Dad diagnosed with Lung Cancer

Hi Annie, welcome to the group, but so sorry to hear about your dads diagnoses. It is a terrible shock when a loved one is diaqgnosed with cancer, especially if they seemed to be fit and healthy.  It is good that you are all positive, and that your Dad has you all for support, that is incredibly important. The waiting for the treatment plan is always the hard bit. It seems to take forever to get to that point, but the team will be busy looking at all the scans and test results to get the best plan for your Dad. 

If you haven't done so already, you can read some of our stories, by clicking on our user name and it will take you to our profile, where you can read our journeys so far. 

Good luck for next week, let us know how he gets on.

Take care 

Hi Chelle,

Thank you for your support. It means a lot. I’ve just read your story and I’m so sorry you went through it but reading it gives me so much encouragement. 

I will definitely keep you posted.

Many thanks

Annie

First of all, I hope today goes well and you now know when treatment will start. Your approach be strong and positive is great! I chuckled at the nutritional fooď for your Dad - he'll probably appreciate some rubbish too! My consultant advised me not to diet ahead of radiotherapy and chemo go for the cream cakes he said! His advice was taken on board and still I lost weight. But I agree with the sentiment and am now on a healthy diet. In my 5th year of treatment - have a read of my profile. We all have different twists and turns in our treatment and our bodies respond differently, but there's always people there to help. Good luck

Hi Annie, I am 61 a year older than your Dad, I was diagnosed with. None small cell lung Cancer in March last year, My diagnosis is T2b N0 MO, I have stage one Lung Cancer, it was not operable due to location, only had Radiation therapy, as no nodes involved,

The T usually signifies the size of the tumour T1 is below 3cm, T2 is 3cm to 5cm.

My tumour was at diagnosis 3Cm and just over 4cm on the other side

N signifies if it has spread to nodes 1 is one node, 2 is two nodes, 3 is 3 nodes

M signifies if it has mastastasis (spread outside the lungs)

I thought I had been diagnosed with stage two for ages, as the T has  2 behind it, this was not correct, even some doctors do not understand the staging, a few weeks back I went to accident and emergency, and had a slightly heated debate with the doctor there, who said I had stage 2 Lung Cancer and proceeded to lecture me on other matters, eventually he called the nurse over and asked her to clarify, she said I had stage 1b Lung cancer, the nurse was beaming with a smile after that, my tumour has now shrunk after Radiation therapy, by around half.

My Radiation Oncologist said Lung Cancer is a very aggressive form of cancer though and we will have to keep observation, the tumour is still decaying he said and Radiation therapy carries on working for ages, I saw him on the 2nd of March,  and I do not have an appointment to see him til 6th July 2021. 

I was also talking to an engineer I know last week I told him I had Lung Cancer, he said he had had brain cancer in his twenties he is now in his late forties, he had Radiation therapy then and it never came back.

I hope my experience helps, as emotionally it is a very hard diagnosis to have to be told you have Cancer, there has been major improvements in Lung Cancer treatment, I thought how long have I got when I first was dignosed after an X-ray in late February 2020, I had 20 session's of radiation therapy, I wish your Dad all the best, and after reading your letter he sounds to have support in the upcoming future, hope his meeting with the Oncologist went well and he asked enough questions.

Made a mistake there my diagnosis is T2a N0 M0, and not T2b N0 M0 as I put, it can get confusing as I have stage 1b NSCLC.

Hi Agnieska,

Thank you so much for your message! I had a read of your profile and I’m so encouraged by what I read. Yes there have been some downs but the advancements in treatment only show that cancer now is definitely more treatable. 

We met with the oncologist yesterday and she didn’t mention any prognosis to my dad it was mostly about getting chemo and radiotherapy started. The one thing which made me feel encouraged was that she said their aim is to CURE my dads cancer. They think it’s curable and will be putting my dad on treatment for 1 month. Then after doing a scan after 13 weeks. I’ve got everything crossed!! 

This has given us even more confidence that my dad can get through this. Yes it will be tough but he’s got the support around him :). 

I will keep you posted! 

Annie x 

Hi BGJ,

Wow I’m amazed the doctor thought you had stage 2! How odd. I’m glad it was resolved and caught early! 

We saw the oncologist who confirmed staging at 3 but she said to my dad it’s curable! So they’re going to aim to cure my dads cancer completely. He will have radio for 1 month 5 days a week together with chemo for 1 month. I just hope and pray it works! 

My dads still very fit and I imagine this is why they’re doing quite an aggressive form of treatment. 

I will keep you posted on how he gets on.

Many thanks

Annie x 

Hi Annie, that is great news for your Dad. You have said that he was fit and well in himself, so this will definitely stand him in good stead for his treatment. I hope it all goes well for him. I have bumped a post in the diagnoses and treatment section about radiotherapy, which you might find useful. The link to the blog is HERE

All the best