Lung Cancer IV

cabbott said:

I am at stage one with both breast cancer and lung cancer, but I have some friends who have mets. With lung cancer, they don't bother with surgery much once it has progressed outside of the lung. The theory is that if the cells have already started setting up outside the lung, surgery on the primary tumor would not stop that and therefore would inflict more harm to the patient than it would help. Chemo attacks cancer throughout the body, so it will get to the bones and brains as well as the lungs. If the mets are causing specific symptoms that are problematic (like problems with bone pain because of tumor growth in a given spot or headaches because of a brain met)they can use bursts of radiation to kill the cells. The radiation can be triangulated so that it primarily harms the cancer cells without harming nearby tissue. No matter where the cancer travels and sets up camp, it is still crazy lung tissue (ie. lung cancer). If there is any question of whether it is a met or not, a biopsy is in order. But if the tumors appear to be scattered in a shotgun pattern, it is almost certainly mets. As for coverage on medicare,why don't you call the medicare office and ask? Most hospitals have medical social workers that help patients find services when money is scarce. Call them and see what roadblocks they forsee as well as how to get around them. In my area, churches often have volunteers to drive folks to chemo. Food pantries sometimes put hardship cases on a weekly or monthly delivery program rather than once every year, though money for some of these programs is running low. Angel Tree Food pantry in my state provides a box of food (enough for two weeks) for a small amount of money. And there are other programs for stretching the dollars for folks undergoing hard times. Meeting with your local social services agency might give you some leads on how to make ends meet while battling cancer too. Take advantage of all that you need. That's what it is there for.

shannalanai said:

From what I understand your best bet is for her to speak to the social worker at the hospital. They can help get her enrolled in programs and send paper work to places like the hope house where they can stay for free while she is recieving chemo treatments if they have to drive a good distance to get them and also contacting your local Cancer society. They will help inform her on the programs available for her. They set you up with someone who is a survivor to have to talk to, they can set you up with the look better feel better program which teaches you how to take care of yourself while on chemo, where to find wigs for free or at discounts and so on.