When Nina Beaty had a low-dose CT scan to check for lung cancer in 2014, she didn’t expect radiologists to find anything. Although she smoked for about 13 years when she was young, she kicked the habit more than 30 years ago and prides herself on living a healthy life. But because her mom is a lung cancer survivor, she decided to get screened.
She was in complete shock when her radiologist called her a few days later and told her she had small cell lung cancer. “I wasn’t surprised when my mom was diagnosed: She had been smoking four packs a day for decades,” recalls Betty, a 68-year-old art therapist in New York City. “But I’ve been a health icon for decades. I just can’t understand it.”
Initially, her cancer was only in one place, at the top of her left lung. Beatty received chemoradiation and preventive whole-brain radiation therapy. Then, in early 2015, she got the sad news that the cancer had metastasized. Usually, that means she only has a few months to live. But she was able to participate in a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she received a new immunotherapy drug.
“Within a few weeks, my tumor shrank by leaps and bounds. My oncologist said he had never seen anything like it,” she recalls. Thankfully, Beaty is now in recovery. But she has a lot of scary moments when she thinks she’s not going to make it.
Manage your emotions with MSCLC
A diagnosis of metastatic small cell lung cancer (MSCLC) often causes a plethora of emotions, from sadness to guilt to fear, notes Daniel Huvard, a social work consultant at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Here are some ways to help you manage:
possible. A diagnosis of metastatic small cell lung cancer is not necessarily a death sentence. Some people with advanced lung cancer, like Beaty, live many years after diagnosis. Some doctors even believe that hope can help your body cope better with cancer.
“Since I’ve spent most of my career working with patients with AIDS or terminal cancer, I don’t have a traditional response,” Beatty said. “I’ve seen enough death that it doesn’t have to scare me. I’ve always told myself not to think of my cancer recurrence as a recurrence, but as a natural progression. The drugs my doctors gave me initially didn’t work, so yes Time to take the next step. If none of this works, we’ll try again. And then again.”
Find ways to express your emotions. You might feel uncomfortable talking about your diagnosis with friends or family, but that’s okay, Huvert says. But it’s important to find other ways to process your feelings, whether through journaling, meditation, or art.
“My first year with cancer was tough: Sometimes I felt completely worthless and didn’t want to ‘keep fighting,'” Beatty said. How it helps: Grab a pen and paper to deal with the dark thoughts that are invading her mind. “I’d have thoughts like ‘Where will I go when I die?’ in drawing an image of a bridge leading to somewhere, though I’m not sure exactly where,” she explains.
embrace your spirit. Embracing faith or spirituality can help you with your metastatic small cell lung cancer diagnosis. Huvert says this doesn’t have to mean attending a religious ceremony: It can be as simple as practicing mindfulness or spending time in nature. Lee credits her faith with helping her cope with her initial diagnosis. “Normally, I’m a pessimist, but whenever I felt overwhelmed, I read the Bible and found comfort,” she recalls. “It gives me something to focus on, so I don’t get stuck in emotions like anger and fear all the time.”
think about your legacy. A diagnosis of metastatic cancer can serve as a “wake-up call” to stop and think about how you want to spend the rest of your life. You may want to go somewhere you’ve never been, or finish a project you’ve put on hold, or repair a broken relationship. “When I was first diagnosed, I was devastated. I thought, ‘I’ve been divorced twice, I don’t have kids, and I’m not doing that much with my art therapy career,'” says Beaty. “I asked myself: ‘What legacy have I left?'”
Then, one afternoon, while undergoing six hours of cancer treatment, Beatty scrolled through the emoji on her phone and realized that none of them had anything to do with her life now. A year later, she created The EmPat Project, a website full of animated emoji for cancer patients to text friends and family when they feel too tired, sick or sad to explain their condition. “EmPat emoji became a legacy project that I was so afraid I would never be able to create,” Beaty says proudly.
Get support when you have MSCLC
Be part of a medical team you can trust. Alexis Daniuk, 76, was diagnosed with metastatic small cell lung cancer in January 2021 after being hospitalized with a persistent cough. Almost as soon as she got the news, she got a call from her primary care physician. “He was there from day one, rooting for me and telling me I was going to beat cancer,” she said. “He was always following me to make sure I was fed and reminded me to get off the couch every day, even if it was just 2 feet. He really got me through the darkest of times.”
rely on others“When I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer 15 years ago, I had to drop my pride and seek help,” recalls Montessa Lee, 43. “But I needed help – I was having radiation therapy and chemotherapy at two different hospitals and it left me so dizzy I couldn’t drive.”
This can be especially difficult if you have adult children, as it can involve a rather sharp role reversal. “As a parent, you don’t want your children, no matter how old they are, to see you sick and take care of you,” Daniuk said. But she soon learns that she has no choice. “My daughter Shannon is a nurse, so when I was first diagnosed, she knew exactly what to ask the doctor,” Daniuk explained. “I also realized that helping me made her feel better.”
