Thank you 

Hello Har,

I am one of the nurses and have been asked by our moderator Renata to take a look at your post. I am very sorry to learn about your aunt.

Fluid on the lungs is a term usually used to explain something called a pleural effusion. This is described on our website at this link.   Pleural effusions can often be drained, but sometimes there are reasons why they can’t be. Draining them is mainly to help with the symptoms they cause, mostly breathlessness, but not everyone has symptoms with a pleural effusion.

In most situations draining the fluid doesn’t change life expectancy, but of course every case is a bit different.  I am sorry to say that malignant (cancerous) pleural effusions are a sign of an advanced cancer. They can occur in association with several different types of cancer so there is some variation in how well people do when this happens.  Because the cancer is advanced this could mean that your aunt’s outlook is getting worse, but I am afraid I cannot say for sure how long she has left to live.  Other things, for example whether or not she is up and about and whether the cancer has spread anywhere else will influence this as well. 

Lots of people ask us how long their loved ones have to live, and I can understand why they need to know, but this is a difficult thing to predict even for the doctors and nurses directly involved in someone’s care. If it is possible, the best answer to this question will be from your aunt’s’ own medical team so perhaps someone in the family can ask them, but there is often some uncertainty about this sort of thing.  

I am sorry I can’t tell you more.

Take care,

Julia