Hi. Sorry to hear about your problems with cancer.
Ive not got it myself, but am close to someone who also has stage 3 lung cancer. Theyve just ended a course of combined chemo and radio treatment, and were now waiting to see the effects of said treatment. Fingers crossed here. Like a lot of people involved on the edges of cancer I have read up on it a bit, but I am not a Doctor so of course what I say isnt professional advice.
McMillan and other charities are very good sources of info and help, whatever
your question theyll know the answer or will try to find it for you. Firstly dont panic ! Diagnosed and receiving treatment within 3 weeks is good going. Stage 3 diagnosis is not what everyone wants in their Christmas stocking, but it isnt too bad. If all goes well you should get a long and normally active life after treatment. Most of our lungs is just latent capacity, and unless you run distance you may well notice little difference. Cancer is a very serious condition and although there is no "silver bullet" cure the treatments are getting better all the time. Its all happening in small steps rather than headline grabbing miracles.
The treatments are necessarily very powerful, they need to be to attack the malignancy. They are designed to kill some of your cells, without killing the rest of you! Quite a balancing act. It seems everyone will be on different doses of different drugs and reactions to them will be different, but the side effects can be pretty severe. Ive heard it described as the most severe flu youve ever had, except theres no runny nose. You will not want to be working or driving a truck or car when youre like that. You may well be extremely tired. Sounds bad? Yeah, but this treatment is not ongoing. Itll seem like forever when youre on it but it is for a good reason after all. When its over you will start feeling better, and all being well get the op done if needed and get on with a full life ahead. OK, re work and licencing, I would think that after treatment is over youd be well able to continue driving. You may have to do one of the treadmill tests used for assessing heart condition drivers or something similar, but they arent too bad. In the long term all should be well. Short term I would think its best to contact the DVLA. Be up front with them. Following on from the Glasgow bin lorry incident, what will be their attitude if they think drivers are deliberately not informing them of medical problems? It wont be easy for you, but could be an awful lot worse if they find out about your condition from a hospital and decide youre trying to pull a fast one. I would say tell them now, to protect your licence in the future.
It will be tough on you in the short term, but dont screw up your long term prospects by hiding a condition. It sounds like you should make a full recovery, if all goes well, think on that, dont stress about lying to the licensing authorities too.