Hi
After having been through kidney cancer and a "successful" operation, my mother's cancer reappeared in her lung four years ago. Two attempts with targeted drugs did dramatically reduce growth. A third line of immunotherapy knocked her sideways combined with other health issues, but growth was minimal. Due to side affects she only had that first infusion and no other treatment for 16 months - oncologist led obviously - but growth was slow. More recent growth has been quicker, so in the last appointment, there was discussion of a fourth line of treatment.
"You can have treatment, it may not work, the side effects could severely lower quality of life. We could try immunotherapy again (laughs). It could lower your quality of life but only extend for a few months" and so on.... No straight answers. No prognosis with or without treatment.
With such an airy and sometimes contradictory approach, how can someone decide to make such a decision as to continue treatment or stop - and get left in the wilderness without any support? I understand how difficult it is to predict, but for a professional, involved in cancer and growth on a daily basis, there must be some ball park on life expectancy one could discuss ? Or someone who can help with such a decision - to go with the fourth line of treatment or not.
Both feeling lost.
