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Anyone out there living with stage 4 lung cancer?
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Sep 24, 2023 | Replies (143)Comment receiving replies
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?
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Hi Merry. Thank you for the warm welcome. I apologize for taking so long to respond.
I was diagnosed with stage 3b June 2020. I went through the initial chemo and 6 weeks of radiation at that time. I started Imfinzi after that was complete. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January and had gamma knife surgery. Doc told me at that time, none too gently, that I was stage 4 now and it was going to kill me! Moving on, I failed immunotherapy this past June and the CT scan showed my cancer metastasized to my liver, kidney, spine, and adrenal. I went back on chemo with carbo. Mvasi, and pemetrexed for 6 cycles every 3 weeks. I have since dropped the carboplatnin.
Got scan results today and the tumor on my liver has grown from 1.9 to 3.4 cm. Everything else was stable. I'm pretty down tonight.
When I failed the immunotherapy and he put me on this new regime, he again played God and told me even with the chemo I had a 12 percent chance of living for a year.
I live in northern Michigan and my options are limited but am going to look into Cancer Treatment Centers of America for a second opinion.
Sorry this is so lengthy, but you seem so understanding. You have inspired me! You are a miracle and I should be so blessed.