Hi all,
My dad has recently been diagnosed with Large Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma. It's been very difficult getting accurate information from my parents because my dad won't talk about it and my mum seems firmly in a state of denial.
What I have been told is that it is in both lungs and his lymph nodes, and I think he had a biopsy two weeks ago to see if it is in his adrenal glands. He has had three other scans and two out of the three indicated cancer in his liver.
Mum has told the rest of my siblings that it is stage 1B, and that dad could be around for the next 2-5 years, but I was under the impression that if cancer is in both lungs, that usually indicated stage 4.
I live in the UK but the rest of my family all lives in Australia. I just don't know what to do right now, whether I need to rush back immediately or if I have more time?
Does anyone here have any experience with this particular type of cancer, or how to deal with tricky parents?
Sorry to hear about what your dad is going through and the impact it is having on you.
We have some information here about staging and grading of neuroendocrine tumours it talks of localized spread and distant spread. It is possible the oncology team are still checking for spread.
Just checking I noted that Neuroendocrine Lung Cancer is noted as a rare cancer and that can make statistics harder to find - I certainly get that because my wife's cancer is also rare.
Cancer statistics usually estimate how many people will still be alive after a certain period of time, often this is 5 years because after that time it becomes harder to tell if someone died from the cancer or something else - they are also based on older data to and treatment is improving all the time - often they are not totally helpful as a result.
How are you feeling? You might find looking at our pages on What to say to someone who has cancer helpful and you might like to have a look/join our Family and friends forum
<<hugs>>
Steve
