2@rubysue- First, let me welcome you to Mayo Clinic Connect. You have joined the right group for sure. All of us know what it feels like to be told that we have cancer, and it is a shock for sure.

When I first asked my surgeon how long I had he told me that "no one can answer that", as you stated. I had such confidence in being honest he has treated and advised me for the 24 years that I have had lung cancer and has become a close friend.

I will take the brave step here and recommend that you look for another doctor. And the reason that I recommend this is because if he were shallow, insensitive, and unsympathetic enough to tell you how long you will live I wonder how careful his recommendations for treatment will be. No one should ever have had a doctor tell them this, especially a newly diagnosed patient. I am so sorry that you had to listen to this.

What treatment have you begun and when were you diagnosed?

Why did he tell you that? Was there no treatment plan?