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Hospice or treatment?
I have Adenocarcinoma lung cancer with mets to 4-5 areas of liver and to the pancreas. I’m looking at this as a death sentence. Leaning towards hospice and not treatment. Waiting for 1st oncology appt! From what I’ve read, chemo does little for liver cancer. Immunotherapy seems to set off pancreatitis, which I already have and I’m on low-fat diet as pancreatic attacks aren’t fun. Maybe radiation is possible but I’m also not into torturing myself with side effects to delay the inevitable. I’m on the verge of calling in my own hospice referral. Or wait for oncologist ?who I’m sure will urge some type of treatment. I’m just not sure its realistic given my Mets status. Anyone with liver and pancreas mets with thoughts?
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Well I hope you are feeling good today? My name is Leticia Herrera I am in California I have stage 4 lung cancer. So one thing I felt that you needed to hear is this God is the one who is in control and he loves you so when you are sad, mad , and he will give you all you need from here on out cause he loves you. In the past 5 years I have had 5 different cancer surgeries and I'm still a live so cheer up cause you still have a long life to live
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1 ReactionHello @artistrose, welcome to Mayo Connect. I'm not sure how long you've known about the cancer, but I'm sure your head and heart are spinning. It's a tough diagnosis to receive.
My first instinct is usually to say, 'no, no, no'. Then I listen to the treatment options and gather information on the potential for success/failure and the side effects. When I'm more informed, I can make better decisions and usually change my mind. It takes a while for the reality to settle in my head, and my heart. I would advise you to keep the oncology appointment. Hear them out, and then you can make whatever decisions fit for you.
One clarification, the mets on your liver are likely from the lung cancer spread. Those cancer cells will perform like lung cancer, not liver cancer. They may be responsive to a chemotherapy, but that's a great question for the oncologist. When I was diagnosed, five years ago, I had lung cancer spread to my liver too. With a targeted therapy treatment those are now undetectable. I still have some spots in my lungs that show on CT scans, but I'm convinced that may be scarring. They aren't growing, so that's good enough for me.
Has an oncology appointment been set up already? Do you have the support of family or friends, someone to go to the appointment with you?