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Newly Dx Stage 1


CynthiaO

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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 !

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Okay, so now for my speech.

You'll probably have an epidural for pain control. If I understand it correctly, the epidural has to come out before the catheter can, and then it takes a day or two to get a good pee flow going. All the meds will cause constipation as well. Ideally, they get you moving before you go home, not always. The one thing you want to make sure of is that you don't stay constipated at home for more than a day or two. Once you get blocked, it is all you want to deal with. Pain? Who cares - nothing is more important than pooping. So, plan on having provisions at home to take care of this. Stool softeners, Milk of magnesia, anything you know that works for you and then some. Really.

The other thing - just my experience, I didn't really need or want oxycodone after about two or three days at home (the above was part of that.) What I really wanted was prescription strength ibuprofen. I needed clearance for that due to the blood thinning effects - but I know how well it works for me for inflammation and muscle aches. Oxy wasn't touching that for me. Others need heavier duty pain control, so your mileage may vary.

I hope you have an easy time of it all - we'll be here to cheer you on.

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I had my upper right lobectomy in 2000.

Actually, I did not have much pain and had a very speedy recovery. Maybe it is where the cancer is. I was in hospital for 7 days because I had a leak in my tube and they did not know it. You usually get out in 5 days but the extra days helped me and I went food shopping with my sister when I got discharged

I had my operation the end of June and went back to work early september, it would have been earlier but I have a long commute on a train.

It is ok--it really is

Good luck to you and I hope you have a speedy recovery

editied to add--not really ok as I walked to the store every day and ate a whole container of Bon Bons--I gained 20 pounds when I was home!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello Everyone! For those that asked me to stay in touch I'm happy to say I'm alive :D 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

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I had my RML taken out June 15th and it was clear margins with no lymph node involvement and my oncologist said that at that stage no chemo/radiation was even considered. Hopefully that will be the case for you as well. I'm glad you are doing well after your surgery as it relieves me since I am going back in Monday for a repeat surgery on my left side.

I am sure you will be followed up with various scans at intervals to ensure that you remain disease free - which of course is what we all wish for everyone on this site!

Continued good recovery wishes going your way,

Annette

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Cynthia,

Glad you're doing okay. I had small cell which is pretty aggressive. I had an ULL and the surgeon removed all surrounding lymph nodes, biopsied everything including tissue around the tumor. They found no other cancer. My ONC pretty much beat me over the had to have follow up chemo, which I have completed. I don't know why some ONC do want follow up chemo and some don't, I'm thinking it's the type of cancer. In fact I will see her today and ask her!

Dana

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Cynthia,

Dang, sorry you had bleeding problems after surgery. Glad you're better now.

Studies haven't show a conclusive benefit from chemo for stage 1a NSCLC, and you'll find doctors (and patients) on both sides of the argument on whether to have it or not.

Like you, mine was squamous cell, but unlike you, I had a single cancerous lymph node, making mine stage 2, so I did the chemo.

Continued best wishes for you!

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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.

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Your cancer is non-small cell. That includes several histologies - adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, large cell cancer. Given the size of your cancer and if in fact no nodes are involved, you'd be a Stage 1a, and most doctor's would likely find follow-up chemotherapy to not be needed with Stage 1a. But again, you can ask Dr. West at cancergrace.org to get the best information.

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Cynthia,

Thanks for letting us know that you got through the surgery! As you say, you are still here and that's what counts. The fact that you had no other involvement is excellent. I think some Oncs reccomend chemo just in case, but I don't think there is a clear beenfit in the literature.

What you have is the BEST scenaro for a CURE. That's GREAt news!

Susan

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  • 2 weeks later...

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

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Cynthia, so sorry there were complications with your surgery. You sound great now that it's behind you. So glad you went to cancergrace for an early response to your questions. Dr West et al are a great bunch. I don't know what I would have done them in the earlier days of my cancer journey. Good luck to you. If you have to get cancer, none better than a NSC 1a.

Judy in Key West

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