Cindy, I really appreciate this information and your point of view. I was diagnosed last year with a pre-cancerous, small BAC lesion (AIS) and had a wedge resection. One of the most difficult things for me at the time was that none of the tests (CT, PET, biopsy) were definitive in diagnosing cancer. It was all "gray area", the doctors thought it was probably cancer but couldn't confirm it. I didn't have an oncologist at the time; went from the pulmonologist to thoracic surgeon. The pathology report post-surgery finally confirmed BAC, so small it couldn't be staged.
Now this year I am confronting all of this all over again, except that this time the doctor, an oncologist, can't say whether the mass shown on the CT/PET scans are a tumor or scarring from last years' surgery. He thinks it's a tumor and that this time I should have a lobe removed along with lymph nodes. What if the biopsy again is inconclusive? Is it wise to proceed anyway? My health has not fully recovered since last year and I am in no hurry to go through this again, but how long can I wait without risking a larger tumor that will be even more difficult to remove? I don't know what to do.