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Living with lung cancer - Introduce yourself & come say hi
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Sep 25 12:58pm | Replies (1044)Comment receiving replies
Hello. My name is Elizabeth and I live in a community north of Yucca Valley, which is in the Mojave Desert, California. (Yes, it is very hot here.) I will be 79 in two weeks. My husband, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Ph.D., died in March 2022 from Aspirating Pneumonia, so I am now living alone with our Labrador Retriever. I am his Office Manager and heir, so it is my duty to close out his practice in Yucca Valley and take care of personal business. Finding help in the desert is almost impossible. For example, it took me three months to move charts, furniture, equipment, etc. to my home in my pickup truck. People just don't want to work any more.
So here I am, with no time to grieve for my husband, trying to help his distraught patients, continue with office procedures and take care of a home, the labrador, 14 chickens, and Bruce the goose.
To add to all of this, my Primary Care Doctor decided to run a CT Scan, which came back: "Impression:
1. Right upper lobe perihilar node with mildly irregular borders measuring 1.3 cm, of concern for malignancy. Recommend PET/CT correlation or biopsy.
2. Several foci of groundglass attenuation within the right lung area nonspecific."
The first thing I did was My Chart my Cardiologist and sent him the report. He immediately is referring me to a Loma Linda doctor specializing in this kind of problem with Mayo Clinic experience I had a heart attack with stent 1-1/2 years ago, am taking meds, and my cardiologist at Loma Linda is working with me to lower my blood pressure which is erratic. I have not seen the new doctor yet, as all of this has happened within the past few days.
My concern is that I have no relatives and am the "last one standing" in my family of origin. My only son died in 2013. and neighbors are few and pretty much in the same boat I am. If I have to go to the hospital for surgery on my lungs, will I be able to care for myself when I am released from the hospital?
From reading some of the comments made by others in the forums here, it appears that cancer is extremely painful. I have no pain at the moment, just a little fatigue from my constant working on closing my husband's practice. The question is: Will I be able to take care of myself?
I am very happy to have found this forum. I am an avid follower of Mayo Clinic's work.
Anyways, here I am, kinda groping in the dark as to how I will survive.
Elizabeth
Replies to "Hello. My name is Elizabeth and I live in a community north of Yucca Valley, which..."
Hi Elizabeth, life does throw us some stuff, that is for sure. To answer your question about being able to care of yourself, I had similar issues. I am 80, and also live alone. I had a CT-scan (it sounded like yours - only I had more stuff), followed by a PET-scan. I sent my scans to Mayo and Video Assisted Thoracic surgery was scheduled three weeks later. They planned to do a biopsy and then remove the mass given the high probability of cancer. That way one does not have to come back. They told me that 95% of the people go home after one night, but I stayed two nights and then went home. I was told not to drive for a week and not to vacuum for two weeks(no problem there). Regarding pain, I did not have a big problem. My side was sore, and my arm stayed attached to my side for a while! They want you to cough frequently, and that hurts in the beginning, but they give you medication, so it doesn't hurt. I was off all meds within 5 days. I went home on New Year's Eve and was afraid I might have to go to a Covid filled emergency room on a holiday, but all went well. I was not even seen by a doctor the first month after surgery given the risk of Covid and my vulnerability. I went for an x-ray 3 weeks later and all good. I did test positive for Covid a month after surgery, and that slowed my recovery as far as energy level I took an anti-viral which helped a lot. I have no idea where I got Covid as I am a fanatic and had self-isolated and only did curbside pickup. Hope this decreases some of your anxiety. P.S. At the same time as the lung mass, I discovered I needed a coronary stent. I had to wait for the stent because otherwise I could not do the surgery. I did the stent a couple of months later. In your case, I imagine you are well past the dual anti-platelet therapy so not an issue.
Connect
Hello Elizabeth and welocm to Mayo Clinic Connect. I am sorry that you have to handle so much at once. It's a lot. I'm also dealing with a lot right now along with another cancerous lesion.
First off I will tell you that I have had lung cancer for 25 years and my only pain was recuperating from surgery. Not everyone experiences pain from cancer itself. And if you do need surgery then you will need help, at least for the first few days, or until you can stand without being dizzy and are off pain meds. You won't be able to lift anything heavy for a while., or drive.
I think that your best bet is to find a social worker at Loma Linda and see how their department recommends, or a religious organization. Is there a senior citizens organization near you?
I don't want to ask this, but have you considered downsizing everything and moving closer to your hopsital? Who will take care of the lab and Bruce, the goose?