Dealing with "Good news"

[KatyMac]

My dad has small cell lung cancer; he was told it was terminal and given 'quality of life treatment'

At his last appt (4 weeks into chemotherapy) he was told it had massively reduced in size and that were changing his treatment plan to 'curative' rather than 'quality of life'

This has left me confused and upset as I had accepted his death and now I have to rethink things

In fact they have given him a 9-12% chance of life - which isn't much and from what I've read, the cancer is likely to return

I feel a bit lost

How strange. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is known to 'melt away' and often disappears on imaging (X-rays and scans) after only one or two cycles of chemo. This doesn't change the prognosis this is just the behaviour of the SCLC and it comes back quickly, with a vengeance once treatment stops, normally. SCLS has a bad prognosis with it commonly spreading to the brain.

Saying that I do not know your DF's case. In 14 years working in Oncology I have seen less that 10 cases of (later) stage SCLC being cured.

I'm sorry for all you're going through

The doctor said he was hoping for a 50% reduction at the end of 2 cycles (so 6 weeks) at 4 weeks he reckoned it was about 10% of what it was

They have moved his radiotherapy from 18 weeks to 6 weeks coinciding with his 3rd chemo rather than after all 6

The brain thing we worked out - I think he needs more radio for that

What you've said kind of fits with what I've read

Living with uncertainty can be much harder than accepting a bad outcome. I'm sorry that you are having to cope with this. But for your dad, going through horrible treatment might be easier if there is more hope at the end of it. Is there a McMillan nurse you can talk to?

I think I don't believe it really & you are right uncertainty is worse