Lung Cancer Info Needed

my mum was told she had small cell cancer, back in feb this year, it had gone to the brain which has been removed, but still in lungs, ive been trying to look it up is this going to beat her?? how long roughly does she have, i just cant come to terms with this i need to no is this the end or can she fight it?? shes on her second dose of chemo and has had radio, she can no longer drive, i just need some info please

 

many thanks

 

claire

 

On 7/5/2008 tazmin wrote:

my mum was told she had small cell cancer, back in feb this year, it had gone to the brain which has been removed, but still in lungs, ive been trying to look it up is this going to beat her?? how long roughly does she have, i just cant come to terms with this i need to no is this the end or can she fight it?? shes on her second dose of chemo and has had radio, she can no longer drive, i just need some info please

 

many thanks

 

claire

Dear Claire,  Everyone's cancer is different even if it's the same type of cancer.  I'm so sorry that your mom's cancer has spread to her brain.  When my husband was diagnosed with small cell lc the doctor's radiated his skull as a precaution because if it spreads, it's typical that it spreads to the brain.  My husbands lung cancer spread to his bones and he's doing fine other than the pain.  Of course she can fight this and attitude means so much.   Miracles happen EVERY day and you must thing positive.  Do you have a minister or priest you can talk to?  There is a lot of good information on these boards and a lot of wonderful stories too.  I'll keep you and your mom in my prayers.  Keep in touch on these boards.  It's the best thing for me.

 

On 7/6/2008 chef4u wrote:

 

On 7/5/2008 tazmin wrote:

my mum was told she had small cell cancer, back in feb this year, it had gone to the brain which has been removed, but still in lungs, ive been trying to look it up is this going to beat her?? how long roughly does she have, i just cant come to terms with this i need to no is this the end or can she fight it?? shes on her second dose of chemo and has had radio, she can no longer drive, i just need some info please

 

many thanks

 

claire

Dear Claire,  Everyone's cancer is different even if it's the same type of cancer.  I'm so sorry that your mom's cancer has spread to her brain.  When my husband was diagnosed with small cell lc the doctor's radiated his skull as a precaution because if it spreads, it's typical that it spreads to the brain.  My husbands lung cancer spread to his bones and he's doing fine other than the pain.  Of course she can fight this and attitude means so much.   Miracles happen EVERY day and you must thing positive.  Do you have a minister or priest you can talk to?  There is a lot of good information on these boards and a lot of wonderful stories too.  I'll keep you and your mom in my prayers.  Keep in touch on these boards.  It's the best thing for me.

Dear Claire, my mom was diagnosed on June 9, 2008 with SCLC, which turned out to be in the extensive stage.  She has a small tumor in her side and one in her armpit.  She's due for her sixth chemo treatment tomorrow, which she takes every Monday and at the end of the month she'll have a PETscan to determine the effectiveness of the treatments she's had and to re-evaluate her treatment plan.  I'm new to this all also, so I have no words of wisdom other than these simple things-- put your family on every prayer list you can find and research as much as you can.

Dear Chef4u, I'm interested to know more about the preventative radiation your husband received to his brain.  What were the effects of the radiation?  Were there any changes in his personality?  Did radiation make him more weak than chemo?

Thank you for any information. 

Deneice

 

 

On 7/13/2008 deneice wrote:

 

On 7/6/2008 chef4u wrote:

 

On 7/5/2008 tazmin wrote:

my mum was told she had small cell cancer, back in feb this year, it had gone to the brain which has been removed, but still in lungs, ive been trying to look it up is this going to beat her?? how long roughly does she have, i just cant come to terms with this i need to no is this the end or can she fight it?? shes on her second dose of chemo and has had radio, she can no longer drive, i just need some info please

 

many thanks

 

claire

Dear Claire,  Everyone's cancer is different even if it's the same type of cancer.  I'm so sorry that your mom's cancer has spread to her brain.  When my husband was diagnosed with small cell lc the doctor's radiated his skull as a precaution because if it spreads, it's typical that it spreads to the brain.  My husbands lung cancer spread to his bones and he's doing fine other than the pain.  Of course she can fight this and attitude means so much.   Miracles happen EVERY day and you must thing positive.  Do you have a minister or priest you can talk to?  There is a lot of good information on these boards and a lot of wonderful stories too.  I'll keep you and your mom in my prayers.  Keep in touch on these boards.  It's the best thing for me.

Dear Claire, my mom was diagnosed on June 9, 2008 with SCLC, which turned out to be in the extensive stage.  She has a small tumor in her side and one in her armpit.  She's due for her sixth chemo treatment tomorrow, which she takes every Monday and at the end of the month she'll have a PETscan to determine the effectiveness of the treatments she's had and to re-evaluate her treatment plan.  I'm new to this all also, so I have no words of wisdom other than these simple things-- put your family on every prayer list you can find and research as much as you can.

Dear Chef4u, I'm interested to know more about the preventative radiation your husband received to his brain.  What were the effects of the radiation?  Were there any changes in his personality?  Did radiation make him more weak than chemo?

Thank you for any information. 

Deneice

 

Dear Deneice,

When the doctor first found my husband's lung cancer the doctor said right then and there that he would receive chemo and then AFTER he was done with chemo they would radiate the cranium as a precaution.  I can't remember how many radiation treatments he received, I remember it was a lot and it was everyday.  The only side effect he had was he lost his hair (no big deal) but it burned his esophogus and he was unable to eat (barely) for about 3 weeks.  For that, they mixed a numbing cocktail for him to drink because he had difficulty swallowing.  It also caused a sun-burn like condition on his chest and back.  When the treatment was done it took about 2-3 weeks for all this to clear up.  It was very uncomfortable for him to say the least, but we feel it was well worth it.  I don't want to scare you because again, everyone reacts differently.  Please discuss this with your oncologist.  I hope this helps. 

Chef4u 

 

 

 

On 7/13/2008 deneice wrote:

 

On 7/6/2008 chef4u wrote:

 

On 7/5/2008 tazmin wrote:

my mum was told she had small cell cancer, back in feb this year, it had gone to the brain which has been removed, but still in lungs, ive been trying to look it up is this going to beat her?? how long roughly does she have, i just cant come to terms with this i need to no is this the end or can she fight it?? shes on her second dose of chemo and has had radio, she can no longer drive, i just need some info please

 

many thanks

 

claire

Dear Claire,  Everyone's cancer is different even if it's the same type of cancer.  I'm so sorry that your mom's cancer has spread to her brain.  When my husband was diagnosed with small cell lc the doctor's radiated his skull as a precaution because if it spreads, it's typical that it spreads to the brain.  My husbands lung cancer spread to his bones and he's doing fine other than the pain.  Of course she can fight this and attitude means so much.   Miracles happen EVERY day and you must thing positive.  Do you have a minister or priest you can talk to?  There is a lot of good information on these boards and a lot of wonderful stories too.  I'll keep you and your mom in my prayers.  Keep in touch on these boards.  It's the best thing for me.

Dear Claire, my mom was diagnosed on June 9, 2008 with SCLC, which turned out to be in the extensive stage.  She has a small tumor in her side and one in her armpit.  She's due for her sixth chemo treatment tomorrow, which she takes every Monday and at the end of the month she'll have a PETscan to determine the effectiveness of the treatments she's had and to re-evaluate her treatment plan.  I'm new to this all also, so I have no words of wisdom other than these simple things-- put your family on every prayer list you can find and research as much as you can.

Dear Chef4u, I'm interested to know more about the preventative radiation your husband received to his brain.  What were the effects of the radiation?  Were there any changes in his personality?  Did radiation make him more weak than chemo?

Thank you for any information. 

Deneice

 

 

Deneice, My sister was diagnosed July 3rd with sclc metastisized to her lymph nodes and bones. She has went through 9 chemo's so far and next week 2 ling scans and a CAT scan for the brain. I wonder why her docs dont just do the PET scan to see if it's gone? Her Indiana IU docs had our hopes so high when she was first diagnosed. They did like 3 tests and said it looks limited, only in the right lung a pea size tumor so it was contained, she would get surgery, radiation, a few chemo and she should be ok....Then 3 days later after a PET scan she was told  it was stage 4, no surgery, radiation, only chemo....bye you can get this chemo  treatment anywhere. How could experts like that not see in her blood or those other tests how far it had gone. You talk about a bummer, we all was in shock and my parents are 76 and 79...I felt so bad for them. My dad asked there is still no new treatment for sclc? His brother died from the same thing only he got it from where he worked and that was almost 50 years ago. My sister told me thats when she started smoking again cause they took all her hope away. I've preached about miracles, and only god knows when you are ready. I reminded her of my addiction to cocaine how they said I would never beat it, its to hard to quit, all my overdoses. I said my guardian angels wouldn't let me die, they told me to fight and I still didn't listen till I was in a European rehab with lots of Aids patients that were going to die from their disease, so why fight there addiction now? I felt like a baby addict and stupid for almost giving up on life when I seen the battles they were fighting. They had the fighting spirit so I said I going to fight and I did beat it after a year 1/2 in that rehab. I drove those people to the aids center in new York, watched all the other patients suffering, and I decided there was nothing wrong with me except a bad atittude. So my miracle was getting the spirit to fight it! She wants to die...a year before she was even diagnosed she said she was ready, she was sick of life...she was only like 48 then...I told Mom she needs to see a shrink, so he gave her paxil or whatever its called, but he didn't pick her mind on her feelings so she just fell into depression more, drinking every nite till she passed out,get up for work, repeat the same cycle...year after year till she said she is ready. Sorry for rambling on here..but she has me so upset I that I cant get her to see how good life is...another question does anybody know if this is a side effect of chemo, getting up, looking perfectly normal, talking...and just fall to the floor and start snoring. My nephew freaked out started pulling her by her feet to get her out of the closet and she just woke up asking what are you doing? Could this be a sign it has spread to her brain? or is this a normal side effect of chemo?

Becky, my mom had a similar experience with the petscan.  While hopitalized, she was xrayed, scanned,etc from head to toe and was told there was only the one large (8cm by 8cm) mediastinal tumor.  Therefore limited stage.  As soon as she was discharged, she saw a different oncologist, who ordered a petscan.  The petscan revealed two other, marble sized masses.  I think the technology of the petscan is so new that it is not yet recognized as a superior and reliable test.  Just guessing.  I work at a rural hospital and even the professionals there can't tell me with certainty.

As for the brain-- my questions were prompted by a dim recollection of a friend talking about the relative of a friend who had a brain tumor.  It was in no way related to lung cancer.  But it stuck with me. And I've seen things on medical dramas that would lead one to believe that brain tumors cause all kinds of unpredictable results. So that prompted my questions about radiation and its effects.

 The first cycle of treatments did not yield results quite as good as we had hoped, so radiation is not an option in her case.  To be quite honest, I don't read much about it.  I come home from work every day, sit with my mom, visit, take her to her weekly treatments, etc.  I am living with her.  My husband does the reading and occassionally will tell me - this is what you need to expect in the next x amount of time.  All that matters is today.  All that is to say, my knowledge is limited to my personal experience and my mom has not experienced those things.  I would suggest that you talk with your sister's doctor- her oncologist.  (S)he should be able to offer help.  My mom's medical insurance has a department dedicated to cancer patients.  We have a nurse advocate that we can call at anytime for help.  They also have resources available for social services like dealing with depression, what to expect as side effects of the drugs, etc.  I strongly encourage you to see help in dealing with your sister's issues, both for you and her.