Lung cancer with brain mets husband just diagnosed

Hi Willowmina Welcome to the group, but so sorry to hear about your husband. I know what an awful shock this is for you and your husband. It is devastating to hear you have cancer, especially if there have been no warning signs and it has come out of the blue. 

These early days are very frustrating because you just want answers, but there always seems to be a long wait for tests and results. Biopsies can take up to 2 weeks before the results are available. This biopsy will tell the oncologist what type of lung cancer your husband has. This will determine how his treatment will proceed. 

I know how hard this is for you and your husband. There is support available to you both to help you through this difficult time. Some hospitals have a Maggie’s or a Macmillan centre where you can pop in and have a chat. You can also call the Macmillan support line any day between 8am and 8pm on 0808 808 00 00. You can also join the family-and-friends-forum where you can connect with other people who are in a similar situation to yourself. 

There is also a very helpful blog you may want to read, which outlines how the Macmillan online community can support you in the early days. 

how-can-macmillan-help-me-getting-support-for-world-cancer-day-2024

I hope everything goes well next week, please do let us know how he gets on. 

Thank you for your lovely reply. There is a maggies on the site of our hospital so that will be useful. Many thanks. 

Hi Willowmina,

Right now you and your husband are probably frightened to bits. I'm here just to say that 6 years ago I was in exactly the same pickle - yet now I'm currently cancer-free so don't give up hope.

You can read the full story in my profile, but basically you need to hope that the brain tumour is somewhere that can be treated, either surgically or by radiotherapy (so that's the first question you need to ask the doctors) and next you need to hope that either immunotherapy or chemotherapy will be a viable treatment for the lung (so that's the next question you'll need to ask them.) There's a couple of "or"s in there - this means the doctors will have to spend some time chewing over options so don't panic if nothing seems to be happening for a couple of weeks.

You'll probably ask for a prognosis, or maybe a someone will volunteer one - ignore it. Doctors tend to be "glass half empty", they see the worst case scenario. To start with they just don't know - tests need to be done, results need to be assessed, treatments selected, and finally response measured. That takes time. Different people respond differently, so ask the consultant what you need to do to improve the outlook (that's the third question you'll need to ask.)

Just physically dealing with cancer takes time (loads of appointments), and effort (coping with exhaustion). Mentally it takes a toll too. Be prepared to not have the capacity to deal with anything else for a while and take all the support that you can.

kind regards
Steve

What a lovely reply thank you so much for taking the time.  I thought as it’s sorted to the brain and has multiple mets that it was the worse news ever. Didn’t think there would be anything they could do to help him. Guess it all depends on the biopsy next week and to see what the oncologist has to say. I have noted down what you have told me and really appreciate it x

Hello Willowmina,

Your words ring very true with my own husband. 5 weeks ago we were told he had a brain tumour, and then a week later they diagnosed lung tumour. Biopsy completed and it's non small cell. We have an appointment with oncologist 1 week today.

Your post was a month ago so has your husband started treatment? I'm just very anxious to get things moving. The wait is unbearable.

Sally

1. Hello. Lung cancer and brain Mets together can be indicative of ALK+ cancer. The prognosis and treatment are very different as compared to lung cancer. PLEASE ask your oncologist to investigate for it.