Multifocal Adenocarcinoma of the lung, continual recurrences

I am at Mayo Clinic. I read the exam reports and the Doctor notes on the Mayo Patient Portal, and then google all the medical terms. That brings up a lot of information including research studies. My primary care doctor in Minneapolis also posts doctor visit notes on MyChart. I understand a lot more that way. But not all practices seem to post Doctor visit notes. It seems it may be policy of the place, but by law they must post exam reports like scans etc. One just has to get set up with their patient portal system and all the exams will be there.

Vic, Just curious.... if you don't mind sharing, where you are getting your imaging and Oncology care? Sounds like they are responsive and taking good care of you. You also seem to be reading/studying this subject matter as well. Good for you. Hope your March appointments go well.

Stan, My lymph nodes were clear too. I have CT scan and visit for third week of March. Tissue analysis now done too. Having read the previous CT scans I know what is there...and of course one can research all the discussion on solid, sub solid, GGO

Vic Surgery removes the nodule and surrounding lymph nodes and lab analysis provides definitive results. Some patients cannot have or do not want surgery and radiation and ablation are needed options. Unless a biopsy is done prior to radiation and ablation, you will not know if the nodule was cancerous or not. I was told that surgery is a tiny bit better in overall success rate too. I'm sure there are many complicating factors that could alter this as well.
For me, the surgery removed the nodule which was cancerous and lymph nodes were clear. Knowing this was helpful..
Do you have follow up appointments scheduled?

Thanks for the comment! I was wondering....I think they were hoping the right lymph node biopsy would be decisive. I unilaterally, but okayed by Dr, decided to see if an ultrasound would show any growth. It will be about 5 months since the Petscan by the time I get in.

Hi Stan, you mentioned you decided to go the surgery route vs. ablation for a 7mm nodule. Can you share your decision process? I had one nodule removed 3.1 cm in Dec but next one is 8mm

Mary- I think that there has to be some solidity mixed in with the ground glass for it to light up, and also above a certain size. This must be very frustrating for you to have to wait. Well, I'm right next to you. I'm switching neurologists and can't see him until the end of March! 🙂

Have doctors mentioned which one they think could be the primary one?

No diagnosis yet. The petscan showed a lymph node as "hot", but not the ground glass lesion! I had a needle biopsy of the errant lymph node, but there were no clear cut results. Then they advised an excisional biopsy of the lymph node, but the surgeon said that if they couldn't find it, the risk of edema, etc would go from 3% to 30% if they just took several nodes. I decided the middle route was an ultrasound of that area before surgery. All this has taken about 3 months; finally got the referral but no ultrasound until March 17. So, long story, short, I am still on the journey. I have nodules in both thyroid and lung.

Vic, Thanks for the article/link. The ablation radiologist I spoke with would freeze the tumor when in the lung. He said that heat was also used for tumors in other body organs. Take care.

marye2, Hello, If you are willing to share, I am curious as to what your current diagnosis is and if you have had previous surgeries or treatments. From my experience I had the laparoscopic (VATS) surgery and removed the PET hotspot and they also removed /tested a few lymph nodes. Following surgery and lab analysis they were able to confirm their suspicions.