Thanks for welcoming me. I don't have lung cancer myself but my grandfather has been diagnosed with lung cancer this week. His 86 years old, he has rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease stage 3, has had minor stroke so on blood thinners, high BP, Anemia.
He had a ruptured ulcer last month and we found him after he managed to call us around. Now long story short he has got lung cancer, they explained something about the tubes either it's In the tubes or is travelling down. I'm not entirely sure as I wasn't there. He was offered an operation that he was told was very risky and dangerous. My grandfather has therefore refused it so they just said if there's any blood in urine to let them know. That's it!! I'm just wondering what do we expect now, how serious are we talking? What other treatment options are there? His a smoker by the way!
I'm just at a loss am incredibly anxious and worried, I have Lupus and have had to go back on my anxiety meds cause of this I'm so worried for him 😞. Please any advice really helps. Please help me understand what is going to happen
Thank you all!
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Danielle2419
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Hello Danielle . Sorry to hear about your grandads diagnosis. Sounds like you do need more information? Would your grandfather let you attend further appointments with him? I would also imagine the hospital will send him a letter explaining what has been said to him. That way you can better access what the situation is . Xxx
Yeah I'm just really really upset, I'm back on my anti depression meds. They start of making you feel worse but I feel today I'm worse than I ever been. I have been on the same meds before. Today just feels very heavy.
it’ll feel very raw at the moment . I would say try not to worry but we are human at the end of the day . You’re right , will anti depressants you unfortunately feel a bit worse before you feel better . I hope you have lots of family and friends for support ? Xx
sorry to hear about your granddad, I wonder also is there someone that can be with him for the next appointment to ask all the questions on what is next etc for him and discuss options of treatment taking into account his current illnesses. It can be quite overwhelming at these appointments to take it all in and you come away with more questions quite often, so if someone can be there, that might be helpful. x
It's so difficult we don't have a next appointment date yet. My mum has to look after my nan while his out so can't be her, I don't feel I'd be up to it ultimately. I just feel stuck . I'm do depressed x
Welcome to the forum and so sorry to hear about your Grandad being told he has lung cancer.
Your anxiety is understandable and not having the full information is adding to it all.
It may mean the doctors were talking about the lung tubes, but it would be good to have some clarity. If surgery is not an option, sometimes radiotherapy is used, however there are other treatments such as chemotherapy, Immunotherapy or targeted therapy.
However, these treatments are assessed on the persons general health and if the person wants the treatment. If there is a family member that has power of attorney for your Grandad's health they could ask about his diagnosis, if not , then you could call the oncologists secretary to explain what has happened and ask for a telephone consultation with your Grandad present.
It may be that your Grandad does not want anyone to know or even talk about it.
Do take care of yourself, and if you would like to discuss anything you can email, ask the nurse at lungcancerhelp@roycastle.org or call our free phone nurse led helpline number on 0800 358 7200 Monday to Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1600.
Sorry to read of your anxiety at your granddad's diagnosis - we often fear the worst especially when people are older or have other conditions.
My dad had bowel cancer twice in his 50s and had 2 operations and was so poorly we didn't think he'd make 60. He was 93 a a couple of weeks ago and had another bowel cancer found and another operation in 2016 at the age of 86. He was about 8stone wet through, had a TIA, and needed a stent replacing in his heart so was ambulanced to the other hospital site to see a cardiologist and scan to determine if his heart would withstand surgery and they determined it would. As you can see, he's lived another 7 years since then and although physically very frail, mentally very sharp and cares for my mum at home with alzheimers which gives him purpose and a reason to get up every day.
People are all different and react differently to diagnoses especially when surgeons have to tell people about every possible risk yet other clinicians rarely describe all the many side and late effects that other treatments might cause.
Lung cancer treatments have come a long way since my diagnosis in January 2011 and even within the more traditional treatments of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, different methods and doses are used for different intentions. In recent years other treatments such as targeted agents and immunotherapy have also been used to good effect. Radiotherapy is often used in a form called ablation which has good success. I imagine the 'tubes' they're talking about are the bronchi - i.e. the tubes that go into the lungs. It's always hard to grasp what clinicians are saying in an appointment and why so many patients take somebody in with them.
Maybe if he and you had more information to read, this may help explain so at least he's making any decision from an informed position rather than a possibly worse one he imagines. Roy Castle lung cancer foundation has a lot of plain English information about the different types of lung cancer, treatments, and living with lung cancer aspects. You can also access support via the nurse led helplines there or at Macmillan as they're for anyone affected by cancer not just the patient.
I'm really sorry to read your post. I can see that you've already had lots of helpful responses so I won't repeat any of them, but I wonder if your GP would be able to help you. If you can get an appointment to go through the results and explain that he's not been offered any alternatives to surgery. Our GP is now happy to discuss things by phone, so that may be a way you and your mum can be there with your grandad.
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