Ms. Xie's father, 54 years old, had a fever and cough in February 2024, thinking it was a minor problem, so he didn't care, but just bought some medicine for himself. In March, Ms. Xie's father's cough was still not cured, so he went to the chest hospital near his home to see a doctor, and after a CT scan in the hospital, he found a large lung shadow in his lungs, and the doctor hospitalized her.
Ms. Xie's mother called to inform her of the incident, and Ms. Xie thought that her father had pneumonia and was not too worried, but she didn't know why, and she had a bad premonition.
A week after Ms. Xie's father was hospitalized, Ms. Xie's mother called Ms. Xie's husband in tears, saying that the hospital informed her that Ms. Xie's father was not in good condition and that he had advanced lung cancer.
Ms. Xie's mother didn't dare to tell Ms. Xie because she was afraid that Ms. Xie would not be able to stand the stimulation, but Ms. Xie happened to be by her husband's side at the time, and she heard what the two said. The moment Ms. Xie heard the bad news, she felt like five thunderbolts, she never thought that her father looked so young, like a middle-aged man in his thirties and forties, and he would have terminal lung cancer, and she never thought that her father would die soon.
Ms. Xie hurriedly took the phone to ask about her father's situation, and Ms. Xie's mother heard Ms. Xie's voice and knew that her daughter was there, so she told her what she thought. Ms. Xie's mother said that she wanted to hide her illness and not let Ms. Xie's father know, and she told Ms. Xie not to say anything at that time.
After the phone call, Ms. Xie and her husband immediately set off to rush back to their hometown. On the way back to her hometown, Ms. Xie kept looking up various knowledge related to lung cancer on the Internet, and Ms. Xie turned over the posts related to lung cancer on the Internet. Ms. Xie learned about the types of lung cancer including adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma, and also had a preliminary understanding of the preliminary treatment steps for advanced lung cancer and lung cancer guideline information.
At that time, Ms. Xie did not know the type of pathology of her father, only that the doctor said that the lung cancer was advanced. Based on what she learned online, Ms. Xie prayed all the way that her father had lung adenocarcinoma, so that at least a 50 percent chance of taking targeted drugs would prolong his life for a few years.
After rushing back to her hometown, Ms. Xie's mother cried as soon as she met Ms. Xie, saying that she had not been able to hide from Ms. Xie's father, saying that when the doctor talked to Ms. Xie's mother not long ago, Ms. Xie's father stood quietly behind her and heard everything. Ms. Xie's father cried when he learned that he had terminal lung cancer, but he also accepted the cruel reality.
Ms. Xie eagerly asked her father what kind of cancer he had, and Ms. Xie's mother said that it was the most serious lung cancer, and the doctor told her that she would only live for a few months at most. Ms. Xie was shocked and asked in surprise if it was small cell lung cancer, Ms. Xie's mother nodded yes, Ms. Xie immediately felt like falling into an ice cave, and her heart was desperate.
Then, in desperation, Ms. Xie went to see the resident doctor, and the doctor showed Ms. Xie the pathology, and when Ms. Xie saw that the pathology report said "lung adenocarcinoma", she laughed on the spot and said that it was adenocarcinoma. The doctor on the side was stunned when he heard Ms. Xie's laughter, and asked Ms. Xie how she could still laugh when her father had lung cancer.
Ms. Xie explained that because she saw adenocarcinoma, adenocarcinoma still had the opportunity to be paired with targeted drugs, which was much better than small cell carcinoma. The doctor nodded and said that there were indeed more treatment options for lung adenocarcinoma, and suggested that Ms. Xie ask her father to do genetic testing to see if he could match targeted drugs, and at the same time do PET-CT examination to see if the lesions have metastasized to other organs.
After listening to the doctor's words, Ms. Xie instantly understood that the real pathological staging had not yet come out, and her father had only done a contrast-enhanced CT scan and needle biopsy, which had not yet reached the point of exhaustion, and that her mother had misunderstood. After understanding this, Ms. Xie's spirits were lifted, and she knew that now was not the time to give up.
Ms. Xie rushed to the ward and saw her depressed father, who encouraged her to say that she had read the pathology report that it was adenocarcinoma, not small cell lung cancer, and that she could do PET-CT to see if there was any metastasis, and that if there was no metastasis, she might be able to do surgery.
Even if you don't have the opportunity to take targeted drugs, you can still do immunohistochemistry to see if there is an opportunity for immunotherapy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but if you can't do it, you can still enter the clinical trial group in the hospital to test new drugs, there are still many opportunities, not only to live for a few months, to be strong and optimistic.
Although Ms. Xie's father couldn't understand a series of medical terms that Ms. Xie said, he heard from Ms. Xie's words that he still had a cure, and it was not to the point of being hopeless, so he laughed in an instant, and tears flowed down while laughing, and there was a look in his eyes, as if he saw hope for life.
Ms. Xie's father excitedly said that he would cooperate with the doctor's treatment, even if it was a mouse for experiments. Ms. Xie heard from her father's words that his will to survive was strong, and she also held her father's hand with tears in her eyes and did not move for a long time.
Later, Ms. Xie's father cooperated with PET-CT and genetic testing, which showed that Ms. Xie's father had mediastinal and pleural metastases, although other organs of the body had not metastasized, but it was indeed advanced, and the genetic test results showed that Ms. Xie's father had targeted drugs to eat.
When the results of the genetic test came out, Ms. Xie consulted with doctors from many well-known hospitals on the Internet, and finally after careful consideration, she chose to let her father take the third-generation targeted drug osimertinib for treatment. At the same time, Ms. Xie was worried that her father would be easily resistant to targeted drugs, so she spent money to consult several doctors, and at the doctor's suggestion, Ms. Xie's father's treatment plan was finally determined to be chemotherapy plus targeting.
Ms. Xie's father took targeted drugs and underwent two chemotherapy treatments, and the lung tumor lesions shrank by two-thirds, and the tumor was 6cm×5cm before, but the tumor was reduced to 2.6cm×2.1cm with two chemotherapy treatments, and the effect was very good.
Ms. Xie's father looked at the review report and compared it with the previous report, and was very happy to see that the tumor had shrunk so obviously, and his inner tension was relieved a lot, and he was more confident in the future treatment.
Now, Ms. Xie's father is still undergoing targeted therapy and chemotherapy, and although he has no chance of surgery, as long as the tumor has shrunk, Ms. Xie's family is very happy.
In the end, Ms. Xie believes that when encountering cancer, don't panic first, it's useless to cry, let alone cry in front of the patient, if the family members also cry, the patient will be more panicked, and the cancer is not better if the mood is bad. Secondly, family members must be familiar with the pathology of the disease, understand what the doctor's plans and suggestions are for, and cooperate with the hospital's treatment.
Then if there is no chance of surgery, don't run around the country to delay the disease, the treatment plan for advanced cancer is almost the same across the country, and there is no need to blindly go to those famous big hospitals for treatment, so as to avoid being unable to treat in time and delay treatment because of the difficulty of hospitalization.
The above is Ms. Xie's experience and experience, for reference only.