Good and bad. In the end, good.
Definitely lung cancer for Dad. Left one is all-but-useless and the right isn't really enough to get the job done. They had him on 100% oxygen for a few days as a stopgap, plus draining fluids all the while. The fluid flow hasn't slowed one bit so the nasty crap is being generated pretty quickly, though he did regain some capacity on the left side. There was talk about putting in some goop (that's the medical term) to sort of glue his left lung to the chest wall and help it stay open but it never drained enough to reinflate enough to get it close enough to the chest wall on its own. It wouldn't have added much time, anyway, and likely wouldn't improve the quality of life; instead, it would have added a few more days of pain and general discomfort.
Just a matter of time, now. Couple days, probably.
Honestly, I'm glad this all came about very quickly. Only went on portable oxygen a few weeks ago, went into the hospital, um, Thursday I think, got the prelim diagnosis the next day, and is at the end within a week. With my stepdad it slowly progressed over nine months or so and it was hard to watch the degradation in his health, his ability to do things for himself, and all of the pain that came with it. But at least from that experience we knew what to expect this time around, and also what things to ask of Dad and the doctors.
He's had a chance to see or talk to everyone that he wanted to have words with before passing, and last night he made his decision to proceed into hospice care. They cut the oxygen down to much lower levels and have him on a constant pain-drug drip so he's mostly zonked. For a guy who too often let life roll over him, I'm happy that he was able to make this last decision on his own terms.