My mom has lung Cancer! Help!!

Hi RedStorm2,
It is sad to hear about your mother. I was in a simiar condition a year ago but night quite as bad. The largest tumor I had was more like the size of tennis ball. It as in both lungs, lymps system, glands, and spine. The first estimate was 7 to 12 months. Only using chemo and no radiation after a few treatments my coughing stopped, and then after 5 months the tumors shrunk an amazing amount. I still have cancer but the remaining tumors are small. The only ones that did not shrink were the 2 in my spine. It has been over a year now and I was feeling pretty good until I came down wirh shingles. Once I am off the medications for Shingles I expect to be active and back to normal. That first round of chemo was GEMZAR/CARBOPLATIN. I was only 53 and in otherwise goodhealth. I don't know why they said the treatment would not extend her life. The information I read on the internet shows much longer survival times for people doing chemo versus patients who do nothing. Hopefully you won't find any mets in her brain on the CT. I like PET scans since the images are easy see and understand for lay people. The drawback on the PET is that it does not show and tumors smaller than 10mm. or about the size of your litle finger tip. The survival time I see quoted most often for advanced NSCLC is 50% survive 7 months. If your mother is a non-smoker, if she responds well to the chemo, and is in otherwise good health, she could go way beyond the average estimates. Ask your mother's Oncologist if they have an opinion of RadioFrequency Ablation. It is just recently being used for Lung Cancer. If the Oncologist says it is not for Lung Cancer then they are not up-to-date. It worked wonders for Leroy Sievers lung tumors in the Ted Koppel TV documentary. The link below is for Leroy Soevers blog.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/mycancer/index.html
So you need to do everything as if it is going to be a short time such as power of attorney, living will, DNR (Do not resuscitate) papers and the rest of the paperwork, and then continue to pray you will beat the odds. The chemo side effects will make it appear that she is gettig worse when she may actually be geting better. They will likely start chemo and then after 2 to 3 months do another set of tests to see if the cancer is responding to the treatment.

Please remember that statistics describe groups not individuals. Your mom was not part of the group the statistics are based on, so no one can tell you exactly how long she has. Based on the doctor's information, you can count on the situation being serious. Not curable does not mean untreatable. Get to the best lung specialist(s) you can for the best game plan they can muster up so her life is as long and as good as they can make it. If there are any words you want to say or things you want to do, DO IT NOW! You may end up with much longer than the doctors predict or you may not, but you will never regret moments well spent.

I was diagnosed with Stage IV Extensive Small Cell Cancer on 8/1/06, only 4 days before my 50th birthday, after several tests and biopsy. At that time, the cancer had spread to both my lungs, liver, lymph nodes and bones. My doctor believed it had spread way too far and my life expectancy was very limited... without chemo 1-3 mos. and with chemo maybe 6-9 mos. Surgery was not an option due to the cancer being so wide-spread. I had 2 cycles of chemo and then another ct scan. All my growths had shrunk more than 50%. Then, 2 more cycles of chemo. After another ct-scan, the results revealed only a spot on my liver. I went 4 months with no treatments before, once again, having a ct-scan, I learned the cancer was once again in my liver, one lung and lymph nodes. I once again began chemo, 2 cycles, and I'm now awaiting yet another ct-scan next week. I continue to stay positive, which is very most important, that these results will also be good. I can only wait patiently (yeah right!) for the results on 7/24. I will then probably need another 2 cycles of chemo but that's ok. Most importantly, I've beaten the 9 mos as I was originally medically told I'd live. I've only a few weeks from being at my 1st anniversary!!! I've also had 2 brain scans, both of which came back showing no cancer. My plans are to live years longer. As far as pain, I've had very little pain other than where the cancer has ate "holes" in my spine and legs but I continue to walk just as much as I'm able without any assistance. As of yet, I haven't needed any pain meds. I've learned just to lay down and rest and that seems to work wonders. I was lucky enough not to be sick from the chemo treatments since they now have excellent anti-nausea meds. I am much more fatigue during the last chemo cycles but doctors say that's normal due to my body not returning to normal between cycles. All in all, I feel the best I have in well over a year! I can only pray and keep my faith that I will conquer this illness. Staying strong and keeping your faith in our Almighty Lord is most important!!! I will keep your mother and you in my daily prayers.