My mom died 1.5 yrs ago from NSCLC she was 82. We looked into cyberknife for her liver mets but because her insurance company dragged its feet and refused it by the time we decided to to see about doing it without their help she had too many mets in her liver to do.
Last Christmas I got a card from my mom's best friend from when she was young and she said she had just learned she had lung cancer and she opted to have cyberknife and was doing great.
I think at 91 surgery may be rough and chemo may be rough too. My mom got so fatigued by chemo that after 2.5 yrs she decided to quit . At the time of her death she only had mets in her liver and the actual lung tumor was gone from the Tarceva she had taken. The months she was on just Tarceva were the best as she had a great quality of life as she just had minor skin rashes and cracked fingers but otherwise felt great.( not everyone is so lucky as some people suffer alot from the drug) We think a pulmonary embolism ( blood clot in her lungs) from the inactivity caused by the fatigue from chemo is what killed her as she was not in liver failure at the time of her death and the hospice doctor had expected her to live for quite some time.
My experience with her treatment helped me this past year when my dog developed nasal cancer, I opted to do palliative radiation and was lucky to find a vet oncologist that was wanting to try IMRT radiation ( not quite cyberknife but is a little similar ) So yes I went for the IMRT. My dog is doing great 3.5 months later and suffered no side effects as of yet. The vet is very pleased with his guinea pig dog!
I think often with not just pets but with people too you have to really look at quality of life verses length as my mom was VERY unhappy with the quality of her life from the chemo as the fatigue left her unable to do things and for a woman that had been very active that was a major blow and by the time she died she wanted to die. Actually got mad when the Hospice doctor said she could live for quite some time.
I remember having a conversation with her a few weeks before she died where she said she did not want to leave us but she know it was time too as she could not go on living like she had been as to her that was not living . While it broke my heart to hear that I did understand and yes I am even glad she died when she did as she had such a peaceful death at home with most of the family there with her. Since we all must die what more could you want at the end?
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