Last months

You know there is always
You know there is always faith and hope that we will survive longer but the not knowing makes things almost unbearable. I remember being diagnosed and thinking "OK, I might die sooner rather than later. I can deal with it. I just want an expiration date so I can plan for it." No doctor can give me an expiration date.

My mother in law died of a form of lung cancer. Technically her death certificate said cancer but the chemo/radiation did her in much faster. Once she quit radiation and chemo her quality of life was much better. Her last days were not bad. She was able to talk and chat. She played poker with the grandkids. Once she went onto hospice she went quick....maybe 2-3 weeks. That was her timeline. Those last weeks she was difficult to care for at home, so she decided to go to a nursing home. Which was a good thing because she got so much more social interaction and better pain management. She also had round the clock nurses.

I asked my oncologist how fast I would die without treatment. He advised he had a patient who opted for quality of life versus treatment. The patient died in 2-4 months. I was reading some studies and it meshed with what he was saying.

I will be completely honest. I hope and pray to live a long life, but with an 80% reoccurrence rate, that long life may be shorter. I have made my wishes known to my family. I hope to go fast and as painless as possible.

By no means am I giving up, but to ignore the reality of the illness is not logical. I hope this helps. Hospice might be able to give you a better picture.

My heart goes out to you. We
My heart goes out to you. We are still new with this cancer thing. I found a site called About.com - Lung cancer. It detailed it pretty well - May God watch over you always.