Lung cancer spread to brain?

[cobblers00]

DF has stage 4 lung cancer.. 3 yrs in- signed off treatment in December & put under palliative team, so no recent scans.. (do they stop them at this stage??)
He has had minimal lung related issues but spread to digestive system has been problematic & a tumour behind an eye also causes challenging symptoms.
Today he couldn’t speak. It was strange. He sounded like a stuck record/ interrupted phone line - just couldn’t form a word & was totally confused. It passed after a couple of minutes. He said it had happened once before a few days earlier. I immediately feared it’s a sign of cancer spread to brain. Has anyone had experience of this & is it worth contacting palliative team- can he get a scan to see / is it even necessary? He is worried he’s got dementia.. I don’t know what to say to him.

He needs to be see urgently OP as this can be sign of a stroke

Really? When no other stroke symptoms? Ok.. you’ve got me really worried now!

Definitely get him checked out. My dad had similar a couple of years ago and it was confirmed he'd had a small stroke.

I think you should call your cancer centre out of hours number for advice from the on call team. I would expect he needs a brain scan

You should absolutely contact the Palliative Care team (I am a Palliative Medicine Consultant)

It's sadly a very possible diagnosis. They will know his history and be able to give him individualised advice on whether he should go to hospital, wait for a scan or trial treatment with steroids without a scan.

It's also possible this is from growth of the tumour behind the eye now pressing on the brain.

Unfortunately given where he is in his diagnosis this is all much likelier than a stroke and even it is a stroke treatment options would be very limited.

Best wishes to both of you.

Thank you