CT lung cancer screening

@joelars- You are one lucky person! I envy you. Because of the lung tissue that I've lost due to lung cancer I do use an inhaler. There's a new one out that replaces QVAR and Spiriva called Trelegy. I only need to inhales a day, first thing in the AM! Even if there is nothing new that they might have for you, if it's been a while, I'd go for the check-up. If I've answered this post before I apologize. Have you called Mayo yet?

@merpreb I haven't called yet. I'm waiting for the results of the test I take this week. You may remember I had pneumonia in March In my follow=up chest x-ray a few weeks later they found a small "infiltrate" My doctor scheduled a 2nd x-ray. I put it off. I'm scheduled this week. In part I put it off because I don't think it was realistic to find a completely clean x-ray that soon after pneumonia should be expected? . A small patch of dead infectious material should be expected? Assuming this x-ray is clean I will schedule the Mayo exam. My concern is going to doctors they tend to find things. The findings may demoralize my arduous work-outs and runs. The fact that I can do so much physically I believe has saved my life. I don't want anything to interfere with that. So unless they can really help me improve my athletic performances and I don't believe they can, what is the point of letting them test me just to report problems?

@joelars- Yes I do remember that you had pneumonia and am glad that you recovered. I'm still confused because you said that you did want a work-up. Instead of another Xray, I'm wondering why not a CT scan. What do you mean by demoralizing a workout? Do you mean that it would ruin your mindset?

Trust me, all that working out will stand for something even if they find something. My husband was always very physically fit. When he was diagnosed with bone cancer he was able to tolerate the hard treatments, and still continue to do well. He is in his 70s, and still way ahead of most with his disease, we attribute much of that to workouts, marathons, etc. even though he has been unable to do continue it after diagnosis. Walking is his friend now.

@merpreb, I'm ambivalent about a work-up because I feel the docs are good at finding problems but not in providing remedies. So if I just get a poor diagnosis and no medical solution it would dampen my desire to continue with the high intensity work-outs that I put myself through. On the other hand, maybe they have something new that can help me with my exercise program making it a little easier.

The x-ray is my primary doc's suggestion. I'm guessing the x-ray is just a follow-up from the pneumonia and not a cancer screening. The cancer screening question I asked earlier was prompted by a medical program I was listening to. It had nothing to do with my x-ray (although I'm guessing that an x-ray would pick up a tumor?)

@auntieoakley I'm sorry to hear about your husband's cancer. I hope he's able to do some level of exercise.
I just got off the track.I jogged a 5k. Between the wind, the heat (90's) and the COPD I struggled to hold 12 minute average miles. But that's ok. When I started 15 years ago, when I was first diagnosed with COPD, it took me 1 year to get up to 1 mile at 15 minute pace.

He walks, that is his limit now, but he really moves out! Lol

joelars - I understand more now. Thank you for going into more detail. ANY diagnostic test is not 100%. My first tumor was picked up by an Xray. Also if your doctor isn't a positive about the anomaly that he picked out then a follow-up CT might be needed.
If a doctor gives you news that is not to your liking then you must follow it up, of course. After my first cancer I went all out with exercising. Don't you think that your welfare should be put before your desire for high intensity work-outs, not matter how good they make you feel?

@ my problem is in defining what is in my welfare. I leave room for the concept of healthy denial. Much of what doctors offer (besides the billings) is suffering with clarity. Is that necessarily in my best interests? Unfortunately, I talk a better fight than I actually fight. I will have the x-ray this week and if it's bad I'll probably go down the same medical/psychological road I tell myself I won't.

@joelars- haha. Some of us have to go through self-torture before making sense of what we really need to do. Unless something has changed since your pneumonia you are probably fine and your anomaly might have been a scar from bring sick. I hope that you let us know after your test?