Cancer Research UK main site

Stage 4 lung cancer, no treatment

Daughterinneed
Offline

Hi,

I am looking for some advice.

4 weeks ago my dad felt like he was going to faint and he went to hospital. He had a stomach ulcer that burst. When they did scans and tests they found out he had stage 4 lung cancer which has spread to the liver. A week later he was in so much pain it turned out he had a perforated bowel and when they operated they also found a tumor there. They have told us that there is nothing they can do.

This has all happened so quickly. My dad is 57, quite fit and strong.

However now he is struggling to eat, he said everything taste horrible and as a result he has lost a lot of weight and has no energy to do anything. That and the fact he is now needing oxygen when he needs to go up stairs to use the bathroom.

How can I get him to eat? We've tried different foods, smoothies, ensure drinks...he's getting annoyed with everyone asking him to eat all of the time. 

Any alternative treatments, natural treatments we can try?

ANY advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

  • Offline

    Hi,

    It sounds as if you’re doing all you can do for him at the moment in what is a scary situation. The only other things you can do are to give your Dad time to get his head around what’s going on and make sure he is fully engaged with all the services he is going to need. 

    Although he may not be getting any treatment to cure his cancer he needs treatment to relieve his symptoms. Has he been referred to MacMillan or any similar services by his hospital consultant or his GP? If not, that needs chasing up.

    Please don’t try to do everything on your own. He will need your love and support but he also needs professional services to treat his nausea, lack of sleep, loss of taste, weight loss etc. 

    Try to discuss with him his preferences for end of life treatment before it becomes a taboo subject between you. When my Mum was told her cancer was untreatable she had some very firm views on what she did and didn’t want to do. Because she told us early, we had time to put arrangements into place to support her preferences well before we reached that stage. . That was pre-Covid when normal services were running, I would imagine it will now be even harder to get everything in place now.

     

    Good luck and best wishes.

    Dave

Speak to a nurse

Quick links

Follow us

Registered with Fundraising Regulator (logo)
Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.