Dad's stage 4 lung cancer - 1272432

yang
Posts:1

Hi, my dad was diagnose in august 2015 with stage 4 lung cancer with mets to liver and spine. He opted out with treatment and so his condition is getting worst each month. His latest CT scan shows a 3-4 cm right hilar mass with a 2+ centimeter pretracheal lymph node. The liver has multiple masses with the largest measuring 5 cm in the right hepatic lobe. Wide spread skeletal metastatic disease with possible fractures of the right femoral neck and sacrum. Also a moderate right-sided pleural fluid collection was noted. He can barely walk with so much pain in the right leg and lumbar region. According to his hospice RN, he is breathing fine but has lost a lot of weight and very weak with constipation, no appetite. The oncologist's first impression was spinal compression so radiation was suggested as first line of treatment but my dad chooses not to but instead trying to find any natural way of curing. I'm worried what will happen next and constantly thinking what can I do more to help besides just giving pain meds. The biggest concern is the fracture and fluid build up. The oncologist says that it is too late to do anything, so like my dad said...Is he just waiting to die? or can surgery help with the fracture? Sorry, for such a long write-up.

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catdander
Posts:

Hi yang,

I'm very sorry your dad has this awful disease. I'm afraid that lung cancer that has metastatic spread is no longer curable. If he's not interested in prolonging life, comfort care is very helpful and usually quite beneficial. I wonder if your dad understands his options and side effects or there lack of side effects of some of the treatments offered. Radiation is one such treatment that very often causes little or no side effects and usually helps manage pain. The hospice team should be able to help him manage constipation and explain management options with him and his care givers. However loss of appetite and weight and fatigue are usually part of the cancer's process and not reversible without anticancer treatment.

Sometimes surgery can help with spinal fractures that can keep him mobile but radiation can help prevent those fractures before they happen.

Any of the measures are up to your dad to take though. We have a tremendous amount of information on the site about palliative care and let us know if you need more input.

Best of luck,
Janine