3 years of treatment stage 4

[Brianderrick12]

Hi Everyone- hope you’ve all had a good weekend. Just trying to find out what leads up to treatment being stopped ? My brother had an appointment on Friday and he has it in his head that it’s all over for him - he’s been on maintenance since May when the disease was stable - now the phrase being used is lost control ? He’s having one round of chemo starting in November then a scan - he says that’s it then - I’m just trying to find out any information before we go back to his oncologist- he’s been doing really well - since Friday he’s not - breathing & coughing is worse - he’s 64 on Saturday- Thankyou xxx

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Hi Brianderrick12

Sorry to hear about your brother and understandably a concern for him. It can depend on what maintenance treatment he has already been on and what response he has had to this, to what treatment he may be able to have.

It is not unusual to have a scan after chemotherapy cycles, which, as you know, is how they assess if the chemotherapy has been effective or not.

Questions you may wish to ask the oncologist is what future treatment options are there, what extension of life is there with or without treatment.

If your brother is open to clinical trials and there are no treatment options then you could ask about these, however, this can depend greatly on how he is in his general health.

His breathlessness and cough could be a number of things, including infection and his symptoms should be clinically assessed. He could either let the GP know or contact his acute oncology team.

It could be that your brother has only remembered parts of the conversation at the consultation, especially if he went on his own, and it may not be the whole picture.

This link will take you to our information booklet on managing lung cancer symptoms:roycastle.org/app/uploads/2...

You or your brother are welcome to contact our ask the nurse service if you would like to discuss anything in more detail, our helpline number is 0800 358 7200 Monday to Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1600, alternatively you can email us at [e-mail]

Kind regards

Ask the nurse support team

The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation