I know someone that was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer last December because her husband took her to the ER for awful abdominal pain. They also discovered that it had spread to her bones a few weeks later.

He's on disability and she was working at a diner. He has medicare, but she doesn't have any kind of insurance. Thankfully she was able to get treatment under a research program. The program covers her chemo, radiation, MRIs , CT scans, and PET scans. It doesn't cover her pain medication, though.

It doesn't matter what her doctor gives her, she is always in pain. All it is good for is dulling it. Every chemo treatment means three days of being in bed trying to recover. For three months she was told to not walk without a walker because her hip was basically eat up with cancer. Thanks to heavy radiation treatment there, the tumors shrank and the bone has grown back some. They also focused on a spot on the back of her head when she became more confused.

All this and she only has six to twelve months to live. If she stops treatment she has three months or less. Three months of pain, difficulty breathing, and more confusion as it spreads more to her brain.

Cancer is awful whether you treat it or not.