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Chemo question.

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petra Sun 20-Dec-15 19:21:18

My close friend has been told that her lung cancer is terminal and to expect to live another year. She will be starting chemo in January and will have 6 sessions 3 weeks apart.
I've never been close to anyone who is in this position and what I want to know is: what is the purpose of this chemo when they say her life expectancy is one year. Is it hope against hope that they will destroy the tumour, or delay the symptoms.

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loopylou Sun 20-Dec-15 19:42:26

It's probably to slow the tumour's growth as well as slowing down the symptoms and symptom relief. As palliative treatment it is often pretty successful, so I do hope this is the case for your friend.
In some cases it will shrink the tumour too.

If you contact MacMillan they will be able to give you more information and they're brilliant at supporting people other than the patient.

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