Stage 1B Adenocarcenoma NSCLC: Odds of recurrence?

Hi @whahoo, welcome to Connect! It sounds like they found your cancer in an early stage, and that's great news. I'm sure your oncologist will have recommendations for treatment plans going forward. Many others struggle with these decisions, to further treat or not to treat. They are never easy decisions, but it helps to have a team that you can trust. A second opinion can help too.
You mention in your profile that you haven't smoked in years, do you know if there was biomarker/molecular testing done on the tumor that was removed? If you're not sure, you may want to ask the oncologist about that. Knowing exactly what is driving the cancer can have a significant impact on the treatment plan. Did they find your cancer from routine screening, or were you experiencing symptoms?

Hi. Yes, biomarkers were tested. My tumor came back EGFR positive. It also came back PDL1 positive, but it’s not advanced enough to treat it for that.

The EGFR “treatment” is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. It’s not chemo or immune therapy apparently. The inhibitor that was mentioned is not covered on my Medicare Part D (prescription plan). And its cost prohibitive. Not sure what my other options might be.

I did have symptoms. Pain in my upper right shoulder behind the shoulder blade. Had a raspy voice. The spot was noticed in a routine X-ray in January. Then CT scan, PET/CT scan, then biopsy confirmed it.

I have an appointment with a Mayo oncologist in May 15.

I had Stage 1a in 2016. Had RUL robotic surgery at Moffitt in Florida, all went well. Recently was diagnosed with 9mm growth in LUL. Oncologist recommends radiation when it reaches 1cm. I am going back to Moffitt for 2nd opinion

That's great news that they found this at an early stage! We have many other EGFR members here on Connect. Some are very knowledgeable. I have ALK positive cancer, so a similar mutation type driver and I've been on my TKI for 3 years now.
At your appointment next week, be sure to ask about assistance with the cost of the meds. Sometimes the drug manufacturers have programs to help reduce the cost for those without insurance coverage. These high-tech meds are so very expensive.

How did you find out you were ALK positive? It’s not obvious from looking at the report. Which TKI are you taking? I’m on Medicare so some of the “programs” may not apply to me. Thanks!!!

Let me know about your second opinion and what you choose to do.

Thank you for the info. I am an 8 time cancer but always just had surgery to remove them. I think I am more upset about getting radiation. I need to hear from people who have been through it and their experiences

All I know right now is that it's an adenocarcinoma LUL. I don't know what those initials mean

LUL might mean left upper lung? Stay in touch. Sending you the best.

I was diagnosed the same as you. I had my surgery and they said it was gone. Next followup scan showed there actually was a lymph node that lit up(bumped to stage III). So I had chemo and radiation to take care of that. I was then put on Imfizi to keep things clear, but because my cancer has a low (3%) chance of even responding to immunotherapy it ended up spreading to my breast (bumped to stage IV). So then we got that removed, and now am on Keytruda and Alimta. My last scans were all clear!