Guest inviola Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 My husband is in Florida visiting with his 66 yr old Mom who was diagnosed in April this year w/SCLC. He will meet with Oncologist tomorrow for the first time when she starts another round of chemo. His siblings are all believing that this will be over soon and that she will have a full recovery. She is tolerating the chemo well and my husband has gotten copies of her dignosis and her treatment drugs which I don't have here yet till he gets home. His family asks me questions but they don't like the answers I give them about what I know of this disease. So I have started to say i don't know in order not to alienate them all. I was an LPN for 15 years and from everything I know and read I find it hard to be as optimisitic as they are. Am I just being negative. Some of the stuff his Mom tells us on the phone doesn't make sense. I guess I am looking through the nurses eyes and trying to be prepared for all the things that can pop up. all the kids except on e live in Wisconsin and we all would like her to come here fro a time to visit.Her dostor told her no travelling for 6 months during chemo.We think she is in a good place for treatment in Oakhill ,FLorida. But we all miss her terribly. Any encouragement will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 I can understand your skepticism about your mother in laws case being a health care professional, however as Katie stated not all cases are alike. I too have SCLC with mets to liver and the prognosis if you go by the books is not good, approx. 1 year survival rate. However I have read many cases on these boards and heard of others where some people have lived for 2-4-5 years and even the one member we had who survived 20 years. One oncologist that I went to told me that he personally never had a SCLC case extensive that lived for a long period of time BUT he had heard of many of them who did live for a long time. He also told of SCLC extensive cases who were cured, go figure. My Family Doctor told me that he firmly believes that attitude and the will to live play a very major part in a person's survival rate. He was speaking from personal experience, his mother in law lived four years beyond what any doctor gave her as a time line and his mother also beat the odds by five years on sheer determination. I think it all depends on the patient. Bess B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy RN Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 I totally understand what you wrote about seeing sclc from a nurses point of view. I have been a nurse for 14 years and when we went to school they called small cell carcinoma-oat cell carcinoma . I remembered that it was the worst one-it sounded like oatmeal to me so I never forgot that. I was diagnosed in Feb of 2001 and am still around. I do not do as much as I did a few years ago but my kids and hubby do not mind. I still travel and am planning my sons wedding and trying to convince him they want children as soon as possible. (You know---GRANDKIDS!!!) Like they said there are others on this board that have gone much longer than me. I WILL be one of those long timers someday too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Hello, Just last week I had a phone call from a dear family friend ... one I only speak with every now and again. His sister was diagnosed with extensive SCLC about 6 years ago. SHE IS STILL GOING STRONG!!! That makes 2 people I know personally who have defied the odds!!....and I have only personally known 4 people with extensive SCLC. I continue to pray daily for each and every person here. I pray that someday the overall statistics for SCLC will be more in keeping with my little set of statistics. God bless, Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 My husband was diagnosed in December and I felt that there was no hope at all. I did research on the net and the statistics were grim. I stumbled into this site by accident when one day in despair I typed "Lung cancer survival stories" into a search engine because I needed to find something positive. It has been my saving grace. Hugh is feeling very well right now, as a matter of fact today he is building a fence/gazebo in our front yard. He started it last week and though he doesn't yet have the stamina to go as quickly as he did a year ago, he is moving pretty fast and I would guess the fence and gazebo will be done by Friday. Not bad considering 6 months ago he couldn't even walk from the house into the car without resting. And considering he just finished chemo. One thing I learned from this board is that there is ALWAYS hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debbie412 Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 of course they are so hopeful, it is their mother! If everybody listened to statistics they mine as well not even put up a fight. my mothers dr. told her that she would lose her hair . she took 8 rounds of chemo and dyed it every month and not one strand fell out. Her dr's saying is "there are lies, damn lies, and STATISTICS" i think the best thing you can do is be supportive for your husband and his family. being a nurse, you should know first hand that their are miracles and survivors with any disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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