First Post

I am sorry
you're going through this. I know how devasting this diagnosis is to the whole family. I have no experience with the chemo regimen you're asking about, so I can't help you there. I do, however, have two really different experiences with lung cancer. My husband was diagnosed almost 2 years ago with stage 3b lung cancer. He is and was very healthy (despite the lung cancer) and tolerated chemo and radiation quite well and lived well and easily for about 8 months, then it recurred. He's on Tarceva now and doing well. Aside from some bumps in the road, he's doing great, exercising (he's on a soccer team, runs, hikes, etc.). You would never know this is going on if you weren't told. About 18 months ago, my mother-in-law at age 75 had lung cancer with mets to the brain, tried one session of chemo, suffered from that to the point of compromising her quality of life and quit. She passed away a couple of months later and never fully regained any quality of life. I don't know that it had to with chemo or the cancer.

I guess my point is that quality of life probably has a lot to do with the quality of health prior to the cancer, but each patient is different, so some stage iv patients can respond and do well on maintenance chemo for months or even years (my mother-in-law's doc told us about a woman he worked with that had chemo once a month for 5 years and had good quality of life with stage 4 cancer). Also, this question might be worth disucussing with your MD since he/she may be waiting for you to broach the subject and can present some good information. What does your wife think? What does she want? Her opinion obviously would be the most significant determinant (at least in my opinion). She may need to know she tried everything to combat the cancer, or is ready to try something less aggressive or nothng at all. Good luck with this decision and fact finding. These are difficult, painful decisions. I have found that getting all the facts laid out makes the decision making much easier, though. Usually, there is a fairly obvious path.

ColoradoDani said:

I am sorry
you're going through this. I know how devasting this diagnosis is to the whole family. I have no experience with the chemo regimen you're asking about, so I can't help you there. I do, however, have two really different experiences with lung cancer. My husband was diagnosed almost 2 years ago with stage 3b lung cancer. He is and was very healthy (despite the lung cancer) and tolerated chemo and radiation quite well and lived well and easily for about 8 months, then it recurred. He's on Tarceva now and doing well. Aside from some bumps in the road, he's doing great, exercising (he's on a soccer team, runs, hikes, etc.). You would never know this is going on if you weren't told. About 18 months ago, my mother-in-law at age 75 had lung cancer with mets to the brain, tried one session of chemo, suffered from that to the point of compromising her quality of life and quit. She passed away a couple of months later and never fully regained any quality of life. I don't know that it had to with chemo or the cancer.

I guess my point is that quality of life probably has a lot to do with the quality of health prior to the cancer, but each patient is different, so some stage iv patients can respond and do well on maintenance chemo for months or even years (my mother-in-law's doc told us about a woman he worked with that had chemo once a month for 5 years and had good quality of life with stage 4 cancer). Also, this question might be worth disucussing with your MD since he/she may be waiting for you to broach the subject and can present some good information. What does your wife think? What does she want? Her opinion obviously would be the most significant determinant (at least in my opinion). She may need to know she tried everything to combat the cancer, or is ready to try something less aggressive or nothng at all. Good luck with this decision and fact finding. These are difficult, painful decisions. I have found that getting all the facts laid out makes the decision making much easier, though. Usually, there is a fairly obvious path.

Thank You
I also want to thank you for your reply. I am a refugee from Head and Neck Cancer. I have had my vocal cords removed. Now a PET found stuff in my lungs. I need to wait a couple of weeks to find out what the stuff is. There is a good chance that I'm a traveler on this road.

The history you provided about your husband and mother-in-law gives a lot of balance for the journey in front of me. I must remember there are some better than average outcomes. Rick.