Side effects of treatment

[Mitski]

Hi everyone,

My wife was treated for extrapulmonary small cell cancer, that presented in the breast, from Dec 2021 until Feb 2022 (4 cycles of Cisplatin/Etoposide with concurrent radiotherapy) - she had a good response to the treatment which led to surgery (mastectomy), which confirmed, via pathology, that she had had a complete response to treatment.

Extrapulmonary small cell cancer is aggressive (the Ki index for my wife's tumour was 95%) and she is all to aware and anxious that the cancer is going to come back fast and hard. This leads to my question - she is having fairly persistant headaches, and is also a bit wheezy with intermittent coughing - the fear is, is that this is the cancer returning as it is thought to metastasise to the brain. I am hoping that the above symptoms are side effects of her treatment - does anybody know if headaches and/or wheezing can be long-term side effects of chemotherapy/radiotherapy? My wife is having her next brain MRI and CT scan in early Sept, so we just hope that these symptoms are not a sign of recurrence.

Kind regards

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

These symptoms should be reported to the oncologist right away. In the event that this is progression they may move the tests up early.

There is a Small Cell lung cancer support page here. You might also try asking your question there.

healthunlocked.com/sclc-go2...