Sis-in-law

PattiR · New User Joined: 08 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

Hello, I have been lurking on here for quite sometime now. My SIL was diagnosed with SCLC in July. At that time it was confined to her lung only she went through chemo, I don't know what kind, 3 days in a row then off for 3 weeks. She had 4 of these treatments. At the same time she had radiation on the lung also. The tumor on the lung is 75% smaller than at the start....but we just found out on Friday that she now has it in her liver and bones (tailbone and spot on each shoulder). They were getting ready to do whole brain radiation as a prevenitive measure but now have decided not to do that. She will be taking a pill form of chemo, 5 pills 5 days in a row and then off for 2 weeks, then start over. The way she explains this to me is that these pills will not do anything for where the cancer already is but keep it from spreading elsewhere. I have known alot about this cancer from the beginning of her diagnosis as this is what my dad died from 5 years ago. I have felt like I was the only one in the family that has really known that this was not a curable cancer just treatable. I have tried to explain to my husband from the beginning but I think he did not want to accept that this is what my dad went through also. When talking to her last nite she was totally shocked when I said that this cancer goes to the liver, bones and brain. She said none of her doctors had told her this. I told her that that is why they were checking all those other places when she was first diagnosed. She was under the impression that when they told her it could come back that they just meant the lung. Why would the doctors not explain this in detail to her? I told her that she needs to try to get in to him for a consult appt. Friday when they gave her this horrible news she was in NO condition to ask questions....and now that she is doing better she should ask everything she has on her mind. I am having a really hard time here as the last 3 weeks she has been her old self, felt really good, finally eating and drinking and now she will start chemo again only to go through the hell she went through before, for what?
Sorry this is such a long post. I'm so angry. She is only 50 years old and more like a sis then a SIL to me.
Thanks for reading...I guess I'm just mad at her doctors for not being honest and upfront from the very beginning with her. I want her to continue to have some quality of life like now before she is gone. That's all I want.
Thanks
Patti

brainman · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: Sis-in-law

Patti, I am very sorry about your SIL's lung cancer. I can totally understand your frustration and anger at her doctors for not making sure she understood what they were telling her and for not giving her more information.

I am a little confused about the timing of all of this. You said that at one point they where considering whole brain radiation and that she is still on chemo of some kind. Did they not tell her at that time why they were giving her those treatments??? I they did not, that is a gross violation of the standard norm for informed consent.

By the way, the pills she is taking are not just for the metastatic tumors or to prevent the cancer from spreading... they will also have an impact on the primary tumor in her lung. SCLC can spread so easily that even if no other tumor are found, chemo is often used just in case it has started to spread. That does not mean chemo does not work on the primary tumor.

You and your SIL are in my thoughts and prayers.
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Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendroglioma grade 3, same location.
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=2405My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=2528
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 3: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
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PattiR · New User Joined: 08 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

Jim thank you for your kind words. I was writing so much I probably made it confusing. She was done with the initial chemo and radiation treatments and they told her they would like her to consider the whole brain radiation, for prevention. But after they found the cancer in her bones and liver they now do not want to do the brain radiation. Now she will start on the pill form of the chemo.
I just hope she gets an appointment with the doctor this week and maybe at that time he will try and really explain what is going on.
Thanks,
Patti

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1405

Patti,

Welcome to the forum, but I'm sorry it is under these sad circumstances. You obviously know SCLC inside and out. I'm so sorry that you lost your Dad to this disease too.

I haven't heard of a pill like the one you are talking about, but it's been 2 years since my best friend passed from SCLC. Hers was limited at diagnosis, then it spread also. She did have WBR and I guess I'm curious as to why they aren't proceeding with either PCI or WBR for your SIL.

As for the doctors it's probably a twisted tale. You know, as a limited SCLC patient at diagnosis, she had a shot at a cure. Maybe the doctors didn't explain how it can spread when she was diagnosed as limited. Also SOME doctors fall flat on their job of being open about possibilities of spread and where. Patients sometimes hear only what they want to hear and can honestly only absorb just so much "shock" at one time. I hate for you to have had to be the bad guy in this case. Having knowledge of outcomes/possibilities puts those of us in a very precarious situation of what to say or how much to reveal.

I feel so badly for you because I also love my SIL's as if they were a sister. The anger at this disease and sometimes even fist-shaking to God is an unfortunate part of this journey --- as you well know.

Feel free to vent, look for support, or whatever you need from those of us here. We are all in various stages of this journey or past the journey and will understand whole-heartedly.

Hugs,
PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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