BridgetO

Hi Yu-Tai, I don't have much to add to what others have written, except to add my "Welcome Here."

Hi LJH, My situation is also similar to yours in having a nodule discovered in a CT for something else and then waiting 3 months for a second scan. The second scan showed some growth. My nodule was in my RLL near the center and they deemed it impossible to biopsy except by a lobectomy (or at least no one in the medical group was willing to try it). My situation was different from yours in that my "something else" that the CT scan was for was for surveillance for possible metastases from a Stage 3 gynecologic cancer. They did a PET scan and nothing "lit up" at all, either in my lung or elsewhere. So I had an option of a lobectomy or waiting for another scan. My pulmonologist and surgeon thought that the nodule didn't look like a metastasis, but that since it was spiculated , it could be a primary lung cancer. So I went ahead and had the lobectomy by VATS (video assisted). It was pretty easy as surgeries go. The nodule turned out to be an adenocarcinoma, stage 1a and I didn't need further treatment. I'm well today, with No Evidence of Disease (our friend NED). BTW, I'm 77 years old and still work part time. I hope that your nodule turns out to be benign, most nodules are. But if it doesn't, know that there is definitely life after lung cancer. I wish you all the best. Bridget O

Happy Cancerversary to you! And many more!

Hi Geoff, Waiting is the hardest part, to quote Tom Petty. First you wait for the biopsy appointment and then you wait for the results. This is all anxiety producing for sure! Take a deep breath and hang in there. Hope for good biopsy results. If they're not good, hang in there and take a bunch more deep breaths. Whatever your going through, somebody else has gone through the same or very similar. As Tom said, learning all you can is a good idea, but be careful where you learn it. If you cruise around Google, you can find statistics that are way outdated-- as Lou said, lung cancer treatment has come a long way in the last few years, so old stuff is just, that--OLD. And even fairly recent stuff can be "old" in the sense that it takes a long time for studies to be conducted and then more time for them to be published. Keep us informed, ask us any questions you might have, and let us know how we can support you. That's what we're here for. Bridget O

Kanbe, I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. I'm glad to hear she had no pain and seemed comfortable. ill be thinking of you and I wish you peace and comfort. Bridget O

Karen, I think you're right that symptoms, not test results, should govern our behavior. I've been reading about home Covid tests and it's reported that they're only about 80 percent accurrate. It seems like if you test positve, your're likely infected, but if you test negative it's anybody's guess, since false negatives are common. These are not tests I want to rely on!

Hi Lahalsa and welcome! I'm glad you found us; there's a lot of hope here. Now, about hair. I'm not saying don't grieve the loss of your long hair. Of course you will. But alongside that, you can look at it as an interesting experience. My lung cancer was stage 1a so I didn't have any chemo with that. But I did have a prior non-lung cancer for which I had hair-destroying chemo, plus radiation and a great big surgery with a week in the hospital. I approached this all as an interesting (if sometimes awful!) experience. I'd never been in the hospital as an adult for any length of time, and I'd never been hairless before. Prior to my hair loss, I went to a wig shop (low end, not high end), with a friend. I tried on a lot of wigs and we had a good giggle. I boughta wig that I thought was wearable, though it didn't replicate my hair at all. Later, I went to a local cancer center shop where I got a free wig-trim and saw a great selection of hats. The hair started falling out right on schedule (can't remember what the "schedule"was, but the loss was as predicted). It was weird losing clumps of hair, so I got a very short buzz cut- another new experience. I wore my wig a couple of times but I really wasn't comfortable in it, so I went back to the wig-trim place and bought a couple of cute hats, plus a soft cotton one to sleep in because my head got cold at night. I also got some free hats and scarves from various places and learned to do some interesting scarf tying things to decorate my head. I decided hats and scarves were , for me, more comfortable than the wig, and I really got into developing a collection of them. I also found that it's a lot simpler to go swimming with no hair! When mine started to grow back I kept it shortish for a long time. In fact it's just now growing out during the pandemic, since the pool was closed and I didn't wan't to risk going to the hairdresser anyway. My point is, there's more than one way of looking at things and you can look at things from different perspectives at the same time. I sometimes thought of it as traveling through a different country, one that I really didn't want to be in, but there I was and there were interesting (if not always pleasant) experiences to be had. You will find your own way through this (the hair and the whole cancer experience) and there's lots of support here. Bridget O

Lou, I appreciate your concern. She has a CT scan set. Judy, Yep, I dodged the bullet on this one. Thanks for the info and concern. She's still coughing some but othrwise Ok.

My wife came back from a business trip a couple of weeks ago. About two days later she started coughing, running a fever and feeling very tired. She did a home Covid test that turned out negative, and a day or so later did a second one, also negative. So we figured "bad cold" and I didn't isolate myself from her. The fever abated, but after a week she was still coughing a lot and not feeling great, so she went to the doctor, who gave her a prescription for benzonatate for cough and a PCR Covid test. And guess what? POSITIVE. That same day she did another home test that was negative. I hustled in and got a PCR test myself and had a second one today, 5 days later, and both were negative. I should be in the clear now. Whew! I had gotten the bivalent Omicron booster about a week before she got home. Although it's supposed to take two weeks for it to give full immunity, I figure it must have given me some. Moral(s) to the story: Don't trust the home tests. Do get the bivalent booster. And maybe, if somebody in your household comes home after a long flight, stay away from them for a few days and longer if they have symptoms. BTW, she still hasn't had the CT for the lung nodule seen in a chest exray, because the CT department was booked up and also because she really felt she need to go on this recent trip (to Madagascar), where she had a lot of things scheduled. CT is set for later this month.

Hi Karyn and welcome! You have a lot going on! I agree with those who posted above that "terminal" is pretty meaningless, aside from being discouraging. If you hang out on these forums you'll find a lot of people who have or have had late stage lung cancer who are alive and kicking after a lot of years. I have had 3 primary cancers. My lung cancer was Stage 1a and needed only surgery and I have no evidence of disease after 6 years. My second cancer was a rare and aggressive gynecologic cancer, Stage 3. The prognosis, according to my oncologist, was "dismal". She didn't say that to me but she did write it in my chart. This was in 2011 and I've been NED on that one since my treatment ended in 2011. So I know it's important not to take discouraging words to heart. I wish you all the best. Bridget O

Absolutely wonderful!

My wife recently had a mammogram. She was called back for an x-ray because there was something on the mammo image that might be a "nipple shadow". The x-ray was interpreted as showing not a nipple shadow but a 7mm lung nodule. I didn't know that the lungs even appeared on mammograms. Has anyone else heard of this? In any event, now she has to go for a CT scan. So we talked about nodules and CT scans and I was able to both give info and be reassuring because of my own experience and all I've learned on these forums. Unfortunately, she won't be able to get the CT for at least a couple of weeks because she's about ready to leave on a 2-week business trip. She said it would be easier if she could know for sure what it is sooner than that, so we talked about scanziety and "waiting is the hardest part". In any event, if the CT also shows a 7mm nodule, it seems likely that they'll recommend waiting some months to rescan, since it would probably be considered too small to biopsy. So we're in "wait and see" mode, probably to be followed by more "wait and see". Urk!

Hi KanbeZ, I'm sorry to hear what your mother is going through. I think a second opinion is a good idea.

Hi Wavelength and welcome. I don't have much to add to Lou's post, but wanted to add my welcome.

Yay for Jack and NED, the cancer survivor's best friend!

Yep, Lou's right. Get the wedge pillow. And follow the rest of his suggestions, too. He's put this classic together from his own experience and that of others on here and it's helped a lot of people. Thanks again, Lou!

I'm so sorry for the loss of your wife, Sajid. I wish you comfort in your grieving.

Suzyq, You've really been through a lot! Many people on these forums have been through some awful experiences and have survived to have a good life. Cancer sucks but there IS hope. Hang in there. Some of us have found antidepressants or other such meds helpful. I definitely have, and I've also used the cancer counseling service at my medical group. Keep posting. We're rooting for you.

This sounds really promising! Fingers crossed for your wife, and toes crossed too!

Hi Sajid, A second opinion sounds like a good idea.

I really like Judy's suggestion of a palliative care specialist. Not only can they help with side effects of treatment but they can help coordinate treatment in complex cases (like yours!). And their focus is on quality of life, which sound like its a big thing for you. (as it is to a greater or lesser extent to most of us. )

Great! Sounds like a good result. Many, including me, found that the pain was much less once the chest tube was out.

Hi June and welcome! I'm glad you're hearing those messages of hope from those other members. Stage 4 is no longer a death sentence. My lung cancer was stage 1. Before that, I had a gynecologic cancer of a rare and aggressive type that was Stage 3 with a "dismal prognosis"(those words are in my chart!) Yet, here I am more than 10 years later with no evidence of disease. Old survival statistics are pretty irrelevant! The conference should give you useful information. With all the recent advances in lung cancer treatment, the learning curve can be pretty steep, so don't be concerned if you can't take it all in at once. Best wishes to you! Bridget O

Wow, Walfredo, that's a rare one! Best wishes for a quick recovery from surgery.

Nice thought, Kelvin! Some cancer centers have shops where you can get hats and scarves, among other "cancer necessities". you might also look online. Mainly you don't want ones that are hot or itchy. Winter ones are pretty easy to find but cool, comfy ones are harder.