@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?