My husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer 6 months ago, he seems to be doing well. It's hard to beleive.

Question

It doesn't seem to me like he's only got six months left. How does cancer progress, is it very quick at the end. His cancer is Unknown primary, which means they don't know where it started, but it is now in his lungs.

Answer 1

I was given 18 months to live 5 years ago -so much for doctor's predicitions (and I myself am a doctor!). The thing about cancer is that you really do not get sick until the end, unlike many diseases (heart failure, Alzheimers). Think of Peter Jennings the newsman. I suggest you go to pbs.org and find Leroy Siever's blog and sign up. He is an ABC executive producer who has recurrent colon cancer in his brain and lungs and is doing pretty good and writes about it.

Here is the URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/mycancer/

Good luck

Answer 2

If it is unknown primary, but mas metastisized to the lungs, then there's a possibility that it has spread to other organs or the bones, but has not yet been detected.
Doctors always give their best guess when they say how much time a patient might have left. He must have either a type thats known to progress rapidly, or large/many masses in the lungs.
In my experience as an occupational therapist, I have seen many patients "fight" the disease until the end, but this often means more treatments, some new chemo, more radiation, and more time in the hospital away from loved ones and feeling sick.
Although you never want to give up hope, I recommend that you make the home as comfortable and easy for him to get around in as is possible, preparing for the worsening of his illness.
A hospice service should be consulted if not already done, and you will likely have to ask family to assist with your husband's care, or get some private help in to assist.
There will come a point where you husband has weeks, or just days left, and that precious time should be spent with loved ones, at home.

Answer 3

The power of suggestion is very strong, especially when people are sick. Some cancers stage itself (disease progression) so typically that the doctors can put a time line to it. Thus the 6 months etc.
Count your husband lucky to be one of the at least 5-10% who do not follow the time line of the cancer.
Dont blame your doctor for repeating what the books and medical experience written about the cancer say.
It is probably due to the unknown nature of the cancer. Your husbands case can very well be written up under "exceptions"? You never know.
Celebrate life. Your doctor will just be as happy as you are and say "keep on doing what you are doing"

Answer 4

My grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer four years ago. They removed 1/3 of his left lung. About 5 months ago, he was diagnosed again with lung cancer. (He hasn't smoked in 20 years, so it was not because he kept smoking.) He just died 2 weeks ago. He kept going to chemotherapy, even though he was told he had 6 months or less. The last few weeks, the chemotherapy was almost killing him. He was in and out of the hospital. Within the last few days he lost his sight, hearing, and the ability to walk. He was given a cathater and sat in bed until he died. It does sneak up on you. You can't believe the results and they just look so normal and healthy. Then you come home one day and they can't see you.

This part is going to be the hardest. But you are going to want to make sure that he has all of his funeral planned out (unless he doesn't want to.) Make sure he is as happy as possible. Take him to do the things that he wanted to but never had the chance. In the last couple days it will kill you. Stay strong, and pray. You'll survive this. It just takes strength. Most importantly, you need to be strong for him.

Answer 5

I am a nurse at an oncology hospital so I am drawning from my experience there.
Lung cancer can be fast or slow depending on it's type (small cell vs. non small cell.)
with that said- I have seen miracles in both fast and agressive cancer and the slower spreading ones.
Most cells go through a cycle of growing and dying (apoptosis). When a cancer cell mutates it in away becomes "imortal" The mechnism that is used to trigger cell death goes haywire and your body keeps on producing more and more. some of these cells break off and move to other parts of the body- this is called metastisis.

Secondly and MOST IMPORTANTLY: NEVER let a Doctor try to give you a "death date" Doctors know general ideas but they are not God, and last I checked people don't come with an exact date of experation when they are born.

Lastly never give up hope- research all your options, inform yourself on every medication. By empowering yourself with information it helps you make the best choice for your family.

Answer 6

My prayers are with you and your husband. I wish I had answers for you, it can be very quick once it hits the lungs, but then if the type of cancer he has isn't a fast growing type, he can last a while. I believe God can take care of the cancer, he did for me 14 years ago.

May God Bless you both

Answer 7

All cancers progress differently and affect people differently.
My dear 83 year old father, God rest his soul, endured 3 months of cancer. All I can say is spend as much time with your husband, and show him how much you love him, cherish every moment and take life minute by minute. And I will pray that God gives you the strength to weather this storm and I will also say a prayer for your husband that he survives.

Answer 8

doctors give a prognosis, but that is an estimation. My grandfather had liver cancer and was given 6 months, lived 3 years. I am not trying to give you false hope here, just telling you that doctors give an estimate based on a median.

Since the origin of his cancer is unknown it's difficult to tell, what you can do is give him quality of life when that moment comes.
Share the most you can with him, tape on video the moments you have together, and pray. In this age of non-believers, prayer is very comforting and it does help us in accepting what is going to come.

Answer 9

Five hundred years ago, people said the world was flat. Today, people say that if the FDA and AMA haven't blessed something, it can't be real good. Well, here's something I know to be real AND good. It's a little different take on cancer treatment--

In 1990, I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, stage 3-B, but I've survived. My doctors were great people, but they were limited to surgery, chemo and radiation by profitable AMA treatment policy. During the year in treatment, I started learning about alternative medicine. I'm a retired engineer, and this is what I've pieced together--our IMMUNE SYSTEMS become weakened by poor nutrition, lack of exercise and reduced oxygen. Once that happens, our body becomes vulnerable to common STRESSORS. Stressors can be environmental, like viruses, heavy metals, pesticides, food additives, electromagnetic waves or pollution. They can be internal things like emotional or job stress, or poisonous people in our lives. Aging is also a contributing factor. So this means:

WEAK IMMUNE SYSTEM + STRESSORS = DISEASE (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.)

Our bodies have 60 trillion--yes, trillion--cells, and there are always some mutating into cancer cells, but a healthy immune system kills them before they have a chance to get a foothold in the body.

It takes a LONG time, usually, or a high level of stressors, to weaken the immune system to the point where it won't do its job, but once cancer has formed, it will generally spread rapidly.

THIS IS IMPORTANT! There are ways to BEAT cancer that are currently being used in Europe and around the world, and there are some great books on the subject. I know because I've read about 50 of them from cover to cover. Here's a list of the best ones. Some are out of print and getting hard to find--

"The Cure for All Cancers", ISBN 0963632825
"The Cure for All Advanced Cancers", ISBN 1890035165
"A Cancer Therapy", ISBN 0882681052
"Oxygen Therapies", ISBN 0962052701
"Hydrogen Peroxide--Medical Miracle", ISBN 1885236077
"The Natural Cure for Cancer--Germanium", ISBN 0533071410
"Killing Cancer", ISBN 0705000966
"Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About", ISBN 0975599518

I know of people whose cancer has 'spontaneously remitted' (WENT AWAY for no known reason) AFTER they went on programs of herbs and nutrition to restart their immune systems.

You and your family must look out for yourselves to stand a chance of being healthy. This is not a joke, and I'm not selling anything--just trying to help.
I am using the things I learned in those books right now to fight off a second infestation of cancer. I've been at it for over a year now, and think I'm going to make it. Use what works for you, and pass on your success. Best of luck.

AMA AND FDA--
The American Medical Association (AMA) and the pharmaceutical companies control medical law and the FDA in this country with heavy lobbying and a revolving door policy. WHY would they want to do this? It's about the money. In 2006, medicine (doctors, hospitals, researchers and pharmaceutical firms) received 2.1 TRILLION dollars--15% of the total earnings (GNP 13.7 trillion) in the U.S. This is astounding! It means MILLIONS of people worked the whole year just to pay the nation's medical expenses!! That's totally astounding, and just too big to care about individuals.

Watch the film at this website--
http://www.altcancer.com/vidgal.htm#hoxsey

Answer 10

Hugs, you have my thoughts and prayers. Cherish all life's moments.
I do know that it depends on the cancer, sometimes it progresses quickly, sometimes not. I took care of my grandfather, he had pancreatic cancer. It progressed very quickly. It seemed like one minute he was grandpa, the next just a shell of the person I knew. But in it always, I knew it was my grandpa. I count it a priviledge to have cared for him.
Take care and you and your husband will not be far from my thoughts and prayers.