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Posted

Hello, my name is Graham and I'm new. I'm here because my wife, Molly, has just been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and there are so many issues and questions running through my mind, that I'm not sure who to listen to or where to turn for help. She also has multiinfarct dementia, which kind of complicates her situation. One immediate question is on my mind though and that is the chronic cough she has. It just doesn't seem to let up and I'm so stressed because I can't seem to do anything to help her. Does anybody here have any ideas? Thank you.

Posted

Graham,

Welcome to the sight. It’s hard to give you much info without knowing more about your wife’s condition, staging etc. For starters I personally don’t know of terminal lung cancer, I have heard of cancer causing death and then that is when it becomes terminal. Now there are doctors running around telling people that they have terminal lung cancer, but do they really know? I was told that I have terminal lung cancer and that it would terminate last January, but since they can’t find any cancer in me right now, I am very careful crossing the street. There is no cancer that can not be treated. Try to fill out the profile for your wife. You will get plenty of hope and support here. Welcome again.

Stay positive, :)

Ernie

Posted

Hi, Graham, and welcome to the LCSC. It's the best group I ever joined that nobody ever wanted to join in the first place. You'll find the responses fast and plentiful, based on first-hand experiences of lung cancer patients and family members.

As you've already heard from Ernie (and perhaps others before I finish this), we need more details about your wife's condition before anyone can make other than very general suggestions -- a chronology of symptoms, diagnoses, tests, treatments, results, side effects, etc. It may take some time to put it together, but it will not only help us help you, but may also let you see patterns that you may have overlooked. To create a profile, click on "My Profile" at the top of the screen, scroll down to "Signature," enter/update your information, ensure that "Always attach my signature" is marked "Yes," and click "Submit." It can be rather sketchy at first, then you can include more details when you have time. Also, if you like, you can include a photo using the Avatar feature.

As a general comment, we don't often use the word "terminal" around here -- not because we want to sugar-coat anything, but because it means such different things to different people. You'll find some interesting discussions on this using the LCSC search feature. Click on "Search" at the top, put "terminal" in the first box, change "Display results as" to "Posts," change "Return first" to "All available," and click "Search."

Please post often and ask anything that comes to mind. There are no dumb questions. My best wishes and Aloha,

Ned

Posted

Hi welcome to the site. I'm very sorry that you need to be here though. As the others mentioned, if you are able to post a little more info about your wife's conditions and the Dr.s current plan for treatment, that would be very helpful to those that have experience here. I'm pretty new here myself,but my mom's cough was pretty bad for about 6 months prior to her being diagnosed. After 1 or 2 chemo treatments her cough had pretty much dissapeared. Pretty impressive! Look into a 2nd opinion if you have any concerns. We had 3! Keep reading the posts here. There are many people here that will be able to guide you through this new territory. Shelley

Posted

You've gotten great advice so far, Graham! I just wanted to be part of the welcome wagon!!!! It is very helpful to have a Profile available so all of our 'experts' here will be able to help you better. Also, additional opinions are most always recommended. In fact, I had 4!

About the word terminal...........if you mean that you were told your wife would die........well, lots of us have been told that. And lots of us were also told WHEN :roll: ! And guess what? We are still here LONG after our expiration dates! We have late stage folks here managing their disease as a chronic one and leading pretty good lives.

Hope you hang around for support and information. Please keep us updated so we know best how to support you on this bumpry ride!

Kasey

Posted

Hi Graham, welcome.

yah, chemo may help with the cough. After my last surgery I had a dry cough that was very persistent. My doc gave m a script for a codeine like drug which mutes the cough. Eventually it went away and I stopped taking the narcotic.

Don M

Posted

Welcome to the site, Graham. My wife also had lung cancer. Give us a profile of your wife's state and we can help you better. This is a good place for info and support. Don

Posted

Just wanted to say welcome,and maybe suggest you take the word "terminal" out of your vocabulary. Keep a positive attitude and come to this board often to receive the best advice and support anywhere around.

Best Wishes,

Bobby

Posted

Welcome Graham and sorry you and your wife are in this situation. You have quite a full plate right now with your wife, so you are keenly aware of a major life change already. Please feel free to post, vent, or ask questions in the different catagories.

Terminal and incurable are both just words. Technically we are all terminal from the minute we are born! It is a hard word to hear though, so I'm sure you are sorting through a lot emotionally right now. My advice is to surf through this website and read the profiles. You may find someone whose disease presents like your wife's. I spent about 10 mos. doing that before I even posted. It was survivorship of late stage cancer that I was looking for -- aren't we all? A lot of information can be found here, but for me, the bottom line is all about the profiles. I've found that the subtle nuances between each late stage diagnosis are important to note.

Are you in the U.S. or U.K?

As far as the cough, is she bringing up mucus or is it a dry cough? If she is trying to bring up mucus, something like Mucinex worked well for my husband to thin it out and help bring it up. Also have her lung specialist check out whether something like Advair will help with keeping things open for her. Hubby also was helped (breathing wise) with that.

Keep us posted and again sorry and hugs for you and your wife.

Regards,

Welthy

Posted

Welcome to our family , Graham,

Know that you are among people who understand what you and your wife are going through. Every case of lung cancer is different, but there are certain similarities which we can all compare and relate to. It would help to know a bit more about your wife's case. Graham, just know that there are many options available for treatment of lung cancer. As for the cough, it could be caused by many things. Her doctor should be able to help her with it.

I am sorry you have to be here , but I am glad you found us.

Sue

Posted

Hi Graham, lots of good advice here. Sorry you have be here. Speak to her doctors about the cough and that she needs some relief from it, I am sure there is something they can do. You stated your wife had memory problems, is she aware of what is going on ? Thats got to be hard. Write with more details.

Posted

Hi Graham: Welcome to the club nobody wanted to belong to but you will not find a more caring group of people than the folks in this 'family'. If you can, click on My Profile at the top of the screen and give us some info on Molly so that we can better help you. Again, welcome & God Bless

wendyr

Posted

Yeah terminal is not really in our vocabulary around here Graham. It is too depressing for most and so many have outlived their Doctors,"You only have so long to live", spiel, we joke about it. My wife had cancer for almost 3 years and went through radiation and 6 different types of Chemo while she was fighting. One day she just got tired of fighting. I want to welcome you and help boost you and your wifes Morale in this fight. THere is hope in every breath you and She takes every day.

If your doctor says she is terminal find a doctor who will not tell you that. You need a team of fighters now not quitters. My wife had the cough too and the treatments helped get rid of it. Unfortunately it comes with the territory of the disease

Click on this link when you read this to be redirected to a site that may offer some help for now

http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/content ... suppl/147S

Good Luck and sending Prayers that something here helps. You definitely need to look at a second opinion though in this case I think. But I do not know all the facts.

Posted

Welcome, Graham. So sorry to hear about your wife's diagnosis. My cough did clear up almost immediately following my first chemo treatment. Hope the same is true for your wife. take care and keep us posted.

Trish

Posted

Welcome to the site. There are many things the doctor can give your wife for the cough. My husband takes Tessalon Perles, codeine cough syrup at night, and in the past had an inhaler. Please let us know what her treatment plan will be.

Posted

Welcome Graham! You've already gotten great advice so I'll just add my welcome to the rest and tell you that Mom's cough got better with her chemo and was aggrivated by the radiation. Tessalon Perles, inhaler, and nebulizer treatments (breathing treatments) helped ease it when it was aggrivated.

Many prayers for you and your wife...

Posted

I just wanted to extend a welcome to you. My thoughts are with you and your wife during this difficult time. This is a great community full of very supportive and compassionate people.

Hugs...Flowergirlie

Posted

Welcome Graham,

I'm sorry to hear about your wife - and I agree that the word terminal doesn't hold a lot of meaning around here. No one can (or in my mind, should) tell anyone also how long they can expect to be around.

Mom's presenting and most troubling complaint was her cough. Treatment improved it tremendously!!! She still coughs not and then, but it's no where near as bad. This improvement began after her first chemo treatment.

Best of luck!

Jen

Posted

Graham,

Welcome to the boards, although I wish so much you didn't need to be here. Please know you and Molly have my prayers. This is a horrible, but beatable, disease, as evidenced by so many here on the site.

Jen

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