divinechild
Regular
Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 37
Location: Los Angeles, CA
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:28 pm Post subject: Life expentancy of stage IV lung cancer |
 |
|
When I first heard my dad's diagnosis of lung cancer around August 13th I started reading everything I could on this forum to get more information on life expenctancy and treatment. I tried to post to the last thread of this same topic but couldn't post in that thread. I cannot believe it had happened so quickly. I can't believe my father passed away 1 month and 15 days after his diagnosis. I just want to hear what others experience with this topic. I hope then I can find solace and make sense of this whole process.
My father passed away today on the flight back to Hong Kong. He had lost more than 1/8 of his body weight 6 or 8 months before his diagnosis. When he went for his regular check up becauses of his weight loss, loss of appetite and difficulty in walking the doctor ordered x-rays and some blood test. 3 days later they called him to be admitted to the hospital for more tests. He stayed for three days. They told him it might be either lung cancer or liver cancer, but didn't tell him the extent of his lung cancer. They wanted to do broncoscopy but he refused because he didn't want to go through the pain and discomfort of this test. The doctor ordered CT and PET scan for 10 days later, at this time some relatives in China convinced him the chemo was not an option due to his age and told him there was a Chi Qong master who was specialized in all kinds of really serious illness. He went and did not believe it was legit. At this time he was in the hospital again and and had the full CT and PET scan and it showed primary lung cancer in his right lung size 4 cm and mets to left lung, diaphram, lymph nodes, liver and scapula. From then on his wife called us 4 weeks ago that she thought we should all fly to China because his condition was getting worse and worse. My mom, my sister and I flew to China on September 6th. He looked like he was fine, though very thin and very tired all the time. After he started taking Chinese herbs (that was not approved by the drug administration authority in China yet) he immediately had a surge of energy and had better appetite. He didn't appeared to be so tired anymore either. I thought this herbs was doing magic. But 3 days after I came back to the States on Sept 18th he started to deteriate very fast according to my mom. She told me he was weaker and weaker everyday. On Septmeber 24 or 25th he told my sister he couldn't breathe. He was coughing none stop at this time too. Also he became so weak that he couldn't help himself to sit up from the bed or from the sofa without them help to lift them. September 26th they took my dad to the hospital to have oxygen, in one hour he immediately felt better but the doctor said once he stopped using oxygen he was going to have difficulty breathing again. Septmeber 27 my sister rushed my dad to the hospital in the morning for oxygen and they admitted him to the hospital. The doctor immediately asked my sister to sign a "notice of patinet in extreme critical condition." When I heard this over the phone it just did not register with me. They decided to rushed him back to Hong Kong. Today on the flight back to Hong Kong he stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating altogether. By the time the plane landed 50 minutes later and the ambulance arrived he was pronounced dead upon arrival. There were two doctors on the plane who did resusitation to try to get his heart beating again and they gave him two shots to try to revive him. I wonder if the cabin pressure at 9000 ft altitude ( I was a flight attendant before) and his lacking of oxygen made him stop breathing and his heart stopped.
I cannot believe this all happened so fast.....
There was a post which said "when the end finally came it came really fast" I want to quote the author "frazield"'s post about her mom's whole journey. I would like to know other's story of how long did it take from the diagnosis to the end....
==============================================
Unfortunately, yes, it is possible to be diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer without having the typical symptoms of lung cancer. My mother, who lived with me, had absolutely no signs of lung cancer. No shortness of breath, coughing, raspy voice, nothing. She had a mini-seizure on one side of her face one afternoon while working on her crafts. By the time the ambulance arrived, it was over. She had to be persuaded to go to the emergency room.
The doctor ordered an MRI of her brain and there were 5 lesions. He told me that when lesions show up on the brain, it is usually from a cancer that originated somewhere else. With her history of smoking, he sent her for a chest x-ray. After he told me this, he left the room and left me to break this devastating news to my beautiful mother...but that's another story. It turns out she had several lesions in/on her lungs. That was the beginning of a horrible, heartbreaking journey.
My mom thought about not receiving treatment. She had cancer twice before--uterine and thyroid--and she was tired of fighting. After the doctor told her what was in store for her if she didn't have radiation, she agreed. The radiation made her very sick. She had radiation burns on her scalp which led to an outbreak of horrible shingles on one side of her head. Even after the shingles healed, her nerve endings were on fire.
After radiation, the doctor talked her into chemotherapy. Said it would slow the cancer down. It went downhill from there. It seemed like the chemo is really what killed her. She was so incredibly sick. She couldn't eat. The steroids she was taking to keep her brain swelling down made it so her dentures didn't fit. My mother was very private about that. She would wear a surgical mask around the house so the family didn't see her without her teeth. Bless her heart.
My dear mother lived 14 months with 5 lesions on her brain. She never once coughed or had trouble breathing from the lung cancer. I will tell you the end, when it finally came, came very quickly. She was walking around one day and 10 days later she took her last breath. We had several talks during those days and one thing she told me is that if she had it to do all over again, she would never, ever get chemo. She would rather have lived fewer months but felt better. Radiation yes, because the consecuences of not receiving it could include seizures, blindness, being paralized, etc.
I don't mean to be rambling like this, she died six months ago and I'm still grieving. One thing that comforts me is that she was able to stay here, in our home, until the very end. I was with her, holding her hand when she went.
My mother had just about every side effect she could have possibly had. We went through the entire journey together. If anyone ever has any questions or just wants to talk to someone who understands, I am here. I'm certainly not a doctor but I did a lot of research on what to expect and how to make her comfortable.
Lynne |
|
Search 
Email Digests
Register to post
Profile 
Check private messages 
Log in
What is this ?
We subscribe to the HONcode principles. Verify here. All content and posts are copyright.
