Paula C
07-16-2007, 02:07 PM
...metastatic small cell lung cancer. What should I expect? The doctor gave her a couple of days to maybe two months. It has spread from her lungs (both of them are quite full of tumors) to her bones (tumors on her hip and pelvis, the small of her back) and to her brain (tumor is almost the full size of the left side of her brain with a midline shift, extensive swelling and dying brain tissue). We have chosen not to fight it with treatment since she is so frail already. I have lots of questions, but my main ones are - what should I expect to happen and how long should I expect to have her with me? Right now she is in good spirits, very good mood for the most part, is still able to get up and go to the bathroom alone (which is an improvement actually but also by the time she is back to bed she's exhausted). She is reverting to childlike behavior sometimes and is confused sometimes, but for the most part is very coherent. She is in pain, mainly with her hip and back sometimes, and when she is, it's excruciating, but it's not all the time.We have talked to Hospice and they are now working with us. Mom seems to have forgotten that she was diagnosed. She was at peace with it at first and we even started planning her funeral at her request, but now it seems that she has forgotten all about it and says she is going to get well and go home. (I put her in the nursing home on the hopes of getting her back on track and getting her back home, and then we found out about this). She's 5'4" and weighs 72 lbs now (up from 65 when she was at my house). They have her on two different appetite stimulants and steroids, which is why she has gained weight. Her weight now is about 25 - 30 pounds under her average. She's always been tiny and averaged around 95 lbs. I just don't know what to expect with the whole going down and then dying process. I knew what to expect with Dad and he went through all the 'normal' processes. It seems like this is totally different.