Two months ago my mum was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. It was a massive shock, but the doctors have been really positive. The oncologist said that they're aiming to cure the cancer and that my mum's type of cancer means that she is elligible for immunotherapy. Also her cancer isn't aggressive. The oncologist said that she's seen people with stage 3 cancer be cured even without immunotherapy. My mum asked if it was true that lung cancer was one of the hardest cancers to treat and she said it's not. She seemed like treating it would be a piece of cake.
My mum's been having her treatment and is nearly finished; she has 8 more radiotherapies and one more chemo. Her treatment has only been six weeks in total. Apart from the beginning when my mum felt unwell due to the chemo side effects she feels really well. My mum is 70 and apart from knee pain which she had way before getting cancer and the doctors said that she may need a replacement, she feels perfectly fine. She's in good spirits and she's got a good appetite. She's lost a bit of weight (maybe 4 or 5 kilos, but she's a bit overweight) in the past two months, but the weight loss seems to have slowed now. My mum said that since the radiotherapy she's stop wheezing and doesn't get chest pain when she walks.
Even though my mum is doing well, I still get scared. I'm scared what if treatment wont work and I'm getting my hopes up too much? I get even more scared when I hear stories of people dying from cancer. Today my mum's friend's cousin died from pancreatic cancer which spread all over. She was only 45 with two young children. I know that every case is different but it still frightens me. Ever since my mum's diagnosis I've been very optimistic, but I have my down days. Today me and my mum are going to watch a film and in my mind I'm like what if she won't be here next year? I don't want to think that way and usually I don't allow myself to think that way, but today I feel really down and scared.
