Question about stage IV non-small cell lung cancer see details?

My husband was diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer that went to his brain 2 and a half years ago. He was given 6 months "if he was lucky" He had chemo, radiation twice plus cryablation surgery. Anyway, he went in for his check up and the doctor seemed shocked that he was there and had a good lab report. My question is, Could the doctors be wrong with their initial diagnosis of Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer? What is the stage IV?

I am no doctor, but, my father was diagnosed with initial stage NSC lung cancer in his one lung. Whoops; now I am confused, maybe it was small cell lung cancer. I think that is the more aggressive kind. Now I am not sure, and I started to answer your question. My point is, I know both cancers can spread, one more quickly than the other, but, when diagnosed at a later stage, which I believe your husband's one, the stage it is at gives you the percentage of survival rate (based on five years). So a six month prognosis was a 10 percent survival rate, which was horrible (to me). That is why the Dr. was shocked. No matter if the doctors were wrong, go with the facts. Your husband is still alive, he is living with cancer, not dying of cancer, so prayer, exercise, medicine, is all working. Accept it, and keep doing what you are doing. My son is outperforming all expectations for his rare diagnosis. How? Doctors can't explain it, but they say, "Keep doing what you are doing" Prayer is a very powerful thing, the most powerful and potent thing you can do. It is not his time, and keep loving and living with him. God has a plan for him. You may not know what the plan is, but, God does. Good luck, and I will keep you all in my prayers. A good resource for me was the lungalliance.org They have people who can help with questions. Or, it might be thelungalliance.org. Try both, or do a search engine on lungalliance.

Stage IV ususally means that the cancer is far advanced and spread to other areas of the body from where it originated. It's possible but highly unlikely the diagnosis was incorrect. It looks like your husband received a miracle and I am happy for your family. Make sure he continues to get checkups regularly.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. It usually grows and spreads more slowly than small cell lung cancer. There are three forms of NSCLC:
(1) Adenocarcinomas are often found in an outer area of the lung.
(2) Squamous cell carcinomas are usually found in the center of the lung by an air tube (bronchus).
(3) Large cell carcinomas can occur in any part of the lung. They tend to grow and spread faster than the other two types.
Stage means how big the tumor is and how far it's spread. Non-small cell lung cancer is divided into five stages:Stage 0 to Stage IV. Stage IV - the cancer has spread to other organs of the body such as the other lung, brain, or liver. Unfortunately, NSCLC is hard to cure, and in many cases, the treatment given will be to prolong life as far as possible - and relieve symptoms. In stage IV disease, palliation of symptoms is the goal. Chemotherapy and radiation may be used to reduce tumor burden, treat symptoms, and improve quality of life. However, median survival is only 9 mo; < 25% of patients survive 1 yr. Surgical palliative procedures may be required and may include thoracentesis (pressure of the chest wall with aspiration) and pleurodesis (production of adhesions between the parietal and the visceral pleura) of recurrent effusions (escape of fluid into body tissues or cavities), placement of indwelling pleural drainage catheters, bronchoscopic fulguration (treatment by electric sparks) of tumors involving the trachea and mainstem bronchi, placement of stents to prevent airway occlusion, and, in some cases, spinal stabilization for impending spinal cord compression.
Please note that I am not a medical professional.
Please see the webpages for more details on Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

All of what these people told you is true, and the sources they gave + others on Webmd and other places should fill you in.

Can labs make errors? Sure.. Often? NO, but it does happen. And as well, for some unknown reasons, some people tho they definitely have a cancer, their immune system will spring into action, recognize it and kill it off. Now, hon, that occurs very, very rarely, but it does happen.

My husband was diagnosed March 20th He passed June 6th. He went thru radiation chemo gamma knife procedure and took tarceva. He had no symptoms and by the time he was diagniosed it was everywhere.
I am so glad that that your husband is doing well. Both of you stay strong and keep on fighting. Best of Luck to you.

Some people beat the odds! Be thankful for EVERY moment you have with him.

If he was seen by an oncologist who deals routinely with his particular type of cancer i would say the chances of a misdiagnosis are slim - not saying he wasn't misdiagnosed, just saying those chances are slim. No two people respond the same to therapy for the disease and it seems as though the treatment course they picked worked for him. I have a friend who was diagnosed with a very RARE form of abdominal cancer and was given a 20% chance to live and is now NED (no evidence of disease) for THREE Years now. ANd then there are some who get the most common types of cancers and die.

Stage IV indicates the grade of the cancer - Stage 1 being the ''best" and stave 4 being the "worst" case scenarios. Stage 4 usually involves multiple cancers in the body - with your husband having had the brain involvement in addition to the lungs.

Keep praying or doing whatever it is your doing - somebody is looking out for him!

Good luck! :)

I had been diagnosed with stage IV non small cell lung cancer over four years ago. After two chemo treatments they took a second CT scan and changed the stage to IIIA. The PET scan readings can give false positives and the cancer wasn't as extensive as they first thought. Another problem was existing scar tissue which showed opaque on the scans.

The treatments included chemo and radiation over a period of about six months. I have been cancer free since that time. It might be unusual but it happens.

Good luck to you! I like to hear good news from other lung cancer survivors.