed. i received the invite in the mail weeks earlier, and the thought of attending such a dinner was at once appealing and daunting. i wanted to see who was going to speak and what they would have to say. at the same time, i wasn't sure if i wanted to spend a perfectly good wednesday evening at the hospital. i wasn't sure what to expect, but my interest and curiosity got the best of me and i turned in my rsvp for attendence. i knew i would consider the event a success as long as they weren't serving hospital food for dinner.

i sat at a table with two other patients and their spouses. one had been going through treatment for a while. the other had been recently diagnosed and was still learning about cancer world - the terms, the treatments, and how they were feeling was all very new to them. neither were patients at penn. both had been there for second opinions. both were happy with ther choices for where they were being treated; both made the decision predominantly upon location of their hospitals and they think they can get the same level of treatment there. joining us at the table were two thoracic surgeons, neither of whom i had met or seen before. our group had some good discussions about how we were diagnosed, what we had been through so far, and also who we are when we aren't patients - retired teachers, penn state fans, parents, travelers.

the evening's short presentations started off with the head of the thoracic oncology department giving a general overview of what to expect; then came a researcher who focuses a lot of effort on tobacco use and cancer. a good take-away message for me was from her research she knows that people become addicted to cigarettes because of the nicotene and it is often a habit that is difficult to kick. she didn't speak for very long and i think her time was partially slighted because we had all just sat down to eat.

next we heard from the doctors - my medical oncologist and radiation oncologist spoke about the advances they are working on; for my medical oncologist it was developing treatments for advanced-stage lung cancers and also treating these patients. she injected some insight from one of her daughters "lung cancer isn't fair". it is an agressive, relentless disease and no one deserves it.

my radiation oncologist spoke about the new proton therapy machine at penn and what it means for treatment; it minimizes damage to healthy tissue because it can be used to treat only the tumor and there is no "exit dose" - the proton stops at the tumor and does not, like a standard xray used with linear accelerators, continue through the body, damaging tissue on the way out. fields of treatment can be narrowed and manipulated to do as little damage as possible to the rest of the chest, heart, and spine. penn is going to be one of the only places in the world where the proton therapy center is actually at the hospital. it is exciting stuff. i get a little envious when i think about not having a chance to use it.

we also heard from the surgery and pulmonary departments. most interesting to me was the information given by the pulmonary doctor regarding clinical trials and treatments involving getting the immune system amped up by injecting a virus into the body, and the amped up immune system in turn attacks cancer as well.

there are so many clinical trials out there in so many facets of treatment. medical oncology, radiaiton oncology, and surgery all have options for trials. the head of thoracic oncology said it would be a goal to have every lung cancer patient at penn involved in a clinical trial. this can't really be the case because there are strict guidelines for entry into these trials, but if there is one that can be an option for a patient, it should be presented to them as a possibility as treatment plans are being set. i don't fit into a profile for any trials right now - and my treatment seems to be working for now - so it isn't an option for me; but as i said to my doctor at the end of the evening, i like to think we have things up our sleeves.

it was rewarding to go to the dinner and hear my doctors speak about their research and their hopes for the future. i don't know how they fit enough hours into their days, seeing patients, working on research, and also having time for their families. they travel to conferences and are constantly learning and looking for ways to push the envelope in fighting lung cancer. i always tell them i want them to treat me as aggressively as they can. there is no doubt they are working, constantly, to find ways to make our lives as patients more rewarding and healthy. in living and breathing a disease that takes so much from so many people, i am so glad i have these doctors on my side. they are human; they cannot perform miracles. we all know this going into treatment. but they are remarkable in what they do day in and day out. they are the other side of my story. the future is exciting and daunting, as is the present. we're lucky to have one another, i think.