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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How Long Does Recovery Take From Lung Cancer?

How long does it normally take for lung cancer to develop to stage 4? My adult children are watching their Father lose weight and go through pain. His diagnosis is stage 4 lung cancer which has traveled to the throat, bones, and brain. They are kicking themselves for not questioning his health sooner. He is a smoker and continues to smoke even though he is now going through chemotherapy. They are hopeful his cancer can be cured but I know in my heart they are simply wishing and hoping. My question is probably not answerable but my real question is, how long has this man had cancer and ignored it in order for it to be at stage 4 now? Thank you for reading this.
Fri, 31 May 2019
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Radiation Oncologist 's  Response
Hi,

To provide an answer to your query with certainty is little difficult, usually for any cancer to double its size it takes approximately 6 months, depending upon the biology of cancer, some take as less as 3 months while some are slow growing and may take a year, but usually 6 months it is.

To reach stage 4 lung cancer in a smoker, an intelligent guess would be one year from the onset of his first lung related symptom. However my advice, please do not think much about what happened, since we are always wiser in retrospect, rather we should focus upon what best we can do with what's left.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Jatin Bhatia, Radiation Oncologist

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How Long Does Recovery Take From Lung Cancer?

Hi, To provide an answer to your query with certainty is little difficult, usually for any cancer to double its size it takes approximately 6 months, depending upon the biology of cancer, some take as less as 3 months while some are slow growing and may take a year, but usually 6 months it is. To reach stage 4 lung cancer in a smoker, an intelligent guess would be one year from the onset of his first lung related symptom. However my advice, please do not think much about what happened, since we are always wiser in retrospect, rather we should focus upon what best we can do with what s left. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Jatin Bhatia, Radiation Oncologist