Hello & good evening,

I'm new to this forum and somewhat lost at the same time.

On 13th of April this year  my sister was admitted to hospital due to pain in her left shoulder, persistent cough and after taking several tests and examinations she was diagnosed with non small lung cancer. The tumour was 7x5cm located in her left lung. On the 07th of May, so this Monday she underwent surgery and had a pneumonectomy, several lymph nodes on the same side were removed. She is still in the intensive care unit, after recovering from surgery she will undergo both chemo- and radiotherapy. That's all that I know for now...

I'm sure that all of you here know how hard and emotional challenging it is to cope with such news and how hard it is to comprehend and process it at the same time. My sister is 55 years old, has a daughter of 20 years and is with her husband almost 30 years together.

I don't know what answers I'm seeking, what to expect, I would love that my sister will be in the clear and cancer free after the surgery, but knowing how aggressive lung cancer is I'm afraid to think about it. 

I know that I'm merely the bystander and family member and that she has the hardest time and experience of us all. But than again I'm the one that always wanted (in all life & academic aspects) to be at the very least be very well informed and know what to expected. It is so much  easier for me to know the "enemy" then to be in the "dark".

Cancer Research UK and the 3 episodes of the series "Cancer Hospital" on BBC One Scotland are a great source of information for me.

Writing this lines helped me in some ways, I already can sense it, but I have numerous questions hoping that I will find some answers here. I hope I can ask them here?

Thank you for listening!

Leona