Henry my husband, had a lobectomy in 2002, he was cancer free for 16 years, though he suffered from COPD and severe emphysema for the last 10 years of his life. He was in the care of a thoracic consultant for the COPD, he saw her in April 2018 , although his breathlessness was worsening and he was having more exacerbations she didnt investigate further. In fact he had not even had a chest xray since 2016. However in July 2018 Henry was diagnosed with a 5.5cm lung tumour because he asked his GP to send him for a Xray ....the consultant had missed it. A 5. 5cm would have taken 6 months plus to grow to that size and the only option to Henry was Chemotherapy ., a lead clinician has said if found earlier he would have had more options. After the first session of chemo Henry became very unwell and the oncologist decided he could not take another session , and prescribed palliative radiotherapy in November 2018 for 5 days.
In August 2018 Henry was given a prognosis of 12 to 15 months to live . After the Chemotherapy and radiotherapy Henry became very breathless and was admitted to hospital 26 November 2018 where he was treated for pneumonia , Henry died at home 23 December 2018.
NICE GUIDLINES do not have a section for treating patients who have a history of Lung Cancer who are now presenting with COPD, I would like to see every COPD patient with a history of lung cancer given a CXR or CT scan every 12 months to give them an early diagnosis should the tumor return. Henry did not have chest pain nor did he cough up blood but he did have a lung tumour, he was also cancer free for 16 years all of this is an exception to the rule. Therefore more guidlines should be available for treatment of the population that Henry fell into . I wanted to share this experience because I am in discussion with the hospital to try to get then to change their policy of how they treat people like Henry . An early diagnosis may have given him more time with us. God Bless Henry and all who have lost their fight and those who are still fighting this terrible disease.
