You are the 1st person on this site I have heard that has a spouse with small cell lung cancer. My husband was DX in 2001 with sclc, given whole brain radiation and survived. It seems that it is rare that it is caught in the early stage, which was the case with my husband, and we cried, I didn't want to lose him. (married in 1999.) Now that I have learned that the treatment causes dementia I am mad as Hell. Had I been able to foresee the future, I would not have contacted the company in England that somehow got past the FDA, an experimental drug. He is blissfully unaware that he has any problems. I honestly think dying of cancer would have been better. I'm sure you know it is a fast spreading cancer. Are you going to have treatment for your wife?
Please don't feel compelled to answer if I have been too invasive.
Ours is different. I think DW had AD, then sclc. Next week will be the sixth and final chemo treatment. No radiation. She is responding well to the chemo. By well, I mean she no longer has pain and she's gaining weight. She was a month away from dying in mid-September, according to PCP. I thought she would die and had already signed off on DNR if she coded in the hospital stay (17 days of diagnosis) from hell. Oconolgist says longevity average is 10-12 months from diagnosis and we are three months past that. The chemo was suppose to reverse the dementia. 10-12 months with no dementia and no pain OR another 30 days with pain only dulled by morphine, more strangers poking at her and more rides on the gurney to get placed inside some whirring machine for some other test. The whole process freaked her out. I was the only anchor.
The dementia did not reverse. The chemo has been casual. No naseau. No pain. The only downside was that most of her hair fell out. This has caused some confusion with the mirror. You've seen my 'lady in the mirror' comments. The upside of hair falling out is that we don't worry about shaving her legs anymore.
I exposed my email in my profile. email me and I'll give you all the details, the timing, the problems with getting a diagnosis, the hindsight.It's all too much for couple of comment boxes here. The net is that you and I are in the same box that everybody else here is in. The shading on the edges are a little different, but we're still in a box.
I emailed you, write back when the spirit moves you. I've read journal articles about them lasting a LOT longer than the norm. I think you did the right thing.