Jump to content

Could surgery be a possibility for my mum


catlady91

Recommended Posts

My mum was diagnosed with inoperable stage 3B squamous cell non small cell lung cancer in February. She's doing incredibly well and there's barely anything of her tumour left; it's gone from 37mm to 3mm. The doctor said that it's very hard to see with the naked eye. The doctor said that her response to treatment has been excellent.

I was wondering if surgery could ever be an option for my mum. Is the tumor too small to remove or the location? The doctor seems to think that immunotherapy will get rid of the tiny remaining part. If the cancer God forbid comes back, could surgery be an option?

Also just a question about lymph nodes. Is chemo or radiation used to get the cancer out of the lymph nodes? I don't know how it quite works. My mum originally had N2 for lymph node involvement. The doctor hasn't mentioned anything about that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • catlady91 changed the title to Could surgery be a possibility for my mum

i catlady91 and welcome to our place.  I can only assume that your Mom would have had surgery to begin with had surgery been an option.

I am 3B also and my oncologist told me that surgery will never be an option. However if the cancer shrinks after Chemo and immunotherapy than radiation is a possibility. In your case the oncologist wants to continue with immunotherapy so he is pleased with the results and wants to continue with what's working..

Personally I will ask him about radiology just out of curiosity but I won't force the issue since the results are good. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, GaryG said:

i catlady91 and welcome to our place.  I can only assume that your Mom would have had surgery to begin with had surgery been an option.

I am 3B also and my oncologist told me that surgery will never be an option. However if the cancer shrinks after Chemo and immunotherapy than radiation is a possibility. In your case the oncologist wants to continue with immunotherapy so he is pleased with the results and wants to continue with what's working..

Personally I will ask him about radiology just out of curiosity but I won't force the issue since the results are good. 

Thanks GaryG. My mum's main treatment was radiotherapy. She had about 20 intense radiation sessions followed by two rounds of chemo (I think it was cystplatin). Now she's on immunotherapy till next June. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, catlady91 said:

Thanks GaryG. My mum's main treatment was radiotherapy. She had about 20 intense radiation sessions followed by two rounds of chemo (I think it was cystplatin). Now she's on immunotherapy till next June. 

In that case according to the American lung association radiation can be used before lung cancer surgery to shrink the tumor or after surgery to kill any cancer cells left in the lungs.   https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/patients/treatment/types-of-treatment/radiation-therapy

I am sure that depends on cases by cases so your oncologist will be the best source of advise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.