Dad has lung cancer

divinechild

My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer a few weeks ago. It's hard for me to clarify the timeline because he had withheld almost all information about the "three black dots in his lung" for the last 2 or 3 weeks and my mother, sister and I are only finding out how serious and advanced his lung cancer is a few days ago when his wife and my cousin finally started to tell us the truth and advised us to go see him (in another country) asap. According to his wife, he has cancer in his right lung, left lung, diaphram, liver and lymph node. He was a heavey smoker for like 70 years (he's 84 now) and I've been reading a lot on the internet about lung cancer that small cell lung cancer is closedly related to cigarette smoking---80% of the SCLC patient has a history of being a heavy smoker. I have not found any posts here with anyone has experienced their family member having SCLC, I'm wondering if the symptoms are the same.....

Since 3 weeks ago when he was first admitted to the hospital to undergo all kinds of test to confirm he had cancer I had wanted to fly overseas to be by his side but he kept sugar-coat his real condition and told us he only had an insignificant amout of cancer cell in his right lung so my mom and my sister always thought it gotta be stage 1 but he is very frail very fast and his wife and my cousin couldn't comply to him to lie to us about his real condition anymore. From reading in this forum I'm kind of confused that the only symptoms he as is loss of appetite, lost more than 10% of his body weight in 8 months, weakness and persistent coughs. He doesn't seem to have the lung infusion like everyone describe. Does this mean that he is not stage 4? Since he's not in the U.S and the doctor who treated him overseas is not giving out diagnosis of what stage his lung cancer is, they only tell us exactly where in the body they found cancer cells----in my father's case is almost everywhere.....

I'm getting my passport renewed but it's going to take 2-3 weeks even with an expedited service, 4-6 weeks with regular processing time. I'm afraid I won't be able to see him before he head on to transition to another plane if I don't go in the next week or two.

I talk to my mom and sister daily to keep track of how he's doing. Last night they told me his wife told them to buy airplane ticket to go see him asap because she has doubts how long he's going to last. She also said he couldn't eat anything everyday. Ate very very little. When he walked he couldn't walk by himself without help. But today she told my mom and sister that my dad slept very well last night without the nasty coughs, and he ate a lot for lunch and had a lot of energy, completely different from the day before. This alarms me because I remember reading in this forum that "when the final days came, it came VERY quickly" and also "Some cancer patients had a surge of energy hours or days before they passes" and this "surge of energy" from what his wife described to my mom and my sister today really worries me. Right now there's nothing I can do though because my passport is expired in less than 12 months and I need at least 12 months before expiration date on my passport in order to apply for a visa to the country he's getting treated.

I also have one more question: My dad is 84 years old so his other relatives all suggest that he does not go the chemo route because he's so old and frail it might kill him. Now he's getting complimentary healing--Traditional Chinese Medicine which is non-invasive. I am not sure what to think of the Alternative Medicine route but agree that it's true that considering my father's age and health condition whether he was going to be able to benifit from chemo without being killed by it.

Thanks SO MUCH for reading....

Sending warm wishes and healing energy to who may need it...

Shannon

Don

Hi, I am sorry you are experiencing this...my prayers are with you, your father and your family.

If you look at the threads you will find that I started one; my mother at 84 was diagnosed with SCLC:

http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=12301

She is undergoing chemo right now and it appears that she only has months to live. We are praying that she will last until Christmas; she was diagnosed in late March.

If the cancer is already in her liver and lymph nodes, it is Stage IV. Read the posts on this thread; you will find that our oncologist worked with Mom in tailoring the treatments so that they would be tolerable for her. This meant that she had to go in for chemo more often; and now that daily routine is becoming intolerable for her. Her case is complicated by her having Crohns disease along with depression, so if there were any tell-tale symptoms we all thought she was having bouts of these conditions; and believe me, everytime we talked to her we heard about all her aches and pains. But then, she is 84 (85 now). We did notice a lingering cough after she had a bad cold after Christmas '08...but she was still smoking then.

The chemo is really only meant to give her a "bit" more quality time. Unfortunately, SCLC progresses fast and if the chemo shrinks it back, it rebounds very fast.

To be honest with you, you will need to visit him very soon if you want to see him before he dies. I don't know about alternative treatments; in this case perhaps it would be just as effective as chemo.

Good luck and God Bless.

Don
_________________
Don B
Dec 07 Dx Follicular NHL, Grade I (Indolent)
Stage IIIA - No Symptoms
Watch and Wait - 6 Month Checks
Jan 09 Scan shows Progression - no symptoms
May 18, 09 - Started R-CVP
After Third Round, CT scan showed some tumor shrinkage
July 31,09 - Completed 6 Rounds R-CVP

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