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Multiple lung nodules: Might they be noncancerous? What next?

Lung Cancer | Last Active: Sep 12, 2023 | Replies (174)
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@stellerjohn

I am 82 with COPD and three years in a row of CT scans ..this year a 18mm,cloudy, by 9mm solid nodule showed. Never prior years. Pulmonologist treated it as infection in past , said wait 3 months to CT again. Because I smoked 10 yrs ago, chances are 25% , not 3, that its cancer,; I'm getting a second opinion next week.
She also suggested a full body Scan to see if there are other nodules AND a biopsy..I read they are very dangerous unless absolutely necessary. ( collapse lung , difficult to do biopsy).
Please comment.
John Steller

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Replies to "I am 82 with COPD and three years in a row of CT scans ..this year..."
Merry, Alumni Mentor | @merpreb | Dec 31, 2021

Good morning John.

Please remember this: Statistics are not predictions. I can't tell you how many people are alive years after they were told that they wouldn't be because of statistics. People have cancer, people are different. I am a person and have lived far beyond the 18 months that were given to me as a survival statistic. October 3, 2021, was my 24th year survival anniversary from my first lobectomy. I have a radiologist who I had to continually remind that I wasn't a number. He said that numbers don't lie. I asked him "Then what was I?"

Has a PET scan been ordered yet? I would think, prior to a biopsy, that they would do one. You can ask your second doctor. You are right, biopsies can be dangerous. Everything that you cited about them can be true, however, sometimes they are not, and sometimes they are necessary. Mine went very well, with none of the things that you mentioned happening.

A three-month span for CT scans is very common to track any growth. Do you have the radiologist's report from this past scan? I suggest that you keep all of your written reports, even lab reports. I have used mine to compare back if I've needed to.

Even if you have been treated with antibiotics for several years you are at the very beginning of a much different journey. It will seem very confusing and scary. Please don't make it more so by reading statistics, odds, or anything else that has to do with the dreaded "WHAT IF" scenario. It will drive you nuts.

I hope that you will come back and tell me about your second opinion. I had one and was glad that I did. I live on the east coast and go to Mass General. I went to another major hospital in Boston for my second opinion. A team of doctors met with me. They agreed with my doctor and the team he put together for me: A chemotherapist, radiologist, and oncologist. I still have them. To me, it's worth going to a teaching hospital.

Have you thought of this?

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