Hey y’all.
My dad was diagnosed with stage four non-small cell lung cancer back in February. It’s been a tough few months. He had three rounds of chemo and then they did a follow-up scan last week. They told us that he had a mixed reaction to the chemo. While it seemed to shrink the tumors that were initially giving him pain (yay less pain!), it seems some smaller tumors appeared/grew a little bit (between 0.3 to 0.5 centimeters, not yay).
Can anyone explain to me in simple terms why this occurs, or direct me to online resource to explain why that occurs? Why chemotherapy shrinks some tumors but not others/doesn’t keep it from spreading?
Thank you.
In: Biology
Chemo is rough sorry for you and family. It is designed to stop cell division. This is why it’s used to treat cancer. Cells go through phases when dividing. Chemo is designed to attack during certain phases. So if not all the cells are at the same phase at the same time it may be more effective on some tumors and less on others. Unfortunately chemo doesn’t discriminate very well between cancer and non cancer cells. It effects non cancer cells as well, This is why chemo patients frequently get sick days to weeks after treatment and why they can’t just go crazy slamming a ton of chemo into someone. It is very hard to stop spread after stage 4. At this point cells have broken loose and travel around the body and can grow anywhere though there are typically a few common places such as the liver and brain that seem to be affected more than others. Picture a dandelion. you blow all the white fluffy seeds they’re carried by the wind and wherever they land a new dandelion can sprout up. Imagine trying to find ALL the tiny seeds in a lawn, darn near impossible. Just like finding every cancerous cell in a human body.
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