Scanxiety overtaking my life

@frouke my surgeon opted for a wedge resection. I truly hope this was enough.

@lls8000 oh Lisa this is just too much at times. Having a terrible day today. Questioning whether the wedge was enough to get rid of it why didn’t he take the lobe out etc. I appreciate your words of encouragement so so much.

@lhatfield96 , My second surgery was also a wedge section, I wanted another lobectomy but I was told that my lungs were not functioning well enough due to COPD, this was done in 2022. I had a lobectomy in 2020 and needed another surgery just under two years later, after the wedge section was done in 2022 I went into remission for four years, my point is that I had a longer run after the wedge section than after the lobectomy. I understand your concern but it really doesn’t seem to make any difference so don’t worry about whether they removed enough, no one ever gets used to ct scans but you will get stronger over time because your fighting spirit will get better, you are a warrior.

Good Morning! I can, so, relate to you! I had my VATS segmentectomy in March of 2023. Then the scan every 6 months for 2 years. Then they said I would go to once a year because they had stayed clear. That one was kind of scary because I didn’t know if I wanted to wait a whole year. Yesterday I had that scan and I was so anxious! “What if something came back? What if a new one grew in the other lung?” Those are exactly what I thought. I kept it mostly to myself because I don’t like to get my husband’s anxiety going, or my children. I said my usual nightly prayers but didn’t think it was right to ask for a clear scan. (Maybe weird to some), so I just prayed that God’s Will would be done. Then I just started to plan if something was there. What I would do from there. That eased some of my anxiety. I have read on here from so many, that most of us get that anxiety right before our scans. I think it’s normal. No one wants to hear that it’s back. I am happy to say mine was still clear. Now I don’t have another one until next year. I’m sure the anxiety will come back right before that one too. I think planning what your next steps will be if it does come back will help as you will feel a little prepared and not just concentrating on being scared that it may come back. I hope this helps at least a little and I will pray for you!🙏❤️ Cindy

Yes, scanxiety is unfortunately common for a lot of cancer patients. I've had it for five years--the length of time since my cancer diagnosis. Until this spring, I've had a CT every four months and have stressed out every single time. I 'm sure others have found ways of dealing with it. I have a counselor who listens to me and a sympathetic husband, but the anxiety is about me, not them, and about the time when I learned about the initial diagnosis and, of course, the cancer returning. My support dog helps me some. I encourage you to get a counselor and to try to use whatever works for you to get through the scan times. You'll be in my thoughts.

I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung cancer right before Christmas 205. I had a biopsy in September and IT WAS NEGATIVE! Went for a 3 month follow up scan and recommended another biopsy. There is a large mass in right lung, confirmed over the summer. Another biopsy in early December was positive and the when the genetics came in, it was EGFR+. Met with a heme/onc closer to where I live (the biopsies were done at a hospital about an hour from here. This was on my husband's and my anniversay, Dec. 17. We spent an hour with the doctor, he answered all of our questions at the time and I chose to begin treatment quickly right after the holidays. I had a cyber knife radiation treatment on my skull, where I had a painful metastasis. That was on New Year's Eve. I felt much better after but came home and had such pain, I couldn't finish a phone conversation with my daughter! I called the interventional radiologist's emergency number and the doctor on call called me back and said to take a steroid that I'd been prescribed to take before my chemo sessions and had it filled already, so I bypassed an ER visit. She said that's what I would have been told in the ER to do. So that did save me a trip to the ER on the evening of NYE. It helped thankfully. The follow up with the radiologist could NOT believe that I got relief so quickly! He said it usually took 3-4 months!

After the diagnosis and for a month or so after, the dianoses and my mortality were always on my mind. I really couldn't think of anything else! When the genetics came in, the doctor changed my course of treatment to a course of cisplastin, Alimpta and tagrisso orally to begin the day after my first treatment. I had some relatively minor side effects but the meds prescribed to handle side effects helped a great deal. After 4 rounds of cisplastin, it was discontinued and just took the Alimpta. I had a brain MRI in February and the small tumors had seriously reduced in size or they were gone. A PET scan in March also showed reduction in size of lung tumor, and diappearance of lymph metastases in both lungs! I have one more infusion of that this Friday and the chemo is over. But the tagrisso will be continued. I need to follow up with a brain MRI in early May. I will make that appointment tomorrow.

My advice is try to do things that will keep your mind off of it! I KNOW how hard THAT is. The diagnosis was all I could think about for a long while. I continued to go to my book club (only missed one) and read the chosen books. My husband picked out some shows on streaming services (not Netfix) but on Hulu and Amazon Prime mostly. We also watched, in a couple of parts, a 6 hr documentary about the American Revolution on the local PBS station. There was so much we didn't know!!! I highly recommend that everyone watch it. It does help to focus on something else that will hold your interest for a few hours a night. You will forget your problems, if only for that time. But it does help and lets you focus on something completely different from your own cancer diagnosis, if only for a short time. You realize soon that life must go on. One of the hardest parts was telling my close family and best friend. I only recently told some neighbors I see. My next door was told by my husband a few months ago. My book club friends know now and another older member had just been diagnosed with cancer of the soft palette- roof of mouth and it made eating some foods difficult for her. Fortunately, we all have support in each other & our families.