Chemo - Cancer Message Board

pentex · 07-22-2003, 05:19 PM

My MIL (stage 3 lung cancer, confined to one lung, one mass) finished up 6 weeks chemo/radiation. The follow up scans show that the tumor has gone from 4.2 cm to 3 cm and that there has been no spreading.
My question is this: can the tumor start to grow again while we wait for her to be back at full strength? Can chemo kill a tumor to the point where it can't grow?

I feel like we're in a race for her life here to get her to 100% for surgery but am not even sure what happens to a tumor during chemo....

SamQKitty · 08-10-2003, 08:20 PM

Her tumor may continue to shrink somewhat, as there are residual effects from both chemo and radiation. At the very least, the tumor probably won't start growing that quickly after stopping the treatment, so she should have at least some recovery time before undergoing surgery.