In December she had a course of chemotherapy, and a few weeks ago she finished a course of radiotherapy. The tumour shrunk but I don't think it went away totally. Now she's suffering some pain, which leads me to believe that the cancer is rearing its ugly head again.

Her doctor has told her that she cannot have any more chemo or radiotherapy. Is that correct? Can a person only have one course of treatment and then that's it?

If that's the case, is there anything else that she can ask for that might help prolong her life?

-Some treatments are intended for palliative purposes only We'll need more information than that. Staging and her age, health complications, and whether surgery was done. What chemo (agent) was given, etc etc.

There's information here about NSCLC http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancerinfo/pdq/treatment/non-small-cell-lung/h...

http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancer_information/cancer_type/lung/ http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancerinfo/pdq/treatment/non-small-cell-lung/p... For most patients with non-small cell lung cancer, current treatments do not cure the cancer. []

-Let's put aside questions of medical billing or state insurance which may play some role. Second or third line chemotherapy is standard treatment. Indeed, Iressa is now becoming standard after 3rd line chemotherapy is no longer successful. 2nd and 3rd line chemotherapy can extend life and relieve symptoms though it generally does not provide a cure. If your family member wishes to fight the disease, it is perfectly appropriate to request additional chemotherapy. Since there are different drugs which work in different ways, one drug may have some success where others do not though to be fair, as the disease progresses the drugs tend to be less effective.