Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Cancer Conundrum’: He’d Rather Not Talk too Much About His Lung Cancer, but ‘Alex Trebek Is Inspiring a Lot of People’

In a post titled My Cancer Conundrum, Limbaugh lets supporters know he’s on track with his treatment — “I'm doing what's been prescribed. So far, it's working” — but also explains his reticence to share his news. He’s struggling, he writes, to find a balance between updating those who care, being a role model like Alex Trebek, and — as many in the survivor community can relate to — not wanting his diagnosis to take over his life.

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“If you’re not careful, this disease can take over your life … it can become all-consuming, which I don’t think is good,” he says. “I don't want every day to become [about] scans, blood draws, notes, records, phone calls to doctors.”

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Limbaugh credits things going as well as can be expected with his cancer with the prayers he’s received from well-wishers and listeners. “I really believe [they] are having an impact. I can’t tell you how good I feel.”

‘Alex Trebek Is Inspiring a Lot of People’

Those good feelings, he acknowledges, could also be his gift to others. And that, he explains, is the conundrum: “I don’t want to keep everybody updated every day. … Then the other side of it is, I know full well how inspiring it can be. Alex Trebek [who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer] is inspiring a lot of people.”

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“So, to me, it's about finding a happy, a proper balance here. 'Cause I guarantee you, you could get sick and tired of me talking about [my cancer treatment] if I did,” he explains. “So bear with me through all this, and I guarantee you: You will not end up being uninformed.”

Limbaugh’s Lung Cancer Diagnosis

When Limbaugh announced his cancer diagnosis he said, "The upshot is that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, diagnosis confirmed by two medical institutions back on January 20th.”

At the time he reported being asymptomatic and that he was implementing an undisclosed treatment plan.

RELATED VIDEO: Dr. Joseph Friedberg, head of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on Lung Cancer Staging

After the Diagnosis

“For lung cancer, particularly, there’s multiple types of doctors that might be involved in both making the diagnosis and helping to treat that diagnosis once it’s made. And that can include a medical oncologist,” Dr. Leena Gandhi, a thoracic oncologist, told SurvivorNet in a previous conversation.

Dr. Leena Gandhi on diagnosing lung cancer and determining treatment

Oftentimes, she said, “it first includes a pulmonologist or a lung specialist who will be the one to evaluate symptoms and maybe make the diagnosis by getting a biopsy through something called a bronchoscopy, or sampling, where they see something abnormal within the lungs.”

This important process may include scans of the chest, abdomen, pelvis and brain to see if the cancer has started to spread outside of the lung. The results will guide treatment decisions.

If the cancer is local — meaning just in the lungs — surgery may be an option, said Dr. Friedberg. But if it has spread to the lymph nodes, medical therapy such as chemotherapy, targeted drugs and/or radiation can be as effective as surgery. However, if the cancer has spread outside of the lungs, chemotherapy and/or targeted drugs are used to control the cancer's growth as much as possible.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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