#LCSM Chat Topic 9/22: Let’s Talk #LCAM 2016
Lung Cancer Awareness Month 2016 (#LCAM) is just around the corner in November. Our #LCSM Tweet chat on Thursday, September 22, 2016, at 8 PM Eastern (5 PM Pacific) will be a discussion of #LCAM ideas and activities.
New this year will be a joint #LCAM public awareness campaign and a website (LCAM.org) created by a consortium of non-profit lung cancer patient advocacy organizations, individuals, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). The logo at the top of this post is the LCAM logo created by this collaboration. A critical part of this campaign is to share and widely promote the stories of lung cancer survivors, caregivers and families of those who have been diagnosed with lung cancer. Through these stories, we will demonstrate the impact that research is having to create hope and more survivors. We ask all of the lung cancer community to participate to raise awareness and make an impact this November.
Please complete the form at https://karmanos.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_79WfZmv5gbowZRb to participate and share your story and photos. If you have video to share, or content that is larger than the maximum file size of 16 MB, please email us at communications@iaslc.org. If you are an organization partner participating in the LCAM Campaign, please also use this link to submit your organization description, logo and landing page.
During the 9/22 chat, we’d like to know your thoughts about this unified #LCAM campaign: how do we best harmonize strategies, publicize the lcam.org website, and spread the word? To guide our discussion, our moderator Deana Hendrickson (@LungCancerFaces) will raise the following topics:
- T1: When should the consortium publicize the LCAM.org joint initiative (one date in November, one day each week in November, or …)?
- T2: How might we harmonize #LCAM strategies among lung cancer advocacy organizations and individuals?
- T3: How can we best spread the word about #LCAM & LCAM.org? Buy ads (where & when)? Social media (volume, content, timing of posts)?
- T4: What LCAM logo merchandise would the #LCSM community like to see for Lung Cancer Awareness Month? (Tshirts, stretchy bracelets, pins, something else?)
- T5: How can the #LCSM community best support #LCAM and LCAM.org?
If you’re unsure how to join a tweet chat, you can read this primer on how to participate. Hope you’ll join #LCSM Chat, Thursday, September 22, at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM Eastern). Spread the word!
#LCSM Chat Topic 9/8: You’ve Been Diagnosed With Lung Cancer…Now What?
Our topic for the next #LCSM Chat on Thursday, September 8, 2016, at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM Eastern) is “You’ve Been Diagnosed with Lung Cancer…Now What?” Our moderator will be Laronica Conway (@louisianagirl91).
Have you (or someone you know) been recently diagnosed with lung cancer? What happens next? Just getting past the shock of the diagnosis can be challenging and emotionally draining, but knowing the next steps can possibly help remove some of the uncertainty. This week we’ll open up the discussion and seek advice from health care providers and from those who are currently seeking treatment for lung cancer. Family members and friends are also welcome to provide their thoughts and advice, as they are extremely important in offering support to those with lung cancer.
It can be difficult to navigate the different decisions that have to be made once you’ve received a lung cancer diagnosis. You were already uncertain if the physical symptoms you experienced indicated lung cancer. And now that you’ve been diagnosed you have to figure out what to do next. Who do you call? What kind of specialist do you need to see? How quickly should you start treatment? If you live in a small town, should you travel to a larger city or major facility for treatment? Or, can you get appropriate and adequate treatment at a regional or smaller facility? Is traveling for treatment even a feasible option?
Where do you go to get more information about the best treatment plans about your particular cancer? Should you seek a second opinion or are you satisfied with the treatment plan that has been presented to you?
There are newly approved drugs, clinical trials and genetic mutation testing. What does it all mean and how does it pertain to YOU and YOUR cancer? Information about lung cancer may not be as easily accessible as information about other cancers. It takes a bit more effort to find support groups or others who are going through the same thing. But the encouraging news is that there are many options and many places to go to seek guidance. We hope that by the end of this chat you’ll have a better sense of what to do next.
We’ll seek to address the following questions:
- T1: If you’ve been diagnosed with #lungcancer, what symptoms did you experience that made you seek a doctor’s opinion? #lcsm
- T2: Once a #lungcancer diagnosis is confirmed, what’s the first step? Do you seek a second opinion or begin treatment immediately? #lcsm
- T3: What is a clinical trial and is it right for you?
- T4: What is genetic mutation testing, is it important and where do you go to have it done?
- T5: What challenges have you faced after being diagnosed and what advice would you give others?
If you’ve never been involved in a tweet chat, you can read this primer on how to participate. Hope you’ll join #LCSM Chat, Thursday, September 8, at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM Eastern). Spread the word!
#LCSM Chat Topic 8/25: Pain and Lung Cancer Treatment: How Does it Affect You or Someone You Know?
Our topic for the next #LCSM Tweet Chat on Thursday, August 25th at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM Eastern) is “Pain and lung cancer treatment: How does it affect you or someone you know?” The moderator for this chat is Dr. David Tom Cooke (@DavidCookeMD)
Advances in the care and treatment of individuals with lung cancer are appearing rapidly. With lung cancer screening we are finding earlier stage tumors. With immunotherapy and targeted therapy, we are finding effective treatments for patients with advanced and metastatic lung cancer. But during lung cancer interventions across the stages of the disease, patients may encounter pain. Whether it is the pain of surgery for early stage lung cancer, treating painful bone mets in advanced disease, or treating adverse events for radiation and chemotherapy, pain has an impact, and significantly affects quality of life.
By having a conversation with the #LCSM community, #LCSM will put to light the impact of pain during lung cancer treatment, talk about the communication between the patient, family/friends & healthcare providers about pain during treatment, and discuss approaches and strategies that prove to be beneficial, or ideas that may be helpful in either preventing or making better pain during and after treatment for lung cancer.
With the above goals, here are questions that will be discussed during our August 25th Tweet Chat:
- T1: Was pain a significant factor in yours or someone’s treatment of #lungcancer? How so? #LCSM
- T2: Was the topic/risk of pain brought up during discussions between the patient, family & HCPs about #lungcancer treatment? #LCSM
- T3: If you or family/friends had chronic pain prior to #lungcancer Dx/Rx, was that taken into consideration? #LCSM
- T4: What worked to control your pain during #lungcancer treatment? #LCSM
- T5: If you could change/develop something to improve your experience with pain during #lungcancer treatment, what would it be? #LCSM
Please remember to include #LCSM in ALL your tweets so the other chat participants can see them. You can read a primer on participating in the chat here. Hope you’ll join us!
#LCSM 
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