Good morning, I am the carer for my father, diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in July 2016. So far his response to treatment is good in that the tumor is shrinking. Although my father is only 55 his health hasn't been great since Christmas 2014 where he got pneumonia. Prior to this it was great, he was a fit man who had given up smoking in spring 2014. Although the pneumonia cleared up, he seemed to be tired all the time and had to give up his construction job as he felt he no longer had the strength to do it. At Christmas 2015 we made him go to his doctor and the doctor couldn't pin point anything, in light of the previous years pneumonia he ordered an xray, which was clear and said my father was the healthiest man he had seen all day. In May 2016 we had so much concern that we went to another doctor and an order was placed for a CT from the neck to the thigh as there was no great symptom in any one area to pinpoint investigation. This picked up the cancer which we are told is limited stage and we feel lucky in one way that we pursued this, but also disappointed that we hadn't picked this up earlier. Also worth noting that he was too young for lung screening and hadn't smoked enough to qualify, this gave us a bit of a false sense of security and now we think the criteria disadvantages some.
Is it possible that the pneumonia in 2014 and the tiredness was the start of this cancer. I have read a number of items that say sclc is so aggressive that it goes from limited to extensive in a short time, so this doesn't seem to fit and our nurse can't recall such a situation where symptoms went on for a year.
Where this is making it difficult for us, is that we don't know if his ongoing fatigue is due to the cancer or some other condition that we should be trying to resolve.
Any information will help us.
Best wishes
Glynn
Reply # - September 17, 2016, 06:09 AM
Hi Glynn,
Hi Glynn,
Welcome to GRACE. It's good to hear that your father's cancer has responded well to treatment, but the source of his fatigue is unclear. It's certainly possible to have some ongoing fatigue as a result of chemotherapy, and some of the fatigue which preceded his diagnosis may be due to the cancer. As the nurse said, SCLC tends to progress rapidly, and it would be unusual to have symptoms for so long before a limited-stage diagnosis. It's also possible that the fatigue caused by his pneumonia lingered for longer than usual.
Whether there is additional testing which might uncover another condition causing his symptoms is probably a question for his local doctors, including a pulmonologist. A second opinion is also an option; sometimes getting a second pair of eyes to look at his records can provide a fresh perspective.
I hope that as your father completes his treatment the fatigue will fade.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - September 17, 2016, 08:37 AM
Than you for such a clear and
Than you for such a clear and compassionate response. I think you are right, the pneumonia really hit him hard. I will speak to the nurses again and maybe get his doctor to have another look. It is really hard to look outside the cancer at the moment, so your advice is especially helpful.
Glynn