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My husband had lobectomy surgery: Mayo was wonderful!

Lung Cancer | Last Active: Sep 8, 2023 | Replies (19)

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@tmauko

Thank you Mara. Everything is so scary, and I am getting different versions from different doctors, especially my oncologist, she has no bed side manners. I'm Canadian, and have heard wonderful things about the Mayo clinic, not that Princess Margaret Hospital is not a great hospital, I just think it's time for a second opinion. Fingers crossed I get one. Thanks for opening up about your husbands experience.

Tanja

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Replies to "Thank you Mara. Everything is so scary, and I am getting different versions from different doctors,..."

@tmauko, @corgimenow Hi Tanja. I only just now saw this and hopefully by now you have already gotten a second opinion. If not, I wanted to make sure you stayed the course. I am a month away from my 4 1/2-year check and that was the best move I made. I had been getting regular scans due to a couple of suspicious spots. After 3 1/2 years one was gone but the other was big enough to biopsy and was cancer. I was glad I was early in catching it until the local surgeon said he would remove half of my left lung, and I would be in the hospital for a week, with the first 2 nights in the ICU. Wow- I didn't see that coming! We decided with Mayo being a little under 8 hours away to see what they said. That surgeon said with my having some COPD he did not want to be that drastic and would opt for the lobectomy. I would be in the hospital for 4 days, and up walking the first night. And I was! The only hitch, if you could call it that, is that the cancer did spread to one of the 4 lymph nodes, which he had said in advance would cause the recommendation to be a few follow-up chemo appointments after a few weeks of recovery. We could have had the script sent locally but we asked to come back because we felt so much more confident with them. I now try to recommend to anyone I know to get a second opinion on any medical issue of importance. So often we will do it for home improvements but not our own health. I wish insurance required it, so no one missed the opportunity.
@corgimenow I'm glad Michael is doing well and that they are still giving out the pink pillows. I called mine Pinky, and it was invaluable those early weeks with helping me cough and get things moving. My surgery went in through my back and I had quite a bit of pain when coughing in the beginning and Pinky really helped!

Hi Tanja (@tmauko), I think anyone here would encourage a second opinion when you are questioning the care, or even when you are not. What are your options for a second opinion in Canada? Or are you looking at coming to the US?