My sister is 46 and has recently been diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer with pleural effusion. She is otherwise fit and healthy (she ran a half marathon 6 weeks before her diagnosis). When the consultant told her the diagnosis he said "if there are things you want to do, you should do them now as this is not curable and you have 2-4 months".  This week she had fluid drained and a biospy taken from her lung and is now recovering from that procedure which she has been told could take 2-3 weeks.  She is feeling very sore and uncomfortable right now but has pain relief which helps a bit.  Now its waiting for the biopsy results which are due back in around 10 days time.  What I dont understand is how can a consultant give her 2-4 months without a biopsy being done? How do they know what they are dealing with without these results?  The consultant who carried out the draining and biopsy said now that the fluid has gone they will be able to see better.  Does this mean that she may get a different diagnosis from this consultant?  Does this mean that the first consultant may have got the prognosis wrong?  I assume its unlikely that that diagnosis of lung cancer might be wrong but I'm praying that she will be able to receive treatment that will either get rid of the tumours or give her much longer than the 2-4 months originally given by the first consultant.  Has anyone experienced anything similar?