Sorry to hear.(HCC stands for hepatocellular carcinoma, a kind of liver cancer. It can metastasize to the lung, which can be a cause for confusion. Or perhaps he has a lung cancer and the acronym you were provided isnt quite right. Probably not of much consequence to the following discussion.)If there is talk of LTAC and he is on versed, I am guessing he is still requiring mechanical ventilation?One cannot be precise without seeing all the data but the typical prognosis with this general picture is very poor. If someone is ill enough to die while in the hospital while receiving optimal care, the odds of complete recovery after resuscitation are low (in the neighborhood of 10%). In those who go to LTAC on a chronic ventilator, only a minority ever come off the vent (~30%), and there is a high short-term mortality in these patients even when stage IV cancer isnt in the mix. Stage IV cancer of any kind, with very very rare exception (some testicular cancer, etc), is not curable.Meeting with palliative care seems like a very good next step. If they do not suggest it themselves, I would ask for a family meeting with the palliative care docs, ICU docs, oncology and radiation oncology docs all in the room together. This is often the best way to get a complete picture of the current medical issues.If he is not currently able to make decisions for himself, as I suspect from information provided he is not, the main question for you and your family is: what is the minimum quality of life he would accept? Some would say that unless current therapies have a good chance of returning them to independent living with intact cognition, they would not want to be maintained alive by machines or treatments. Some would say that if they can think but require complete assistance, that would be enough. Some would say even being maintained in a state in which they have no awareness of the outside world is acceptable.The main question for his doctors is: what are the chances his current treatments will get him to that minimum qualify of life, whatever it is for him? If the treatments and supports offered have little chance of returning him to a state he would find acceptable, then one could view his current therapies as prolonging a state of suffering.Sorry again for what your family is going through.
(EDIT Below Original Post ) I kinda wrote all of this in a rush this morning after talking to his critical care doctor and surprised to see how many have responded, thank you again, It really means so much.I been staying with him for 99% of the time in the hospital. I went home for one day out of 35 days.He was having issues all of this year, mostly without not being able to eat. We went to ER early June and test results came back okay (or so we were told)He became really sick and malnourished so we took him to ER again in Sept and they performed a CAT Scan. They found a Mass.Biopsy of the Mass diagnosed it as Stage 4 Lung Cancer and now he's been in the hospital for over 5 weeks.He had a cardiac arrest which lead to him being put on life support but they carried on with doing radiation to treat the mass and shrink itHe has SVC Syndrome, Pleural effusion (chest tube) Gastrointestinal tube present (Possibly getting a G-J) , HCC Lung Cancer and AFIB ( Atrial Flutter)Medications: (TBE) He's been/are onFor Pain: Morphine , fentanyl , Versed,Blood Thinners: Heparin, Zerelto, LovenoxBlood Pressures: Levophed, MidodrineDiuretics: Lasiks (oral)Lasiks (IV) 10mg to 20mg back to 10mg.Spironolactone (current)I really don't know what to do. They want us to tour LTAC facilities and we're scheduled to meet Palliative Care later on today..Chemo is an option but he might be too weak to do so..Idk if we should transfer hospitals to get second opinions or what.there isn't much I can do besides this. Being supportive and smiling.. Reaching out to people for help/opinions...This feeling of uselessness is overwhelming..EDITED (Additional information): Thank you for all the replies and upvotes... It means a ton. He's responsive and understands what's going on. We're able to communicate with him and he does mouth out his concerns. Even tho he hasn't really had significant improvement, He hasn't been getting worse and has been maintaining stability and he's doing a lot better than when he was first admitted into the hospital. I've understood for a while that his cancer isn't curable from a medical standpoint and that it's only possible to maintain it through treatment. He's expressed that no matter how small the chance is, he wants to continue fighting. We've had this talk several times throughout the years. Even now he expresses this. Which is why I'm trying to explore every realm of possibility. They trached him and He's been on Spontaneous mode (his respirator) for almost a week, and they did take him off the vent for 2-4 hours a day to get him used to breathing on his own. His diaphragm is really weak and he gets really anxious whenever this happens because of how different it feels but his vitals and oxygen levels always seem okay. He says he isn't in any pain, he just gets frustrated & anxious at times but that's understandable. He's just fighting really hard, we all are. We have an amazing support system from friends and family and there's a lot of people rooting for him. I just want him to have a 2nd chance at life and be able to live whatever time he has left to the fullest. I have access to some of his records through MyChart but the daily notes that nurses and docs input isn't all there. I wish I had more information to provide you all. https://i.imgur.com/rea1isQ.png