Almost 6 years ago, my dad was diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC with mets to the brain. Since that time, he's had a single round of chemo, chest radiation x2, Gamma Knife on brain mets, and WBR once. The tumors in the chest are almost nonexistent and not growing. The mets to the brain are tiny and only growing by 1-2 mm every 6-9 months. Traditional medicine leaves us with traditional results and those results predicted that only 5-10% of people in his situation live past 5 years. He still smokes about 2 packs of cigarettes daily. Had he chosen to live his life after the diagnosis, I feel confident that he would be living a normal life right now. Sadly, he has chosen to become addicted to his pain meds and refused to try to resume his daily activity after treatments and now he's pretty much confined to his recliner.
With that being said, since he's doing extremely well, is there some sort of genetic testing he could be a part of to see why his body has responded so well to treatment? About 2 years ago he struggled with some issues and we thought maybe the cancer was growing but test showed otherwise. His onc said that she was unsure what his symptoms were from and could be from WBR and other treatments but there was limited research because so many people didn't live long enough after said treatments to document any issues.
If there was a use for his genetic information, I would hate not to share it. Don't know if it's even useful. Just a thought.
Thanks so much! You guys helped me with my MIL with SCLC that lost her fight 9 months after diagnosis. You also helped me greatly with my dad when he was first diagnosed!
Blessings to all!
Reply # - October 20, 2015, 08:26 PM
There's the International
There's the International Cancer Genome Consortium who is collecting data. The link below should be helpful in finding the best answers to the question about mutations. I had thought about that as well. My husband is also 6 years out from a stage IV diagnosis with no evidence of growing cancer. I'm very sorry your dad isn't able to live a better life. As hard as it is to believe there would be anything but relief I'm familiar with some of the complications of not dying but not exactly going back to living a full life. If you find any magic bullets please do share.
https://icgc.org/
Janine
Reply # - October 21, 2015, 05:44 AM
I have to say that your
I have to say that your father being alive after 6 years with stage IV is a miracle in itself with no further tx other than for brain mets. Where is his pain? As a LC patient, no one even those closest to me have any idea what it's like to go through this. Could he have lived a normal life, probably not. Once your dx with LC and go through treatment, your life changes and so do you. He's still going and doing well according to you, so I'd enjoy each day you have him with you. As for the smoking, it's an addiction ranked up there with heroin and if you've done it most of your life, very hard to quit. He can keep trying, but may never get there.
Take care, Judy
I am a LC survivor patient and not a medical professional or moderator. Views are my own.