Talk Cancer » Lung Cancer » Dad w/nsclc gives up. Now what?
Dad w/nsclc gives up. Now what?
Question:
Hello. My father was discovered at Christmastime to have squamus non small cell lung cancer. The tumor in his lung is 4.5 cm in size and the cancer is in the lymph nodes of the chest. His doctor in Little Rock said that this is most definitely "incurable" but that they might be able to shrink the tumor somewhat with radiation to make it more comfortable for him to swallow but that is perhaps about the best they can hope for. However, if I read this right, the Memorial Sloan Kettering site says that tumors of this size have been successfully treated and they have had patients who have gone into complete remission. Am I creating false hope for myself and my father? The doctor’s news took the wind right out of his sails. He simply wants to die as soon as possible and just get it over with rather than enduring any more. He got very sick, with very high calcium levels, the other day just as he was about to depart for M.D. Anderson for a second opinion. I told him to fight back, get strong again, and get to Anderson because their prognosis might be significantly more optomistic than his doctor’s. Am I deluded or is his doctor just not being agressive or knowledgable enough regarding my father’s cancer? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello. My father was discovered at Christmastime to have squamus non small cell lung cancer. The tumor in his lung is 4.5 cm in size and the cancer is in the lymph nodes of the chest. His doctor in Little Rock said that this is most definitely "incurable" but that they might be able to shrink the tumor somewhat with radiation to make it more comfortable for him to swallow but that is perhaps about the best they can hope for. However, if I read this right, the Memorial Sloan Kettering site says that tumors of this size have been successfully treated and they have had patients who have gone into complete remission. Am I creating false hope for myself and my father? The doctor’s news took the wind right out of his sails. He simply wants to die as soon as possible and just get it over with rather than enduring any more. He got very sick, with very high calcium levels, the other day just as he was about to depart for M.D. Anderson for a second opinion. I told him to fight back, get strong again, and get to Anderson because their prognosis might be significantly more optomistic than his doctor’s. Am I deluded or is his doctor just not being agressive or knowledgable enough regarding my father’s cancer? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The truth, in my opinion, is somewhere in between, but perhaps a little closer to what the Arkansas doctor says. Stage 3 patients overall have a difficult prognosis. Based on the odds the Arkansas doctor is correct. However, some people have remissions, cures, etc which no one can predict. Squamous cells cancers themselves have areas of cell death, necrosis, and squamous cell is a somewhat slower moving lung cancer than others. Certainly I would encourage you and your family to get treatment at M.D. Anderson. It would be accurate to say that the it is not likely that the cancer will be cured, to say it is "definitely incurable" overstates the case. The most accurate assessment is to say there are a range of outcomes which no doctor (or anyone else but G-d) can accurately predict. Indeed, if you check prior posts you will see a few from stage 4 patients still doing well. I don’t why the Ark. doctor did not recommend chemo but that merits a second opinion. MD Anderson is an excellent facility. Statistically chemo has been shown to extend life is the average patient with advanced cancer. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –
Response:
Do check this site as there is a post from an individual with stage 4 non small cell, now 3 years post diagnosis. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello. My father was discovered at Christmastime to have squamus non small cell lung cancer. The tumor in his lung is 4.5 cm in size and the cancer is in the lymph nodes of the chest. His doctor in Little Rock said that this is most definitely "incurable" but that they might be able to shrink the tumor somewhat with radiation to make it more comfortable for him to swallow but that is perhaps about the best they can hope for. However, if I read this right, the Memorial Sloan Kettering site says that tumors of this size have been successfully treated and they have had patients who have gone into complete remission. Am I creating false hope for myself and my father? The doctor’s news took the wind right out of his sails. He simply wants to die as soon as possible and just get it over with rather than enduring any more. He got very sick, with very high calcium levels, the other day just as he was about to depart for M.D. Anderson for a second opinion. I told him to fight back, get strong again, and get to Anderson because their prognosis might be significantly more optomistic than his doctor’s. Am I deluded or is his doctor just not being agressive or knowledgable enough regarding my father’s cancer? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Response:
Hello. My father was discovered at Christmastime to have squamus non small cell lung cancer. The tumor in his lung is 4.5 cm in size and the cancer is in the lymph nodes of the chest.
I too have just been diagnosed with the same type of tumor. Mine was 8X6 cm, and I have been spitting up blood with phlegm. All kinds of tests and scans have been done on me. I am 69 in very good heath (otherwise), and have been a smoker for about 57 yrs. I’m presently under the care of an Oncologist and a Oncology Radiologist at the Medical College of VA. I will begin radiation treatments this coming week, daily for 6-7 weeks + one chemo session per week. Sorry, but I can’t supply the name of the chemo at this time. Various lymph nodes in my chest have been infected, but it doesn’t appear to have spread elswhere. Surgery is not an option. A needle biopsy was used to determine cancer type. I’ve been told that there is a 50-50 chance of putting it into remission, and am not giving up hope. I would appreciate any input from others that have undergone similar
Response:
Hank, your dad did not lose all hope because the doctor said there was none. He accepted what was happening because he knew inside there was nothing to be done to treat his cancer. People have a way of knowing when the end is near and come to accept it. Your sister has accepted your dad’s condition and so must you if you are to help him in any meaningful way. Support him in whatever way you can. Draw some comfort from the fact that things are happening so quickly. What you really need is expert help to control his symptoms so get a palliative care (hospice) team involved if you haven’t already. With the right treatment his distress can be kept to an absolute minimum. He should have, at the very least, morphine available to him to control breathlessness and pain if he has any. Sub lingual lorazepam is good for breathlessness. If/when he can’t swallow he can have drugs administered through a syringe driver to keep him comfortable…that is the easy part. The hard part is for you and your family to cope with looking after him and inevitably losing him. Stay together…stay strong MIKE
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The news gets worse. A couple of weeks ago the left lung was clear and the right one had a 4.5cm tumor. Now he has multiple smaller tumors in the left lung and is gasping for air. How can this happen so quickly? I wish he had made it to M.D. Anderson where they could have used photodynamic chemo to treat the new small tumors. Thank you all for your help and letters of encouragement. This is very difficult to deal with….but then, you already know that and are "way ahead of me" in this respect. My sister is saying that if he wants to die let him make that decision. I said that he should only make it if it is not a decision wholly based on what his Little Rock doctor is saying. Also, he is in terrible pain and can’t even swallow. I might opt to go the same route if I were in his circumstance So I am being careful not to preach to him but to be knowledgable and to aid in the decision making so that it is not a decision based on ignorance. Said my father, the other day, when I told him of Sloan Kettering’s success rate with this type and size tumor"it’s just a sales pitch. They want my business" I can’t believe I heard him say that. He seems to have lost all hope because his Little Rock doctor said there is none, basically. I wish he hadn’t had the biopsy in Little Rock. My step-mother said his decline from that point on was very rapid. I must admit that I am discouraged even though this fight is only about a month old.
Response:
The news gets worse. A couple of weeks ago the left lung was clear and the right one had a 4.5cm tumor. Now he has multiple smaller tumors in the left lung and is gasping for air. How can this happen so quickly? I wish he had made it to M.D. Anderson where they could have used photodynamic chemo to treat the new small tumors.
Don’t beat yourself. Photodynamic therapy would NOT have been of any use. Steroids are often very good for improving symptoms in these circumstances
Response:
Hi, whatever "classical" school medicine may offer for your father, think about giving him a newly developed product ADDITIONALLY. Please inform yourself about it at www.avemar.net. This is NO SPAM ! I’ve met Prof. Hidvegi January last year and he convinced me by showing RESULTS, not claims. By the way: Memorial Sloan Kettering is a great, maybe the best place you can get to. All the best! Peter – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello. My father was discovered at Christmastime to have …
Response:
The news gets worse. A couple of weeks ago the left lung was clear and the right one had a 4.5cm tumor. Now he has multiple smaller tumors in the left lung and is gasping for air. How can this happen so quickly? I wish he had made it to M.D. Anderson where they could have used photodynamic chemo to treat the new small tumors. Thank you all for your help and letters of encouragement. This is very difficult to deal with….but then, you already know that and are "way ahead of me" in this respect. My sister is saying that if he wants to die let him make that decision. I said that he should only make it if it is not a decision wholly based on what his Little Rock doctor is saying. Also, he is in terrible pain and can’t even swallow. I might opt to go the same route if I were in his circumstance So I am being careful not to preach to him but to be knowledgable and to aid in the decision making so that it is not a decision based on ignorance. Said my father, the other day, when I told him of Sloan Kettering’s success rate with this type and size tumor"it’s just a sales pitch. They want my business" I can’t believe I heard him say that. He seems to have lost all hope because his Little Rock doctor said there is none, basically. I wish he hadn’t had the biopsy in Little Rock. My step-mother said his decline from that point on was very rapid. I must admit that I am discouraged even though this fight is only about a month old.