I'm on immunosuppressents after a liver /kidney transplant 10 years ago. Now diagnosed stage 1 lung cancer

Hello Darcy M,

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to our online community.

My name is Carole and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.

We’re pleased to read that you had a fantastic result with your transplant, but sorry about your recent diagnosis of cancer.

It’s understandable to have questions about any changes to medication, and important to have these answered clearly.

Your specialist team are best placed to do this and will understand how you are feeling.

You’ve mentioned a treatment plan, so it sounds as if your specialists have had a multi-disciplinary team meeting (MDT).

The MDT look at national guidelines when recommending treatment, but they also look at individual situations, as no two patients are the same.

You could ask your specialist nurse (CNS) who was present at the MDT, and whether the recommended change to your immunosuppressants was discussed there. If it was, there may be more information included in the MDT summary, which is usually created after these meetings. The summary often contains lots of medical jargon, but your specialist nurse should be able to explain what it says.

If you’d prefer to speak to your consultant, we’d recommend that you ask if this can be arranged. Your CNS or consultant’s secretary should be able to help.

You are welcome to give us a call too, if you’d like to talk to one of the nurses. You can chat to us online, if you prefer.

Some people find our online groups a good place to share experiences.

And if you think that having some support during treatment would help, it may be worth having a look at Penny Brohn’s Treatment Support Programme.

I hope this is helpful.

Sending best wishes,

Carole

Our ref: AMc