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CynthiaO

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  1. Thank you Cat for your advice. I did go to cancergrace and ask my questions. I got 2 wonderful responses that just made me smile! What a great place to get help and answers. I don't see the surgeon until 9/10 or the oncologist till 9/8 so I was thrilled to find out this information early! Here is the link to my question and answers if anyone is interested: http://cancergrace.org/forums/index.php?topic=2053.0
  2. Thank you for your replies as always! Annette I'm so sorry you have to undergo surgery so soon after the first. Bud, you hit upon my confusion. I was told I had stage 1 lung cancer. I know now from the pathology that the cancer is squamous cell cancer vs small cell? I didn't realize there were other types of lung cancer. I thought I either had small cell or non-small cell. This is neither of those. So I guess I don't have my staging correct yet? I wish I could understand this. I see the oncologist on September 08, and the surgeon on Sept. 10th. I guess they will explain it to me. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
  3. Hello Everyone! For those that asked me to stay in touch I'm happy to say I'm alive I went into the hospital as planned on 8/05/09 and at 7:30 a.m. I had my upper lobe of my right lung removed. All went well except I started losing blood as the day went on. By midnight the surgeon had taken me back into the OR to look for the source of bleeding. I'll spare you all the details, but I kept passing out and getting sick from low blood pressure. When the top number would hit 50 the nurse would yell out something and they would elevate my feet and start putting fluids in me at a fast rate. So I was operated on twice and the important thing is I'm here! I had to get 4 pints of blood that night also. I stayed in the hospital 6 days and then I came home. A visiting nurse comes 2 x a week. The pathology came back and it said "squamous cell carcinoma" in the 2 cm tumor itself. The lobe itself and all the nodes came back "no evidence of metastatic cancer". My question is this: Since the cancer was confined to the one small tumor and I had the lobe removed~~is there any benefit to having either or both of chemo and radiation? Thanks so very much to all of you for being here to help out. Cynthia
  4. Yes, I smoked for 40 plus years. I just quit the day I was hospitalized for my heart 2 weeks ago. My husband and I have tried for 2 years now to quit. He made it for 6 months the last time. We both quit cold turkey 2 weeks ago. We both struggle and at times want one badly. But most of the time I am too angry about the cancer it gave me to let it win. Hope that makes sense.
  5. Thank you so very much EVERYONE for your replies! I saw the surgeon yesterday and he said VATS was not an option. Bummer. But I am scheduled for August 5 to have the lobectomy on the right lung. He said the location was such that he could do a wedge, but the cure rate was not as high. So we decided to go with the upper lobe resection. He said it gives me an 80% chance for cure. He said I'll be in ICU for 2 days and then on the cardiac floor for at least 3 days. Then, depending how the drains do, I can go home. Of course I'm still terrified of this surgery, but know it has to be done in order to save my life. Thanks for listening !
  6. Thank you so very much Ned! That's the first thing I'll be asking the surgeon when I see him. I'll be praying the answer is yes.
  7. Thank you all so much for your replies. I need to hear positive things and you all have certainly done that! I am trying to change my mindset since the dx yesterday. I guess I need to stop obsessing about how terrible I will feel going through the surgery and all the pain. I need to rethink this and perhaps look at it as though the surgery is something I have to go through in order to save my life? Can someone explain what VATS means? I am guessing it's a type of surgery that is preferable. I can't seem to find any info here on it, or what factors need to be present in order to have it over the other {Thorassic I think?}
  8. Thank you Kasey and Randy! Kasey I will go read your story in a bit. I'm used to dealing with cancer, just not my own! My husband is a 13 year survivor. He was dx with prostate cancer in July 1996. How ironic huh? Same month 13 years ago. His prognosis was grim with only a 2 to 5 year survival chance. He has a very aggressive form of PC and we have fought that beast every day since. He's doing great now {2 years out from a 3 month radiation to the bladder}. We celebrated our 40th anniversary in December and I celebrated my 60th birthday last weekend in the hospital. I have a heart condition known as SVT. Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. My heart has episodes where it just starts racing and can last for 2 hours up to 12 hours. A week ago today I was at my cardiologist's for my 3 month checkup to discuss a new type of surgery to cure my problem. He had always said he wished I'd have an episode at his office so he could record it. Well, I was so stressed out after seeing the CT scan report I had a doozy. He admitted me right then and changed my medication. He also asked for a consult from a pulmonary doctor and an oncologist. My doctor was on vacation at the time. That's how I got to this point. Sorry, I'm rambling. Nerves! Forgot to say I smoked for 40+ years and stopped last Friday when I was admitted to the hospital. 7 days smoke free!!!!!!!!!!!!
  9. I saw my pulmonologist today for the results of a PET scan and MRI brain scan that I had on Wednesday. He said I have what appears to be stage 1 lung cancer. The single mass on the upper lobe of the right lung is the only sign of cancer any of the scans showed. I had a chest x-ray on 6/23 as part of my annual physical. The abnormal mass seen on it led to a CT scan 2 weeks ago. That led to the scans this week. I see an oncologist on 7/27. He called me yesterday to tell me the results of the scans and to say he thinks surgery is my only option for a cure. I told him I thought perhaps radiation might be less invasive and an option. He disagreed and said the chances were only 40% to 50% with that. My pulmonologist said essentially the same thing. I am waiting till I hear from the surgeon now for an appointment. I was told I would need a lobectomy on the upper lobe of the right lung. That I would lose approximately 20% of the lung capacity from this operation. He also said I'd be in the hospital about 7 days. I believe he said the surgeon collapses the lung in order to cut out the tumor and the portion of the lung he's removing as well as some lymph nodes. Then they do a biopsy after the operation. This operation terrifies me. It sounds horrific and unbelieveably painful with a tube sticking in the collapsed lung? I would love to speak with others who have survived this surgery and what their experiences were. Is it as barbaric as it sounds?? I live on the west coast of FL in the north central section near Gainesville. That's where all the doctors are. They just opened a new cancer center at North Florida Regional medical Center. They have a Cyberknife there but 3 doctors have told me that's only for people who aren't candidates for surgery. Thanks for any input and help ~
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