my mum has cancer in both lungs we have recantly been told it has spread to her lymph noads now to her bones she is in a lot of pain she starts chemo next week i dont see the point when every thing i have read says chemo is very difficult icant stand watccing her in this pain i feel so usseless will chemo make her worse or better thanks caza

caza-

My wife is basically in the same comdition except her spread to the liver also. Your mom will probably start a combo therapy of carboplatin/gemcitabine or carboplatin/taxol ...there are others, but these are most common in the first line.

The treatment your mom is recieving is "pallitive" and not "curative". Therefore the intent is to improve her quality of life and length of life with the treatment. I think overall it will make her feel better than she would without treatment. It all depends on how she responds to the chemo. Her side effects could range and if she has a difficult time tolerating it, they will lower the dosage.

My wife started with carboplatin/gemcitabine and I must say it worked well for her. The important thing to watch is her blood levels, which will be checked prior to recieving treatment. Don't worry to much, these drugs are fairly tolerable as they give them to folks in the 80's. But with most, you can only recieve about 6 to 8 cycles before moving to the next line.

It was a big relief once my wife started chemo. At the time she was struggling with "post obstructive pnuemonia" which was due to an obstructive tumor, so we were just going through antibiotics like crazy. After starting chemo the tumor gave way and the pnuemonia cleared up quickly. While chemo may seem scary, it can work rather quickly.

Stay strong and we will keep you and mum in our prayers,

conan

hello again conan this is the second time you have helped me thank you so much chemo dose sound scary i dont no if mum can handle it but after reading your post i am optimistic mum is not good at the mo as your wife wasnt before chemo if it is ok with you i would like to show mum your post as she thinks she is about to die anytime soon take care and thanks again caza

Chemo is not what wiped my mother out, radiation was. She responded well to chemo, and even got a boost from the steriods they put in it sometimes to offset the effects.

Good luck. I know it's scary and upsetting...but sometimes it really does work.

Hi Caza,
I just had my second treatment of the chemo combo Conan mentioned ... carboplatin/taxol. Have to tell you I was scared to death of chemo as I watched my mother die in 1979 horribly from cancer , and radiation and whatever it was they gave her (think they implanted some radioactive material inside of her!!!!!:eek: )
BUt things have changed and chemo actually turned out to be not too awful. It isn't wonderful, but I can still get out of bed, shower, get dressed everyday and eat pretty normally. And the side effects lessen after about 7 days. THe side effect I hate the worst if the flu-like achiness, but that only lasts about 1-2 days. Some people apparently sail right through it with very little side effects.
It is surely worth trying and can shrink the tumors and make her feel better.
Faith

Hi Caza
I think you have already received some great postings, but thought I would just drop a quick line. I hope your mom can stay positive as I think that helps wonders. (well, along with prayers and faith) My husband has SCLC and was given 8-16 months and he is on month 21! It has been a roller coaster ride as many put it. One day things are looking great and they are feeling good and then the next they are not doing as well. Somehow you must find the strength to keep your mom positive. She will learn what she can tolerate when it comes to her diet. My husband has found that with each chemo he has a different appetite for things. (or lack of appetite) We worked around it and they just amazed we have been able to keep weight on him so he can stay strong.
Anyway, I won't go on and on, but just wanted to send you my best!
Kim