Need Survival Stories to bring hope!!!!!!!!!!!

Chance333 · 08-25-2007, 11:41 PM

This is just the 2 time I have posted a note on here. Anyone who can help please, please let me know. My dad is 59 stage 4 lung cancer spread to the vertebre. He went to the doctor for a broke back while at work. They did xrays and told him that he did break his back in 2 or 3 spots, but they also found some spots on his vertebre. He has smoked forever but Had quit about 4 monthes ago then about a month ago had started smoking again. My mom said he seemed to be doing good not smoking but he works in the mines and everyone seems to smoke so he just started up. We knew he had health problems but they were being diabetic and needing to take 2 shots aday. He also has high blood pressure. In Feb they took a vein from his leg and placed it in his neck for a clogged artery. We thought he was doing ok besides that. He went to work about a month ago and fell off some equipment and thought he spanged a muscle. He went to the doctor when it didn't get any better. THey told him they were going to place cement in his disks so maybe he could get around better. When they did the cement they took a biopsy and told us to wait for the results.The weekend was so slowwwwwwwwwwww.
We went to the doctor the next week and like nothing the doctor said you have stage 4 cancer and you have maybe a year. And of course being the baby that I am I left the room crying when he needed me. My mom and sister stayed and listened to the doctor talk about radiation and chemo. They started him on radiation right away which has left his so sick. He is losing a pound a day and is throwing up after the treatments alot. They are doing the radiation on his back then will start chemo next week after that they want to do another round of radiation on his lung because surgery is not an option because of his health. He is still smoking though I beg him th quit. I know he is sad and depressed but he also doesn't like being told what to do. They are starting him on to drugs for chemo. One is Herceptin. I can't find any info on this because everything I've read says this is used for breast cancer. I can't remember the other drug they are using with it. I need some info soon. My mom had a hysterctomy 9 years ago and the doctor knicked her bowels. She was put on a ventilator and given a 5% chance of living. God got her through it.We looked up as much info as we could to be informed and to tell her doctor of any different treatments that might help.. She has short gut syndrome but is alive and mostly healthy now. She has to take a B12 shot every month and goes to the bathroom alot. She also has lost about 100 pounds she stayed in the hospital for 3 monthes. My dad sleep in the car at night to be close to her. He never gave up on her, now we CAN'T give up on him. The info on this illness is so negative, we need to give him some hope to hang onto.Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Even if he lives longer than they gave him would help. Has anyone lived to the 5 year mark with stage 4 lung cancer that has spread?

Janmarie2 · 08-26-2007, 06:51 PM

Sorry to hear about your dad. I can't offer you a story of 5 years but one of 2.5 years. My mom has stage IV NSCLC ( her mets were to her liver). She was 80 when we learned she had it but a very young healthy 80 with no other health issues except a low thyroid.

I think my mom made it that long thanks to Tarceva and the fact she responded well to it for 7 months. It totally did away with the tumor in her lung and worked for awhile on the liver mets then quit. Because of that responce she died without active cancer in her lungs and we figured a pulmonary embolism killed her as her liver mets were not yet bad enough to cause liver failure. She went through Chemo before Tarceva and again after it and was on her 4th line treatment.

The last chemo agents left her wiped out.She was so fatigued she could do nothing but sit and watch TV and after months of that she decided she did not want to live her life like that so decided to quit chemo and stop all treatment.It was sad but I have to agree I would not want to live the quality of live she was living either just to be around a few months longer. It often becomes quality verses quanity of life.

I think for many here once the quality of life is gone or their loved ones are suffering from pain ( I hate to say this but spinal mets or any bone mets can be VERY painful and cause alot of suffering for some) that death no longer is that hated fearful thing lurking in the darkness but rather a thing of relief.Trust me it is not easy to watch someone with lung cancer suffer as often it is a horrible disease and brings with it periods of shortness of breath that can be terrifying for both your loved one and the rest of the family. We were lucky as thanks to Tarceva we got to skip that part. And the pain from the cancer can often be very difficult to control.

I know there is another posting board that I can not mention and it has some folks that responded to Iressa back in the early clinical trials and then went on Tarceva and responded to that as well and some of them are 4-5 years now.So survival times are increasing but it seems to be for people that can respond to the newer biological type drugs like Tarceva, Irressa, Avastin.

Spend lots of time with you dad and let him know how much he is loved.I will send prayers your way. JanMarie

HELLASRULES · 08-26-2007, 07:26 PM

Hi Chance
Well I can tell you one story I know about. THe wife of a dear departed friend has been battling stage IV sclc for 4 years. SHe's a tough lady! SHe's used oxygen right from the start and has gone thru many different chemo therapies. I believe it was last Fall she even went on a cruise.
If I'm not mistaken there was another gentleman here on this board who was stage IV andwas well over a couple years.
I plan on joining all these fighters for years too! I'm stage IV nsclc, diagnosed in Dec. 06. SO far I am feeling good and remain active as possible. I just get more tired than I used to.
I know when I was a kid, my dad's best friend had lung cancer and they removed his lung. Not sure of all the details as I was probably 10, but I ran into him in a store a few years ago and he was doing awesome! I'm sure he must've been stage I, but even at that, it never spread. He's a true survivor.
I think many live over the 1 year mark. I will, I'm sure of that. I've already gone 9 months. I did quit smoking the day they told me they could treat me, but not cure me. Don't even miss it either. My regular doctor says that even giving up smoking now with the lung cancer will make a difference. The lungs need all the oxygen they can get now and if he has mucous clogging up the lungs he is going to have problems sooner, rather than later and also I'd think would make the lungs a huge target for pneumonia. I just got over a BAD chest cold, but no pneumonia at all. Hallelujah! God is good!
Tell your dad to fight. Fight the good fight. DO what the doctors say, and then do the very best things for his own health that he can, including healthy eating. He's way too young to just give up at 59. I'm 52. I choose life! ANd don't let the medical people drag him down in spirit, Find hope and live each day by that hope and stand firm on it.
That's what I do.
THere may be many many stories you won't find here, because healthy people don't tend to post. THey are out there living their lives. We only come here when the problems show up.
Your dad is in my prayers. Be Blessed.
Faith

Chance333 · 08-26-2007, 11:23 PM

Thanks so much for your letters. I wish comfort and joy to you for your letters. This is such a scary thing. I hope you can beat this as I hope my dad can also beat this. Did they happen to give you a time frame? They told my dad a year which seems so negative. I think they should offer hope. If his doctor doesn't who will?

HELLASRULES · 08-27-2007, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chance333

Thanks so much for your letters. I wish comfort and joy to you for your letters. This is such a scary thing. I hope you can beat this as I hope my dad can also beat this. Did they happen to give you a time frame? They told my dad a year which seems so negative. I think they should offer hope. If his doctor doesn't who will?

No they didn't give me a time frame and if they ever try to, I may have to punch them, because my lifespan and health is up to God, not doctors.
Hope will never come from doctors when you have cancer....just not going to happen. My hope comes from the The Lord. I've found a great little church that believes the word of God and going there and being in the midst of loving, caring brothers & sisters and hearing words of Hope from God gives me more hope than I've had in years. Cancer has become a blessing in my life, because it brought me back to God's house, and I've meet so many wonderful people. They pray for me all the time, and annoint me with oil. We get together and laugh and have fun. I feel very blessed and am also filled with joy and peace. So that is where my hope comes from. So whether cancer kills me or not, I am without fear, because I have love.
My friend, with sclc, in her 4th year, lives for her grandkids. They give her hope.
So Hope is everywhere, just not in an oncologist's office when you have advanced cancer. Hope will never be in their job description I don't think.
Spend as much time as you can with your dad, love him, talk to him about your dreams and plans, thank him for raising you so well (and that's obvious by your caring), take him out on "dates" and have a great time with him. Those kinds of things he will love, and give him hope.
You know Hope is the one thing most cancer patients are never given. I think that is truly sad. So when I go for my chemo, I always talk to anyone near me and try to uplift them and give them hope. Someone needs to, don't you think?
God Bless
Faith