advice please

carolbanni · New User Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4

My brother just finished treatment for lung cancer, don't know what type as he maintains he doesnt know!
He had 7 weeks of Radiotherapy and 8 weeks of Chemo(once a week)
For most of the time he felt fine, however these last few weeks he has suffered from terrible heartburn and can't eat or drink. Will this improve now he has finished his treatment Question

or does it mean that his condition is getting worse, he also started coughing up blood yesterday and we have told him to ring hospital, he said he will on Monday!
We are supposed to be going on Holiday Saturday to celebrate the end of his treatment, but really don't think he is well enough.
Has anyone else had a similar experience please

Thanks

Carol

dano · Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:16 am Post subject: Re: advice please

Hello Carol
I was wondering what

"My brother just finished treatment for lung cancer", means. He was told he does not need treatment anymore? If that's the case he needs to get a second opinion or maybe depending on where he lives that would be typical treatment. You don't know what kind of chemo he was taking either I take it, so that makes it hard to know what is common for side effects. I lot of those symptoms you mentioned would be normal through out the treatment. They should be want to have him scanned now to see if treatment was effective or they already did. He should have a handle on what is going on by now so he maybe holding out not wanting you to know. Are you unable to join him at visits?
keep us posted as to what is happening.
Dan
_________________
55 year old male, Diagnosed Nov. 9,2007 with NSCLC IV with Mets to the lymphs and brain
Had full brain radiation treatment in Jan 08 treatments now every 4 weeks with Alimta, taking Lovenox for blood clots, Now working full time
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=9993

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 2404

Hi Carol,

Sounds like they were giving him small doses of chemo concurrently with the radiation. Both will knock the stuffing out of him. The rads, if they were going for a tumor located near the center of the chest, will often produce burning, heartburn, etc. symptoms. Those should go away in a few weeks. It may also take several weeks for him to recover from the effects of the combination.

He sure needs more information on what is going to be the next step and when. Rarely is one course of treatment the norm if he has inoperable lung cancer. Are you in the UK?

There are mixes that they make in the US to help with the side-effects from the radiation. Something to calm the heartburn, numb the esophagus, etc.

Ask the doctor for meds to help with these problems. Keep us posted.

God bless,
PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

carolbanni · New User Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4

thanks everyone for your replies,
I should have been more specific, I meant he has just had his first batch of treatment and then will be scanned to see how the treatment has gone, he will be seeing doctor next week. He is however feeling very poorly with no appetite, but he went to a hospital last night and they wanted to do a blood transfusion, he refused as he wants to ring his regular hospital tomorrow, apparently his blood count isn't right and also his sugar levels are really high. I am going to make sure he sees doctor tomorrow (I'll have to nag him by phone though as I live so far away from him) and hopefully if they sort out his blood count and sugar levels it might make him feel a lot better.
My family have been phoning me all day to find out if all this is normal because I've had breast cancer, but I keep telling them that it is completely different and I certainly did not have side effects he has been experiencing.
Hopefully we will have some good news tomorrow.
Thanks for listening

Carol

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 2404

Hi Carol,

Any updates on your brother and his blood counts? Been wondering.

God bless,
PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

carolbanni · New User Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4

[quote="pbj11"]Hi Carol,

Any updates on your brother and his blood counts? Been wondering.

God bless,
PBJ[/quote]

Hi PJB
Thank you for your concern
My brother has had blood transfusions and is feeling quite a lot better, still quite weak though, whole family (12 of us) going for a week away on Saturday I am not sure if he's well enough to travel but he is insisting and hospital seem to think it will be alright so we will give it a try, but if he is not well at last minute I will stay at home with him.
I am looking forward to spending time with him next week and hopefully will find out what type of cancer he is suffering from and future treatments he has been told to expect,
My mother died of lung cancer 8 years ago but never had chemo or radiotherapy I think it was discovered too late so my brothers situation seems completely different, hopefully he will survive a lot longer than her as she only lived for 6 months after diagnosis we are all hoping and praying anyway.
take care
Carol

carolbanni · New User Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4

Hi Everyone, just to let you know my brother passed away whilst we were on holiday last week.
It has been such a shock as hospital said it was ok to travel, but he got taken ill last Wednesday and died that night, even though he looked perfectly well when we went to visit him in the afternoon!
We are now trying to get his body back to UK from Spain as apparently his insurance was invalid because he knew he was ill before travelling, so my Dad has had to pay £4,000 to get him flown home.
The hospital said that where the Chemo and Radiotherapy had broken up the tumour, part of the tumour had sliced through the artery to the heart, although we are still awaiting results from ortopsy as they were in Spanish and the Hospital in the UK are going to explain everything to us on Friday.
We are all so bitter as he went through all the Chemo and Radiotherapy and for what! We all feel if he hadn't had the treatment, he would be with us still.
Anyway maybe some of you could help us understand why this happened so suddenly
take care

Carol xx

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