A shock, late-stage lung most cancers prognosis final fall threatened to take one of many District area’s most recognizable voices off the air. But after profitable robot-assisted surgical procedure, WTOP News reporter Neal Augenstein says medical doctors inform him there’s not any signal of the lethal illness in his lungs.
Mr. Augenstein underwent a robot-assisted lobectomy that eliminated the higher lobe of his left lung.
The longtime WTOP reporter grew to become a candidate for the surgical procedure after the success of his focused one-pill-a-day remedy that shrank his cancerous cells and stunted their capability to unfold.
“I’m feeling terrific,” Mr. Augenstein, 63, advised The Washington Times. “The last five months have been a whirlwind. Thankfully, the news has continued to be good.”
After his prognosis, Mr. Augenstein posted common updates about his remedy on WTOP’s web site — and continued to maintain radio listeners knowledgeable on the area’s newest information, seldom lacking a day of labor.
Mr. Augenstein’s dulcet tones and attribute cadence — particularly his report sign-offs, or lockouts — have made him a fan favourite amongst space listeners, who showered him with well-wishes when he stated his situation had improved.
“I’m overwhelmed by the kindness and support of people who only know me from the radio,” he stated. “And, of course, my co-workers have been so wonderfully supportive and understanding and worked with me so that I can both continue to work and continue to get better.”
Mr. Augenstein’s prescription now’s to stroll as a lot as attainable, eat healthily and maintain taking his tablet remedy. He does carry one memento from his tumultuous time with most cancers — a lingering cough — however doesn’t see it as an issue.
A persistent, dry cough was Mr. Augenstein’s first indication that he was unwell final September. A sequence of journeys to medical doctors checked off, one after the other, the entire “good” outcomes (equivalent to pneumonia and allergic reactions) from the record of potentialities.
A CAT scan later revealed what medical doctors known as an opacity in his left lung, and Mr. Augenstein couldn’t assist however analysis what that lingo meant.
“I saw the word mass. I saw the word tumor,” Mr. Augenstein stated. “Of course, it’s going through my mind that this could be a problem.”
Doctors finally advised him his prognosis in November: stage 4 adenocarcinoma. Malignant lesions and lymph nodes had been detected in each of his lungs.
Mr. Augenstein was surprised. He by no means smoked, partially as a result of he remembers he and his brother getting automotive sick behind the household station wagon whereas his mother and father puffed cigarettes.
That determination was strengthened later in life when his father, who give up smoking at 40, was identified with lung most cancers as an 80-year-old.
Doctors weren’t going to let him dwell on the dangerous information. He was instantly scheduled to fulfill with an oncologist, radiologist and surgeon and armed with a remedy plan.
Meanwhile, Mr. Augenstein tried to keep away from taking place analysis rabbit holes that usually heightened his anxiousness. “Google can be a dastardly place,” as he put it. To protect his sanity, he by no means appeared up the anticipated lifespans of people that come down with late-stage most cancers.
If studying concerning the illness wasn’t arduous sufficient, Mr. Augenstein needed to share the prognosis along with his two teenage kids.
“The most difficult part of this whole thing was coming home from the hospital [on] the night after being told that I had cancer and explaining that to my kids,” he stated. “That was a task that I absolutely was not looking forward to.”
Mr. Augenstein and his spouse had been frank with their kids, but in addition assured them that life would go on.
Just like Dad was lacking work provided that completely vital, the youngsters weren’t going to cease doing their after-school actions. More so, the mother and father made positive to instill a way of confidence in his remedy plan designed by Mr. Augenstein’s medical doctors.
They had good purpose to. Targeted therapies have been a revelation in most cancers remedy over the previous decade, in line with Dr. Susan Scott, an assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
She advised The Times that 10 years in the past superior lung most cancers had an identical probability of survival as pancreatic most cancers — one of the aggressive types of the illness. Chemotherapy was the one remedy possibility again then, and other people on common solely lived for about 18 months after they had been identified.
But Dr. Scott stated that, from the surface wanting in, it appeared Mr. Augenstein had “an excellent response to the osimertinib therapy” and his medical staff carried out the surgical procedure to additional guarantee he was protected towards the illness’s resurgence.
There could also be a component of cosmic justice in a nonsmoker’s swift restoration from lung most cancers, however sadly, Mr. Augenstein’s case isn’t uncommon.
About 10-20% of people that develop lung most cancers are nonsmokers. Conversely, 80-90% of lifelong people who smoke by no means develop lung most cancers, in line with most analysis on the subject.
“Certainly the rates of nonsmoking associated lung cancer are increasing, and particularly in younger folks and in women,” Dr. Scott advised The Times. “We don’t know why. We think there’s probably an environmental exposure that contributes to this, probably some genetic predisposition. But we don’t have anything specific to point to.”
There’s an necessary asterisk to Mr. Augenstein’s present situation — there’s no treatment for stage 4 lung most cancers.
He stated he’ll proceed to get common CT scans within the months to come back. In his newest replace following his surgical procedure, Mr. Augenstein shared that medical doctors will monitor him as if he had been somebody who has lively most cancers.
Mr. Augenstein accepts that he’ll by no means hear the phrases “You’re cured.” But in his thoughts “If I never hear [that] phrase and I live another 40 happy, healthy years, I’ll take that.”
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com