Lbelle78

Tom, you are an inspiration. I am encouraged by your story and so appreciative that I was led to this forum. I want to make it through this and then help others. Had I not gotten sick when I did, I would have never known about this tumor, so I'm trying to remember that and count it as God's blessing.

Tom, you are an inspiration. I am encouraged by your story and so appreciative that I was led to this forum. I want to make it through this and then help others. Had I not gotten sick when I did, I would have never known about this tumor, so I'm trying to remember that and count it as God's blessing.

Thanks to all of you who have given me advice on this terrible journey. Despite my pulmonologist's optimistic outlook on how " lung cancer in someone your age is as rare as hen's teeth," I was diagnosed yesterday following my bronchoscopy with what looks to be adenocarcinoma, hopefully stage 1, upper right lobe, no lymph nodes lit up on PET or appear to be involved at this point, but surgery will tell. My uterus lit up also, but they think this was due to doing the scan during menses, and CT with contrast showed no indications of tumors. I will have to follow up with my obgyn. I have an appt. tomorrow with the surgeon and they stated that turnaround for the surgery would be very quick, within the week. I am hoping that I am a candidate for VATS and/or robotic surgery. This is terrifying for me, as I have never had any type of surgery before. I've looked at some of your experiences since yesterday. Waking up after surgery would be fabulous! Waking up on a vent scares me to pieces. Good experiences you can share?? 

Lbelle,
OK, you are staged and typed.  The good news is a stage 1 find and your type of adenocarcinoma has the most available treatment options.
Surgery is frightening, I agree.  But yours will likely not involve much trauma.  You may even not have a chest tube installed and if you do, that is no big deal.  You will be fine.
What is waking up after surgery like?  I had a morphine injector for about 2 days and was encouraged to push it when I felt the slightest tinge of pain.  I did and I didn't feel any pain. Then they transitioned to less powerful pain relievers.  After my first surgery, I was up walking laps around the ward by day 3.  I was discharged on day 5 and my surgery involved a complete lung removal that was not minimally invasive.
I'm sure the PET return is as you've described.  It is a common report. 
I am very happy things are proceeding rapidly.  Look forward to a report of your discharge from the hospital.
Stay the course.
Tom

Lbelle ,
Sorry you are going through this . This journey can be very frightening .My
experience with the VATS robotic surgery was good . I have scarred lungs from a lifetime of asthma and pneumonitis. Even with my history of lung disease I woke up breathing on my own . I spent 2 nights in ICU , one night because they couldn't find me a bed in the step down unit until the next day . I was in the hospital about 8 days . A little longer then some . My chest tube was putting out a lot of fluid . I am a nurse , but believe me that goes out the window when you're the patient and the diagnosis is cancer . Anyway I did get IV Tylenol the first few days and it really helps with pain . Problem is it is expensive . The brand name is Ofirmev . I just wanted you to know my experience was good . I just had my 6 month visit with the oncologist and my CT and tumor markers are good . I had adencarcinoma Stage 1a and they did a right upper lobectomy . I hope that helps . This site has been such a help to me I hope it is to you as well .

Suepm


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you to everyone, you have all been so kind and helpful. Was able to get a followup appt.for in the morning, and our local nurse practitioner called my husband this morning to check on me and found out about our situation. She used to work for a pulmonologist at a large medical center nearby and is getting me an appt. for next week! 

Thank you to everyone, you have all been so kind and helpful. Was able to get a followup appt.for in the morning, and our local nurse practitioner called my husband this morning to check on me and found out about our situation. She used to work for a pulmonologist at a large medical center nearby and is getting me an appt. for next week! 

Thank you so much Tom for replying so quickly. They found this in the upper right lobe of the lung. We will work on contacting someone else Monday for sure. Hoping for a cancellation opening but that is uncertain. The bronchiscopy sounds more invasive than I was thinking. Scary times.