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Confused & Scared
Hi everyone, I am new to this but wanted to share my story.
My dad, a former smoker, was admitted to the hospital with COVID pneumonia in December. The pneumonia in his chest didn't resolve from 3 CT scans, and continuously got slightly worse with infiltrates & consolidation.
On the third CT scan, a biopsy was warranted to ensure it wasn't post-obstructive pneumonia. Pulmonologist went in and called me with good news -- she did not see any tumors blocking the airway, but took a biopsy of the most dense area on the CT scan & washings anyway.
She then called to break news -- it is a lung adenocarcinoma, and he is not a candidate for surgery because it is too big so it'd require an entire lung removal.
We went to oncologist, who revealed the biopsy tested negative. Cancer cells were present in the washings. While waiting for PT scan results, the doctor did not take any treatment options off table.
In her notes post visit, it states "spoke with pulmonologist after visit, agree not a surgical candidate because of extensiveness of the disease and underlying pulmonary conditions."
Why would the disease be extensive without knowing if it spread? How could it be extensive if they do not even know what is the cancer yet? He also has enlarged mediastinal lympnodes, but she say they might be because of the COVID infection.
I am so scared, especially because I lost my mom 5 years ago to colorectal cancer. My dad is my best friend. We are not meeting again for another 2 weeks. Any advice?
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Nfitzs- First take a Deep Breath! Let it out slowly. I had left upper lobe adenocarcinoma nodule. I had it removed on March 24, 2023. Adenocarcinoma is a lung cancer, and I smoked for almost 46 years. I know this is all so scary, and all the different types of doctors involved and all the tests! Waiting for results is the scariest and sometimes longest, mind bending times! Then getting a plan going in what they can do for us. Then, the what seems the million questions we have and the ones we forget to ask. Just take one step at a time. You don’t want them to rush to diagnosis, or rush to a treatment plan, even though at this time you think you would prefer that. Unfortunately every case is different and there are no one size fits all treatments. I had to find things to keep me busy. Spent a lot more time with my family, and started researching stuff on my own. However let me STRONGLY advise do NOT USE Dr. Google! Make sure whatever you look up comes from a source that ends in .org, NOT . com! .coms are a lot of opinions and horror stories. But .orgs are peer reviewed by professionals in the field. If you don’t feel comfortable with what the doctors are saying get a second opinion. That is your right. I hope this helps, even if only a little. But I pray for your Father, and for you! Stay on this wonderful site. It helped me through my journey, and I try to stay on it and possibly help others with my experiences. God Bless you and your Family!
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3 ReactionsHello @nfitzs, Welcome to Mayo Connect. I'm sorry that your lost your mother recently to cancer. I'm sure that makes what you are going through even more scary. I will second what @cmcguire10 mentioned, try to take a deep breath. You have time to figure a few things out and while we often want to rush into treatment, it's very important to match the treatment with the specific type of cancer. From what you described, it sounds like there is some confusion on the type of cancer. His symptoms and the lymph node enlargement may point to lung cancer, but cancer cells can spread around our bodies too. If this is cancer, and he's not a candidate for surgery, there are still other treatments available. I know this is a scary time for both of you, you've both seen first-hand how hard cancer can be. It is still very early in the process for your father. Start writing down your questions, review them with him and then with the doctors at his next appointment.
How is your father feeling? How is he dealing with the situation?