Advanced Lung Cancer

So sorry you find yourself in the club nobody wants to join but please don’t give up - I finished my treatment a year ago and so far all scans clear  don’t believe everything you read online - their statistics are old and don’t reflect the situation now x

I'm so sorry you are in this situation.  My mum is facing similar with a diagnosis around 5 weeks ago.  She is starting treatment with chemo and immunotherapy.  Like you, not curable but treatable.  Try not to think of the what ifs at the moment.  Focus in the 26th and then find out your treatment plan, focus on that until the next steps.  Please feel free to message me x.

Hi 

I totally understand you needing to cry and vent, just over 18 months ago I was wear you are now. I'm working through my treatment plan which consisted of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. If you tap my avatar you can read about my treatment plan. Its not been easy but I've done it and you can to. So hang in there. Your treatment team will discuss the options with you when they have completed all the tests needed. They will present you with the best options. When you have a treatment plan and know a bit more about what is happening you will begin to feel much better.

What ever you do don't Google anything, the information is usually out of date and not helpful, treatment has come a very long way in recent years and things are much improved, the main thing is don't give up never give up. There is always hope and I believe where there's a will there's a way.

You will find this forum very helpful the people on here understand what you are feeling cause we've all been there so please feel free to make use of it, we are a great bunch of people who are more than happy to support you when you ask for it.

I know the waiting for answers is difficult and I won't say don't worry cause I know that's not possible but whilst you are waiting for answers try and do things that make you happy, get out and about as much as you can anything to distract you from negative thoughts. Believe me you will feel much better when you have some answers and a treatment plan.

In the meantime take care my thoughts are with you and if you need to ask any questions please feel free to message me.

Sending you a hug for now

Donna

Hi Hamhat,

I have seen a few of your posts and my mum seems to be in a similar position to your diagnosis.  Did you feel any better after treatment?  Mums been very tired and in a bit of pain prior to ger treatment starting.  I'm not sure if treatment will help and help ease these issues.  I know everyone is different x

Hi sade 

Apologies for not responding. In response to your question I can honestly say I didn't feel better straight after my first chemotherapy cycle, how ever I did notice a substantial change after I'd completed 2 cycles of chemotherapy. If you tap my avatar you can read about my treatment plan. I have been having immunotherapy for 18 months and to date I've not had and major side effects. The main issue I've had to cope with is fatigue. 

In relation to if my treatment has help I can honestly say I believe it has helped.  I have very little pain on a daily basis and I have returned to full time work, I'm not as fast on my feet as I was but I can still do everything I did before diagnosis. I am very pleased I went with my treatment plan. My cancer is stable and from when I was first diagnosed the tumor has shunk so overall that's good news for me.

I would advise your mum to try treatment, she always has the option to stop if she can't get on with it. Whatever she chooses to do I wish her all the luck with it, sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. It's all scary and I understand that, it's not an easy road to travel, but please tell her she's not alone and neither are you. I'm happy to chat anytime if I can help please message me.

Have a lovely day

Donna

Hi Sade sorry to hear about your Mum. My Mum is similar to yours. She has moved onto maintenance chemo and immunotherapy now. She was in a lot of pain prior to having treatment but her pain has improved dramatically and isn’t taking painkillers daily like she was. I would say the treatment has definitely helped. She has a few bad days but the rest of the time she is carry on as normal. I would say definitely try the treatment. 

Hi Lujo,

Thank you for your reply.  That's great that your mum feels better after her treatment. Reading your profile it seems Mum is quite similar and is having the same to kinds of chemo and same immunotherapy as your Mum.  She is booked in for 4 cycles, one every 3 weeks and they have said they will do a scan inbetween her 2nd & 3rd treatment.  She started last week and so fsr feels fine apart from very tired.  She is in pain but she says more often its constant and achy as opposed to on and off agony. She seems quite weak and her mobility isnt great.  Seems like she doesnt have much strength in her legs.  Im hopefully that this may improve too with treatment.  She was quite despondent this weekend and said she'll never feel better and only worse, but its been a long week with a lot of emotions x

It’s early days for your Mum so hopefully once she has had a few treatments her pain will get better. My Mum had a hospice come and visit her whilst her pain was bad and they were really good and they gave her some good pain relief. She was taking strong a painkillers every day but she doesn’t take these now. It’s such a lot to come to terms with initially. Where has your Mum’s cancer spread to? Happy to chat whenever just pop me a message xx

Hello, I’m sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I can fully relate to how you’re feeling and what you are going through as was diagnosed with stage 4 in May.completely out of the blue with no real symptoms. 

It is certainly difficult to deal with mentally and emotionally.,I don’t think there is a one size fits all approach to deal with this but you’ll find your own path and what works for you.,Personally I was all over the place, very emotional and frequently crying. Once I got more information following biopsy’s, a more in depth diagnosis and ultimately a treatment plan I began to settle down and cope with it better. Try and stay away from random google searches, treatments have evolved in the last decade and so statistics are a little out of date and don’t reflect these advancements. 

Use these forums as a source of support and take care.