Lung cancer

[Trainsandsewingmachines]

My MiL is looking likely to recieve a lung cancer diagnosis this week.
She has had a chest infection on and off the last few months and been left with a cough and hoarse voice. She also has a lot of pain in her arm and shoulder - she’s had that about six months.
She was a heavy smoker for around 40 years but gave up more than 15 years ago.

She had a chest x ray and then a ct and from the ct has been referred to rapid access lung clinic clinic. Google tells me about 50% of people attending such a clinic have lung cancer, I just wondered that the other 50% get a diagnosis of.

I feel fairly certain she’s going to get a lung cancer diagnosis based on symptoms, the smoking, her age (80) and the fact that we’ve gone from an x ray to rapid access lung clinic in just 12 days. The nhs moves fast when they feel time is of the essence.

Does anyone have any advice or experience? I’m trying to stay positive for dh but I’m not actually feeling all that positive.

Pneumonia can have a similar initial presentation, so I suspect that's the other diagnosis in many cases.

The fact that she gave up smoking 15 years ago is good news and certainly improves that chance of it being something else.

Hello. Sorry you are going through this. My mil was diagnosed after Christmas after going to a&e for something unrelated. Very similar circumstances:- 70s, was a smoker but gave up some years ago and had also been having pains in neck etc. She has recently started chemo and immunotherapy. It’s not curable so we are all getting used to that. It’s tough.

Would pneumonia show as a mass on the ct?

The x ray showed a shadow but the ct has showed a mass.

Thanks - sorry to hear about your situation to whistle.

too

Did they mention the size of the mass? Over one cm is generally bad news.

I’m not sure about pneumonia and how that’s diagnosed. Mil had an X-ray which found two shadows and a ct scan confirmed it. I think.

My dad was diagnosed last year when he went to the GP with a cough. He had part of a lung removed but didn't need any chemo or radiation. Hopefully your MIL will have caught it early x

I cared for my friend through her journey with small cell lung cancer, very similar presentation (referred pain in the shoulder and arm, hoarse voice and severe infection).

If your MiL has the same dx and is offered treatment, feel free to pm me and I'll answer questions from the carer's perspective if I can.

I’m not sure on size miss but I think it has to be bigger than 3cm to be referred to the rapid access clinic. Not 100% on that though.

Thanks Andro - I believe small cell is the rarer of the two types? And the more aggressive I think.
I am worried that MiL is going to be diagnosed with a later stage cancer because she’s having the pain in her shoulder and arm. I don’t think the prognosis is particularly good in that instance.

We can only wait though and sometimes that’s worse than knowing because you imagine the worst scenario anyway.

Small cell is less common overall, but more common in smokers/ex smokers. It can cause pain in the arm and shoulder because it can put pressure on a nerve.

It's an utterly evil cancer - aggressive and usually incurable. The flip side of that is that in about 75% of cases it's highly responsive to treatment.

MiL spoke to her own gp tonight - he hasn’t seen the ct but on the chest x ray there was a single shadow of 2cm so I’m feeling slightly more hopeful. It doesn’t sound like there’s a huge mass or lots of nodules.

That sounds potentially more positive, I hope the rest of the news is good.

Fingers crossed for you all

Fingers crossed for you