I posted a thread here: lung cancer asking for info when my mother in law was diagnosed.  I was going to post a conclusion to that for folks that might hit on it in a random search in the future, as well as for the folks who took the time to post. But that thread has been archived so I'll start fresh.  In short she was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer stage 4, approx 3/28 and she died 7/24, so 4 months.

here is how it played out.  She had been having severe back pain even had a few ER trips for the pain.  First ER trip was in Feb.  they didn't CT her because the pain was horrible laying down.  this caused additional delays... Ultimately CT's were done with full anesthesia ( Let me insert this: Delays and mis-steps most were due to denial and stubbornness on the part of the patient rather then Dr errors, but no doubt the Dr's made some errors too, given they were driving in the dark the whole time)

He family Dr went after the cancer thing given a life long smoker and pain with an evasive cause.  The pain was due to the cancer making its way into a vertebra and pinching nerves where they come out of the spine.  She also had a spot on her liver.  The pain was so severe that had to do a surgery to remove tumor stuff that was pinching nerves, additional time then had to pass before chemo could start so the incision could start healing.   Once chemo started things were going OK, then one leg got very weak. The Dr said possible due to the chemo, although that should be both equally.  the decision was made to monitor it, (blunder) so she lost the ability to walk. Given this developed in spite of chemo it was probably inside the spinal column were chemo doesn't get.. So they stopped chemo and did radiation on this.  this was a different location then what was removed surgically.  

They were ready to switch back to chemo and did a CT to see the status,  the lung cancer was greatly diminished, however the spot on the liver had grown dramatically.  This meant that the liver was not responding to chemo and game over. At that point she had spent a month in the hospital since loosing the ability to walk.  Now it was off to hospice (home).  she only lasted 10 more days.   looking back the delays and missteps that occurred after diagnosis probably did not affect the end date at all, only the quality of life in the meantime.  She had a great deal of pain early on, but unlike most, her last 10 days were all pretty low pain.

Family is doing well considering.  There was a 6yo grandchild that was spoiled by the grandmother.  But the drawn out thing kind weaned him off the special treatment. he is clearly sad about it, but his life is mostly still the same as last week.

Important note:  There is now a low dose CT available for higher risk persons (smokers, and some work environments) that costs $150-250.  This can detect lung cancers very early where the survival rate is very high by simply removing the tumor.  You smokers need to ask your Dr about that.

ETA:  she was 60 smoked since a teen....  weird thing I learned yesterday.  she passed at 3:30am and 4 different people woke up wide awake at about that time.  2 were in the house so were standing there when she passes. 2 others were elsewhere in town.  a 5th person claimed the same, but kind of a drama queen so we don't count her. :)

Good post.   RIP to MIL.  

+1..

How long was she a smoker in terms of years?

Sorry to hear of your loss.  There is always room to second guess and examine what ifs.  Ususally the end result would be the same, as you stated.  Lung cancer, shit, cancer of any kind sucks.  I lost my father 2-7-13 to lung cancer.  He was diagnosed spring of 2011, had radiation with minimal results (no new growth) but then it started to grow and they started chemo.  He took two doses and it was more damaging to him than the cancer and we initiated hospice.

I have a family and I honestly don't know what my course of action will be should I receive that news.  I guess it depends on timing in life.

Again, sorry for your loss.

Wes

I'm sorry to hear about your mother in law.



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I added this to the op, she was 60 smoked from teen years.  

Sorry for the loss of MIL, she is free from pain & at peace.

My step-father passed away from lung cancer while in hospice last March around 5:30 am. I was a few miles away at home and I woke up at approximately the same time because I thought I heard him yelling at me. Got the call shortly after that he had died.