Guest fight4dan Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 My father in law was diagnosed with small cell stage 4 lung cancer on 7/5/06. His name in Daniel Palmer and he is only 62 years old. He started having pain in his hip/back about 1 year ago. The doctors stated that it was his siatiac (sp)nerve in his leg and that he had buldged disks in his back. They gave him pain medicine and did x-rays at this time. Long story short this method of treatment continued until about 3 months ago. He would go to the dr, chriropracters, neurolgists, acupunctuists (sp) and so on. He finially underwent surgery to shave the bones in his back, where the disks were buldged to alleviate the pain in his groin. The surgery went well, but the pain in his hip got tremendously worse after the surgery, to the point that he could hardly walk. My mother in law could not stand watching him in pain anymore and she demanded that he be admitted to the hospital to see what was wrong. The pain should have been alleviated by the surgery, not gotten worse. After many calls to the doctor and his worseing condition,he was admitted and an MRI found nothing wrong. The the doctors then completed a bone scan. The bone scan revealed 3 tumors, one on his lung, one on his adreanal glands and on in his pelvic bone. It should be notes that the doctors looked back to the x-rays from 1 year ago and saw the tumor in the hip. they stated, "we thought it was just part of him". At this time, the doctors told us "that to hope for lung cancer, because it would be the most treatable cancer". So, the doctors went in and completed a bone biopsy. The bone biopsy revealed that he had stage 4 lung cancer. They first told us that he has 6-12 months to live, then 6-12 months has turned to 6-8 and some doctors say 4-6 months. He has undergone 8 treatments of radiation on his pelvis to "shrink the tumor and allegedly alleviate the pain". The tumor was 7-8cm. and no one has told us if the radiation is doing anything. To tell you the truth, they don't tell us much of anything!!!! The pain my father in law is going through was unbearable in the hip/pelvis area. He walked into the hospital 3 weeks ago and is now bed ridden. Any move he makes creates more pain for him. On 7/10/06 the doctors placed a pump in his side that releases morphine (3mg) throughout the day. He now has pain in his leg from a formed blood clot. They are giving him medications to disolve the clot and thin the blood. The clot became apparent on 7/7/06 and is still in the leg, noted by swelling. The family is obviously in great turmoil. Any suggestions for coping or words or encourgagement are welcome. As of today, my father in law in still in the hospital in pain, has a blood clot and he just wants to go home. For those of you who have had this type of cancer...please advise me of what to expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 I would try to get him other doctors, perhaps try Roswell if he is in Buffalo. A doctor that says "he hopes it is lung cancer. because it is the most treatable" seems kind of strange to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 First, please go up to the top of this category and read the Sticky that says "What I did to fight SCLC"-- it will help a lot. Print it for your FIL. Get a second opinion, he's in a fight and needs someone that will fight with him. Good luck and keep us posted on how things go. Rochelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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