26th August 2007
Sorry to hear about your dad. I can't offer you a story of 5 years but one of 2.5 years. My mom has stage IV NSCLC ( her mets were to her liver). She was 80 when we learned she had it but a very young healthy 80 with no other health issues except a low thyroid.
I think my mom made it that long thanks to Tarceva and the fact she responded well to it for 7 months. It totally did away with the tumor in her lung and worked for awhile on the liver mets then quit. Because of that responce she died without active cancer in her lungs and we figured a pulmonary embolism killed her as her liver mets were not yet bad enough to cause liver failure. She went through Chemo before Tarceva and again after it and was on her 4th line treatment.
The last chemo agents left her wiped out.She was so fatigued she could do nothing but sit and watch TV and after months of that she decided she did not want to live her life like that so decided to quit chemo and stop all treatment.It was sad but I have to agree I would not want to live the quality of live she was living either just to be around a few months longer. It often becomes quality verses quanity of life.
I think for many here once the quality of life is gone or their loved ones are suffering from pain ( I hate to say this but spinal mets or any bone mets can be VERY painful and cause alot of suffering for some) that death no longer is that hated fearful thing lurking in the darkness but rather a thing of relief.Trust me it is not easy to watch someone with lung cancer suffer as often it is a horrible disease and brings with it periods of shortness of breath that can be terrifying for both your loved one and the rest of the family. We were lucky as thanks to Tarceva we got to skip that part. And the pain from the cancer can often be very difficult to control.
I know there is another posting board that I can not mention and it has some folks that responded to Iressa back in the early clinical trials and then went on Tarceva and responded to that as well and some of them are 4-5 years now.So survival times are increasing but it seems to be for people that can respond to the newer biological type drugs like Tarceva, Irressa, Avastin.
Spend lots of time with you dad and let him know how much he is loved.I will send prayers your way. JanMarie
I think my mom made it that long thanks to Tarceva and the fact she responded well to it for 7 months. It totally did away with the tumor in her lung and worked for awhile on the liver mets then quit. Because of that responce she died without active cancer in her lungs and we figured a pulmonary embolism killed her as her liver mets were not yet bad enough to cause liver failure. She went through Chemo before Tarceva and again after it and was on her 4th line treatment.
The last chemo agents left her wiped out.She was so fatigued she could do nothing but sit and watch TV and after months of that she decided she did not want to live her life like that so decided to quit chemo and stop all treatment.It was sad but I have to agree I would not want to live the quality of live she was living either just to be around a few months longer. It often becomes quality verses quanity of life.
I think for many here once the quality of life is gone or their loved ones are suffering from pain ( I hate to say this but spinal mets or any bone mets can be VERY painful and cause alot of suffering for some) that death no longer is that hated fearful thing lurking in the darkness but rather a thing of relief.Trust me it is not easy to watch someone with lung cancer suffer as often it is a horrible disease and brings with it periods of shortness of breath that can be terrifying for both your loved one and the rest of the family. We were lucky as thanks to Tarceva we got to skip that part. And the pain from the cancer can often be very difficult to control.
I know there is another posting board that I can not mention and it has some folks that responded to Iressa back in the early clinical trials and then went on Tarceva and responded to that as well and some of them are 4-5 years now.So survival times are increasing but it seems to be for people that can respond to the newer biological type drugs like Tarceva, Irressa, Avastin.
Spend lots of time with you dad and let him know how much he is loved.I will send prayers your way. JanMarie