Jump to content
Official Community Forums Home

Lung Cancer


mailahn97

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Well I will start. Last Friday I found out my mom was diagnosed with Stage 2B lung cancer. She is 59 eats healthy, exercises and takes pretty good care of herself. You see the week of New Years she went in the hospital with pneumonia and pleuracy. She gets it every couple of years so I thought nothing of it, but normally she hasn't been hospitalized. Well she spent 9 days in the hospital. My parents live 5 hours away. I kept asking them if I should come up and is there something they aren't telling me. My mom and I are best friends. Well on Friday I got the call that pretty much changed my life.

There are only 2 people that know at this point until this post. I did not know how to face it or if I could. I spent most of Friday crying. It isn't that I didn't trust my friends here. I think it was that if I talked about it that made it very real. It was like I was hoping it was a horrible dream. Well my parents gave the Oncologist permission to talk to me about anything to do with my moms case since it would be better to ask him questions then them. I set up and spoke to him on Monday.

Her prognosis is very good. They can't start treatment until the pneumonia and pleuracy are cleared up as she is already weakened. She goes back on Tuesday for evaluation and then go from there. They are starting with Chemotherapy.

I wanted to know does anyone have any experience first hand or due to a family member having it of lung cancer. I just wanted to kind of see what to expect. Yes doctors can tell me but they at times try to sugar coat it. The doctor gave me some great links for online support to help me. I am doing better but I won't lie I have my moments where I just curl into a ball and cry.

Also I have a 6 year old daughter and she is also VERY close to my mom. How do you explain this to a child? I was told tell them that grandmom is sick and has to take some meds that may cause hair loss and other side effects. I don't know if my daughter can handle it.

Any information anyone can give me would be great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thank you. Unfortunately my mom won't even discuss it with me yet. I don't think she has completely come to the reality of it all as of yet. My dad called me and told me and had to deal with my yelling and screaming at him for keeping it from me.

It is hard with my daughter she doesn't take news about anything well. She is a bit of a drama queen. I was talking to the doctor and he said if I wanted he will mail me down a cancer doll. It helps kids understand sort of what happens. He also has a friend near me that handles pediatric oncology who would help me in explaining it as well. Just I am so confused as to what and what not to tell her. I am gonna do that. I also order a few books on it for kids. Hopefully that will help. I don't think my mom will be able to be there for the telling of my daughter. If she can't even talk about it with me as of yet.

Thank you so much for the information. We try to be very straighforward with her as well. She unfortunately in her short life has had to deal with death I think a little more than most 6 year olds. She has lost quite a few people just in the last two years which I think has caused some of her over emotion.

I was going to go see my mom this weekend without my daughter so that I can deal with things and process them first. Unfortunately with the weather they are getting right now. That won't be possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Review Team

SS, you know I am here for you. My mom had lung cancer but hers was aggressive and very far along before it was diagnosed (thanks the quack that assumed it was a TB scar the first time he saw something - nearly a YEAR before she was diagnosed :angry: ) so her story will not be like what your mom goes through. It is great that the doctors are optimistic as they were not with my mom because it was so far along.

Let me add that miracles happen every day. Some of you know about a friend of mine who was diagnosed with colon cancer around Thanksgiving. Doctors first said she would not live to Christmas, then she would not live until the New Year, at several points she was not expected to make it through the night. She is still with us and fighting hard. She is being built back up so start treatments again (it was the chemo that made her so near death, the cancer was actually improving) so pray, hope, believe and let your friends support you as you support your family.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aw, darlin', I hope everything goes well. Oncologists are usually very realistic as far as diagnosing & making sure that the family & patient are well aware of what's going on, and how things could go.

When I was 9 yrs old, my mother had to have a hysterectomy due to uterine cancer. At the time, I was told that she was very sick, but would heal fast, after she saw the doctor, and that I had to let her rest. And I had a small cold, so for 3 days I had to leave her alone, since her immune system was compromised. It was hard, but people kept me occupied and busy. As far as telling your daughter, once your mother is feeling better, maybe you should ask her if she would like to explain to your daughter what's going on. She will know how she wants her granddaughter to know what's going on, and to what extent.

Best wishes! :kiss:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Ahhh, honey. I'm so sorry you are having to go through this. I haven't been through this, but if you need to talk, I'm here. Just PM me. (((big huggggs))). Your family is in my prayers.

TNT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thank you so much everyone. It means a lot and that is why I decided I was ready to share what was going on. Archer as far as cancer being it in there generation actually they are not that way. My family has been through a lot with cancer. My mom had skin cancer of the face when she was 28. My grandmother had uterine cancer as well as breast cancer adn found and survived both. I had a couple of scares in the last year or so. In fact last week I went for my follow up to see how I am doing. I am awaiting those results.

That is one thing I can say abotu this bunch we are all a family and no we can turn to each other when we need it. Thank you all. I like the idea of when my mom is up to it seeing how she would like my daughter to know. For one it isn't like my daughter gets to see her a lot we are 5 hours away so that buys a little time.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I have made some of the greatest friends from this site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Shortstuff, you and your family are in my prayers.

Your mom's doctor sounds like an exceptional man,

and I will pray for him, also.

My mom had an agressive case of breast cancer about 10 years ago,

and she was able to overcome it.

At the time, I was numb and took time by myself to process it.

Keep us up to date, will you? Big Hug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

SS I lost my Mom to breast cancer in "68. She was only 54, I was 19. Back then the parents and doctors didn't tell the kids

anything so I didn't really know all that was going on. So please push for all the information you can get from your Mom and her

doctors. Knowledge is power. Also, the treatments today are so much better than they were then that her chances of full recovery

are very good. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use & Privacy Policy