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Noticed 3 nodules on my right lung (scared to death)
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Oct 5 7:08am | Replies (77)Comment receiving replies
I've had stage 4b for just over 6 years. Tom on the other site is over 20.
You're right that the upper lobes are indeed more likely to be malignant. It is 0.1% more likely, but 0.6% is still less likely than being killed crossing the street in one's lifetime.
When you look at the Lung-RADS classification, it actually says benign. Radiology is a field full of hedging, so the fact that they called it that tells you the confidence level behind the guidelines. You also have no indicators that would put you at high risk of lung cancer according to the USPSTF or Medicare standards.
There is an online tool that shows your probability of having lung cancer based on the PLCOm2012 study. I can't post links here, but the short one that only asks about age and smoking history gave a 0.1% chance of developing lung cancer in the next 6 years. You can search for "PLCOm2012 selection criteria for lung cancer screening" to find it.
I'm a guy who believes that a number is only insignificant if it isn't you, but I do practice what I preach. If you read about my pneumonia, you read the scary things written across 11 days worth of scans. I'm not going to shrug any of them off, but I'm not going to stress about them either. I'm waiting 3 months for the follow-up chest CT, and I'll get a PET CT on schedule at the 6-month mark to check an area in my hip. I am worried about the hip, not because it lit up on the PET, but because it might be arthritis. I need to coordinate with my doctors, but the oncologist already had the same plan and I was worried he would want another PET.
I don't really know how to ease your mind over this. The fear is real. But the reality is that the risk is low, which is one of the main reasons they don't expand screening and why Medicare requires counseling beforehand.
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@edivebuddy Hi Edivebuddy! Thank you so much , like for everyone giving your valuable knowledge. I am sincerely grateful for the answers, even though it may terrify me. I need to hear the truth. I believe the reasons why I am going through the issues thet I am is when I was younger, my relative used to work in construction and I used to be around him all the time and from research, there is a strong chance of being exposed to abestos and then I was in the Coast Guard later on and used to be on cutter. From my research, smoking cigarettes and being exposed to that stuff elevates your chance of lung cancer dramatically.
Im sorry, my apologies, I thought you were a 20 plus survivor as well. 6, 20 or how many years, you are still a fighter and a survivor and think the most of you. Fighting this horrible illness.
Yes, the upper lobes scare me for sure and I truly believe this is my main indicator that I have a future case of malignancy. Like I said, it just causes me great fear, only 44 and having 3 nodules being reactive. Thank you for going above and beyond with the classification assessments for nodules and risk of being cancerous in 6 years being 0.1 percent. I just wish it had a option for other exposures and I believe that would significantly raise the risk percentage. I am so sorry about your hip buddy. I really hope and I will pray that you dont have arthritis. I haven't read about your pneumonia stories, I will search for sure as I find you to be such a valuable resource, like others on this forum. It truly helps having friends like yourself with experience to guide new individuals through what they once went through. Hopefully, it isn't but if it is cancer, I hope it is non small, has a biomarker, slow growing. I see the pulmonologist at city of hope in mid November, I wish I would be to have you and others on here on a zoom with me so you can ask the doctor questions that I am unaware of. Thank you again edivebuddy and love having you as a freind. Please keep in contact with me, as I ask all of you. I need friends. I pray that you get good results on your images and hope that everything will be fine. God bless you and your family. I find it so great from reading your story, told your doctor years ago that you aren't ready to go yet, you wanted to see your grandchildren graduate college. Your the man buddy. Big hugs my friend.