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Living with lung cancer - Introduce yourself & come say hi
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Jan 22 8:18am | Replies (1013)Comment receiving replies
In Oct 2021 I had some shortness of breath. In Nov, I had abnormal chest x-ray, followed by abnormal CT scan followed by abnormal PET scan. Reading the reports, I knew I had a problem, so I had everything sent to Mayo and was called immediately. I went from abnormal chest x-ray to first VAT surgery in 7 weeks with Thanksgiving and Christmas in-between. They removed a 3.1 cm stage 1b cancer from RUL. They told me 80% chance it is cancer before surgery. I was part of a new process where they do robotic bronchoscopy to biopsy and if it looks suspicious, they take it out then and there to avoid making patient return for second procedure. I was driving my car a week later.
At the same time, I discovered I had a heart problem. I had an angiogram before going to Mayo and they found a blockage. But I did not do stent then because with the blood thinners I would not have been able to do the lung surgery. I waited another four months to put in a stent.
Because i have multifocal with lots of nodules in different stages of development, I started going 3 months, then once 6 months when things were quiet but then after 6 months, they decided to do second VAT on LUL (based on CT scan and PET scan). I also saw Radiation Oncologist at that point and decided to do VAT for one nodule (I like cutting them out) and then radiation on another one which was not a good candidate for surgery. With the inflammation after radiation, I had another CT scan. Next I will do a PET scan in Jan as they are watching 2 nodules, so I expect treatment. I tell them I am a recurring customer.
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I am so appreciative of you revealing this. I am well behind you on all these developments but believe I am headed in a similar direction. My nodules were found inadvertently, with a CT scan of a respiratory infection. I have large & small nodules in 3 lobes; if i did surgery now it would be wedge resection of 2 lobes, 2 different VAT surgeries.... So I am at a low-grade early stage, small in the medical view, largest 13mm. They have grown in the past 7 years, doubled. So I am headed down the surgery path, just not yet....I am not a candidate yet for a PET scan because their small size and placement will not be seen in any significant way on the scan. I had contacted Mayo but they are currently not doing much unless you physically go there, a medical licensing problem in being out of state. But I do know MDAnderson will review your records and send a report. But I suspect we will not know much more until the next CT scan in May as the previous CT scan was 7 years ago so we are not really sure how active the nodules are.....my doctor has suggested - if i want - that he refer me to a radiology oncologist for another opinion but he thinks they would not want to do radiation yet. I may do that after the first of the year. I am 77 at this point, still working & active and would like to keep it that way for as long as possible....I see i will have to devote considerable energy to keep my spirits up!
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