Lung Cancer

[livingwith]

My Dad is 65 yrs old and was diagnosed with lung cancer in October. He had a tumor on a lung and his liver has many. He just completed the last of 6 chemo treatments and the following bone scan indicates that it has spread to the bones and the liver tumors have grown. I am sharing this for unknown reasons other than I really need to find more inner strength. I don’t know how I am going to handle this as I am the oldest of 5 children and my Mother needs me too. Although I truly have not giv...Read the full article

[essayb]

HOw are you doing? Your post struck a chord as my dad is getting his results from biopsy on Thursday and it doesn't look good. My mom and dad live near me and my dad takes care of my mom as she isn't well. All of us children work full time and some are single parents. I can't imagine my dad not being here. It is such a shock and posting this just helps me to get my feelings out too. I hope you are handling things allright...

[willowy]

I can definitely relate to you. I just found out on Tuesday that my 63 year old mother who had been suddenly diagnosed with "asthma" a few weeks ago actually has a tumor the size of a small grapefruit in her right lung. This is a woman who has promised my 5 year old daughter she would be there for her high school graduation. At first, the Pulmonologist made it sound very bleak, telling us she had about 6 months if she did not get any treatment. The same day she went for her CT scan (Wednesday, yesterday) they immediately started Radiation Therapy. I am a radiology student getting ready to graduate in about 8 weeks, so all of this is a familiar setting for me. You never think about it happening to someone so close to you like this. Suddenly, my family is turning to me for answers on what this all means in what the doctors are talking about, and what the testing is. I suddenly find myself in this whirlwind. I lost my father to cardiopulmonary failure nearly 13 years ago, and now I could be losing my mom to another devastating disease as well. After meeting with the doctors at the cancer treatment center, we are very optimistic that she will be here longer than 6 months. I am very aware of survival rates, and we are praying that God and modern medicine is dealing her a good hand. We should find out tomorrow or Monday what the staging and type is to determine chemo treatments. She just had a PET scan today to determine if there is any spreading. My siblings and I are trying to rearrange our schedules to make sure she gets to her treatments every day. We all have families, full time jobs, school, live over 30 minutes from her, etc., but we will overlook any differences and rearrange our schedule to do what it takes to say at least we tried. If there is a will, there is a way and you can at least help them put up a good fight. Be strong, and I'll be praying for you and your family.

[essayb]

Thank you for your prayers. My dad's results were negative, and I feel as if my prayers were answered, however through all of this I have come to see so many people who are dealing with the shocking news of lung cancer. I read that you are a radiology student and therefore your siblings come to you for answers. I am in Nursing School, and have many of the same experiences that you have with siblings coming to me for answers. It is an honor, yet an additional responsibility to be the "point" person. In my case, my dad requested that I not share anything with my siblings. That has been hard. My dad goes back in six weeks for more testing, and for now we have a reprieve. That being said, I have cried twice since last week with the overwhelming thought of him being gone. Fortunately, my family has not had loss; the down side of that is I am so unprepared to deal with loss. My prayers will include you as well. A day can seem so benign and pleasant...until the phone rings with that one call of "I found a mass"

God Bless You. I will keep watching your posts, and am hopeful that things will continue to improve for you and your family.

[willowy]

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. It is comforting to be able to relate to others on the same level, knowing what we are feeling or going through. I am so happy that your father's test was negative. Still no word on my mother's biopsy or PET scan results. She had a port placement today to get her ready for the upcoming chemo treatments. There were a few complications with the line, and they had to place a stent in to open up the SVC as the port line would not go through at first due to the compression of her tumor. Everything is fine for now! She is still in great spirits, a little worn down, but she is also being very sensible in wanting to fix her will and work on some funeral planning, just in case. She does not want to leave us in a bind, but she says she still plans on being around for a while. It is hard to hear this coming from her. We have been so consumed with the responsibilities and schedules with this obstacle and our daily lives, that I really don't think it has set in with me yet. In a way, I don't want it to. I'm okay with it for now because we do believe we can fight this! At these times, this is where our inner "strength" and faith prevails! All I can do right now is keep going, stay busy, and take care of things. Like you, I don't want to even consider thinking about life without her. Please keep in touch, take care, and God Bless you and yours.