Dad just diagnosed with stage 4 non small cell

[wuhoo514]

Hi,

This is my first time posting here. My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer 2 weeks ago. It's spread into his bones. Dad is Asian, 66 years old. He has been relatively healthy. Dad has been living the American dream ever since he immigrated to the US and has put my brother and I through college and graduate school. He has worked his whole life, 10 hr days 6 days a week, and just now that we can finally stand on our feet, he has this disease. Everyone is devastated, especially my mom. I am 26 years old. I am freaking out too, but I know that I have to be strong for my family. Dad is in Oregon but I am currently living in DC, so it's such an agony for me to be so far away. The doctor recommends starting chemo with Carboplati and Taxol. Can anyone tell me what we can expect regarding side effects and ways (food, etc) to help him? Thanks very much.

[recce101]

Hi again. I responded to your other post, and frankly I didn't even notice it was in the "wrong" (SCLC) forum. Many of us use the "View posts since last visit" feature and will see every new post regardless of where it is. We have a good number of Stage IV survivors in the group and you should be hearing from some of them soon. Aloha,

Ned

[wuhoo514]

Thank you for your kind words. We will continue to keep our hope and spirit high.

[Patti B]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You will find a lot of support here.

There are many Stage IV surviviors here doing very well. I am coming up on my 2 year anniversary of my dx.

Carbo/Taxol is a standard first line treatment. Your dad will probably lose his hair and they will give him anti-nausea drugs to control any naseau (which I never personally had). You can expect your dad to be tired through his treatments and they will probably give him a Neulasta shot the day after treatments to boost his blood counts. Everyone fares differently on chemo so others will come along with how they did on it. I was very blessed to not have a lot of side effects, and I wish the same for your dad.

Please keep us posted on how he is doing.

Hugs - Patti B.