Stage 111B Nsclc With Malignant Pleural Effusions

I am new to this site and my mother in law was diagnosed with stage 3b lung ca after feeling short of breath for a couple of days.  She went into her primary care doctor and had an xray which should a pleural effusion. She then was scheduled for an outpatient thoracentsis under ultrasound to remove the fluid, in which they drained off over 1 litre and sent her home the same day.  She felt instantly much improvement of being winded.  She awaited days for the labs to return and was told she had lung cancer.  Further workup with CT, blood work, etc.  she was told she had nsclc and her pleural effusion was back and needed to undergo having a pleurx-tube placed to continue to drain off the pleural fluid building up in her left lung from the primary tumor.  She had the catheter placed and was sent home the very next day. She drains the catheter every other day and pulls off 500-600cc every time. Her oncologist gave her the option of pallative chemotherapy with a prognosis of possibly 1 year and untreated 6 months no chemotherapy. She had made the decision to fight this and start chemotherapy following a trip she had previously made to visit her daughter.  She has an upcoming appt. for her pet scan to see if other areas have been affected not showing mets on the CT scan.  Speaking with numerous medical staff in which  I work the prognosis she was quoted by her oncologist seems generous in time.  I visit her house and drain the tube every other day for her and offer her all the love and support I can.  She has asked me my thoughts about the chemo and I feel like I am caught in a rock and the hard place having medical knowledge and being inside the situation.  How do you convey to someone who has had their whole world turned upside down in the matter of weeks that you are terminal and lifes choices now are about quality vs. quanity.  Doctors always seem to leave out the ugly stuff about the aftermath of chemotherapy to include chronic fatigue, nausea, those are a cake walk to the serious side effects of renal/liver failure, neuropathies of the hands/feet, anemia requiring hospitalization for blood transfusions. Can anyone relate to this story and give me any feedback about her prognosis and future in store.

I remember having the exact same feeling you are having and thinking the worse.  My mom diagonosed in Sept with NSCLC with mets to brain and adrenals, and i feared the worse.  My mom did do WBRT and 6 cycles of chemo and it did, I believe buy her more time, maybe not the best quality but more time.  I am happy for the time I have with her, but it is very hard to watch someone deteroiate right before you.  I always let my mom make her own deccissions as to what she wanted, never talked about her being terminal, we just talk about living and that is what she is doing.  You seem like a wonderful person, so keep up the good work.

Hello,  My mother was diagnosed at stage3B in September 2005, with a small tumor in one lung and spots on the lining of the other lung.  The doctor's said it was unlikely she would be alive in 2 years, even with chemo.   The cancer was not caused by smoking, which may have given her a better survival chance.  We initially did "watchful waiting" for about 6 months, waiting for the tumor to grow. Even though it was 3B at that time, she didn't really have any symptoms, and the doctor's said chemo works better on actively growing tumors.  Then we did standard chemotherapy for about 6 months, which kept the tumor about the same size, then some more waiting to see what happened.  After about 4 months, she had pleural effusions and slight tumor growth, so we did secondary chemotherapy with Alimta for over a year.   It is now 2 years 8 months and she is still alive, although her quality of life now is not good.  

She will have another cat scan in the next month to see how things have progressed.  I'm not sure what we will do now.  

 

She has suffered, especially these last 6 months.  There are side affects, and right now fatigue is the worst of them.

I'm glad my mother chose to do the chemo.  I don't think I would have wanted her to do anything differently.  If now she chooses to stop treatment, that is fine too.   

 

Good luck. 

I posted "my ad lung cancer mets to his brain" last week.

Fluid also developed in his lung, 

He can choose to 1) drained off the fluid when it is getting more (everytime) but each time he do it, there is a risk that he will develop infection in the area where the needle is put in.

2) To permanent (though according to the doctor, about 15% chance the fluid may come back again) stop the fluid from building up again, drained off the entire fluid and apply a talc (layman term = glue) to irritate the pleura and make them stick together, thus there will be no more space for the fluid to collect.

If unforunately, after option (2), fluid buid up again, then the process will have to repeat again.

So far he is okay. Next scan will be late this mth.

Hope your mum-in-law speedy recover.

 

Hello:

I like your mother have a plural effusion but I also have an air leak. I underwent the talc procedure but it is not working. I am chosing alternative treatments as chemotherapy is not an option my doctor's are recommending due to the chest tube.

Thank you for sharing as it has given me encouragement. I wish the best for you and your mom.