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.