Samanthagg

4th round of chemo and immunotherapy done. Scans done as well. The main tumor shrank by 50%, the little nodules in the opposite lung disappeared and the pleural effusion is halved in size. It seems most likely chemo is working. My fear is when chemo stops after 2 more cycles then it will be just immunotherapy. My dads Pdl-1 levels and TMB is low. But I am grateful for these victories for now

Holdonope,
Chemo, particularly, combination chemotherapy with immunotherapy, can quickly stop pleural effusions. I'm hoping for a good outcome for your dad's treatment.
Stay the course.
Tom

Katum31,
Hi and welcome.  So many of us know all too well the fear, anxiety, anger, and sadness you are feeling about your mom's diagnosis.  I was buried in these emotions when my mom was originally diagnosed and then even more so when she was diagnosed with her recurrence.  Like your mom, my mom is young too (61 years old at diagnosis, almost 65 now).  My mom was also a late-stage diagnosis.  Your question about what to expect is a good one...I wish I could help more, but everyone is so different when it comes to treatment side effects.  Here is what I can tell you about my experiences, maybe it will help a bit.
Brain radiation - my mom's best friend and my uncle had cyber knife for brain mets from lung cancer - both did well with it.  The major side effect was tiredness.  My cousin's wife just had whole brain radiation and spot radiation for mets from breast cancer.  She's only in her 30's, but all she experienced was some tiredness.
Radiation on the hip - my cousin's wife is also going through radiation for mets to her hip (breast cancer).  She was in intolerable pain from the bone mets.  After 2 sessions of radiation, her pain began to get much more tolerable. She had no real side effects.  She will have periodic radiation to that met for a long time as she has the most aggressive type of breast cancer - they are just trying to help with quality of life at this point.  Luckily, non small cell lung cancer is not as aggressive.  
Chemo - my mom has gone through 2 different bouts of chemo.  The first time she did great, the second time, not so great.  One major determinant of chemo effects is the type(s) that your mom will be getting.  Do you know what chemo(s) she will be getting yet?  I also personally feel that the patient's overall health and state of mind can play a crucial part in how bad side effects can be.  With the 2nd bout of chemo, my mom was already having other health issues that got worse once chemo started.  But my mom is a VERY strong person.  She pulls through all of these health issues like a warrior.  I am happy to hear that your mom is a warrior too.  
The best piece of advice I can give you as a caregiver/care advocate is to arm yourself with knowledge.  It was my mom's job to be the patient and my job to be the knowledgeable one and advocate for the best care she can get.  There's a lot of "crap" out there posing as lung cancer "facts" and it's hard to sift through what is good info and what is crap.  My suggestion is to start with LUNGevity's website..."Lung Cancer 101" is a great first page to check out and go from there.  Also, reach out to us.  There are so many survivors here that can likely answer just about any question you have.  We are here for you. You are not alone.
And finally, I want to reassure you that there is hope. 5 years ago, a late stage lung cancer diagnosis was a likely death sentence, but NOT TODAY.  Get your mom going through treatment and ride the crazy roller coaster of life with lung cancer, that's all we can do.  Advocate, take good notes, and appreciate all of the time that you have left with your loved ones - something we should be doing no matter what.
Take care,
Steff

Hi there, and welcome.
I'm sorry about your mom's diagnosis.  Unfortunately, being "healthy" doesn't prevent a person from developing lung cancer, but it really does provide an advantage when it comes to fighting it.  It's great that she came through the brain surgery so well.  
We have quite a few members here who have long-term survival after a Stage IV diagnosis, so there's plenty of reason to hope.  Others here will have more input on the chemo/immunotherapy/clinical trials issues--I was one of the lucky Stage I people, so surgery is the only treatment I have personal experience with.  But the others will be along soon.
Glad you found us--this is a great place for information and support.

MzShanon,
Welcome here.
Here is information about the thoracentesis procedure as a diagnostic method for lung cancer (click the right arrow ahead of Thoracentesis).
The biopsy of the fluid will disclose the type of lung cancer and here is information about lung cancer types. Deducing a type is important because each type of lung cancer had a different treatment method. You might also received information on biomarker testing of the thoracentesis fluid. This is also important because biomarkers will tell if systemic treatment methods called targeted therapy or immunotherapy are available. These relatively new treatment methods have dramatically moved the survival curve in our disease.
As Lou states, when you received more information about your mom's diagnosis and if you have questions, this is the place for answers.
Stay the course.
Tom
 

So sorry you are having this scare. Try to take deep breaths when you feel overwhelmed and tell yourself that whatever the diagnosis will eventually be, you will handle it. I recall when I was told I have lung cancer, I was so distraught and in disbelief for a while, I was off balance. The good news is that though grief and worry never totally disappear, their impact reduces and you start focusing on treatment and management of the disease. Until you know more about your mom's condition, try to focus on being together and easing her and your grief. Lung cancer is no longer a death sentence and there are many treatments even for late stage. Hopefully your mom will have options given to her by doctors soon. The people on this forum are amazing and will help with any questions you may have. Take care.