Life expectancy

[Kate727]

My dad was diagnosed with Non small cell lung cancer around july/august of 2008.  He had lost his voice and after many tests they determined he had a enlarged lymph node that was pressing on his laryngeal nerve.  After numerous tests they found that he had lung cancer no tumors in his lungs.  The lymph node was envaded with cancer cells.  They staged it as a stage iv because it had metastisized into his abdomen.  He is now taking chemo treatments and radiation and after this next radiation treatment they are going to up the dose of chemo.  He seems to be in good spirits and hasnt lost his appetite.  He receives chemo treatments every tuesday and seems to feel great afterwards but towards the end of the week he seems to move a little slower.  Does this mean that its working since he is feeling worse towards the end of the week? and what do you think his life expectancy is? he is 52

[Kate727]

Thanks so much for your input.  He received another round of chemo today.  His hoarseness has been improving.  His blood count had dropped within the last couple weeks but they checked it today and they said it has improved some.  Im trying to stay positive its just hard sometimes.  Again thank you

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

The chemotherapy would have immediate and delayed effects. Some of the immediate side effects like nausea and vomiting already have fairly good medications to counter the adverse experience of treatment. The other symptoms such as fatigability still need much work (put another way, this is something the patient has to deal with). The best demonstration of the treatment working would be to identify some of the symptoms before. If the hoarseness improves, this could be a good sign, or if overall he is less breathless.
An estimate of survival is best discussed with his oncologist. For someone fairly active and independent with simple activities as self-care and can perform a little light work, then the 1 year estimate would be about 30 to 40%. While this seems a modest outcome only, the quality of life would be better with treatment. Stay positive.