How do you talk to someone that just found out they gave lung cancer?
She will definitely die because she is elderly. Do you act like nothin is wrong or do you let her talk or do I try to be cheerful or what?
Cancer - 4 Answers
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1 :
You may find this unbelievable, but it happened to me on Friday. I was taking care of this lil old lady in the hospital and her husband told me he was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier that morning. He had just come from his doctors office. I listened. Thats all I did. I think you should just give her room to talk it out and tell you what she thinks. If you really care a lot about her, offer yourself for her needs and just be yourself. Dont fake it. Tell her you care and if you can do anything to help her to call you anytime. Maybe offer to take her to her doctors appointment or to shop for groceries for her when she is having treatment. Its still probably soaking in to her. She may just want to know someone will help her during this time in her life. If she doesnt have family this could be her biggest fear...being alone. Your right her prognoisis is terrible. Most lung cancer pts are likely to die before their 1st year of treatment. Almost all of them die before 5 yrs pass. The survival rate is terrible.
2 :
Do you mean someone who just found out they HAVE lung cancer? Well, if it is that, show them love, show them that someone cares about them. Don't let them feel lonely, so that they would feel...
3 :
I was diagnosed with lung cancer in September. What helped me the most is my friend being there for moral support. She let me talk, offered suggestions, told me she would be available for shopping and transportation needs. It was a blessing to know she was there for me.
4 :
First, and I say this in all seriousness, you can NEVER say 100% that someone will die. Just can't. There are people that survive this..elderly people, children, anyone..out of each group some of them live. If the lady is otherwise healthy, maybe there is a way to treat her. So putting a label on someone's forehead that they will die is like playing God..have some faith! Patients want to hear that they will live, that they have a chance, no matter how small..maybe this elderly lady has a fighting spirit, who are you to try to bring her down? You should cheer her up, tell her to be strong, encourage her, pray with her, tell her that you believe in her chance to get better! Just hearing that can give someone HOPE and comfort. You as a patient do not want or need to FEEL that others around you think you won't make it. It discourages them. It "kills" them to know others have lost faith. It's sad! Please accept yourself that she may beat the odds, in order to honestly share this faith with her! There's a good book, Climbing for Cancer or something like that, about a guy who beat cancer 3 times..each time being told by docs that he has couple months til he's dead and cold. He beat different types of cancer! He's alive, despite the odds.
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