Hi everyone. My dad was diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer, stage 3 in February. It’s in his right lung as a large mass and in his lymph nodes in the same lung. We were told he would have the cancer removed surgically but following his pet scan and biopsy he has been told he wouldn’t survive the op due to also having copd in the non cancerous parts of his lungs. We move onto chemo and radiotherapy as treatment options. He is told he isn’t well enough for chemo as he has symptoms causing him to be unable to walk due to extreme pain in his knees. The surgeon said this is being caused by the tumour, something to do with hormones being produced. The risks of clots, heart attack etc are much greater as he has very limited mobility. So we’re looking at radiotherapy only. He had his cast mould done yesterday and planning scan plus radiotherapy appointments for 4 weeks due to start on May 9th. Today his oncologist called to say the field is too large and he can’t get radiotherapy.
It now appears we face no treatment options. I cannot believe this is happening as the docs were all so confident they could remove it surgically, then no. Then chemo radiotherapy, then no. Then radio only, now no.
Has this happened to anyone else?
We meet his oncologist on Monday but I have no idea what to expect. We’re a close strong family ready to take on whatever comes but it’s safe to say the bottom has just fallen out of our world today.
His knee issues are really getting him down, he’s not had any formal diagnosis as the rheumatologist wanted to prioritise his cancer treatment. The oncologist says they can’t advise anything for them as it’s not their area but used the term presenting Paraneoplastic Syndromes.
