LexieCat

Maybe it's that people are less stressed as they go longer without a recurrence. I'm positive there is a mind-body connection, because stress does affect the immune system and other biological functions. It's a far cry from that to concluding that any kind of psychotherapy cures cancer, or that cancer is a "psychosomatic condition." This strikes me as what's euphemistically (and kindly) referred to as "junk science." Anybody can concoct a theory. Where is the research/testing to support it?

Hi, Rick, I'm brand new, myself, so I don't have any info or advice to offer. I'm new to this forum, too, but in my experience on other forums it's usually a good idea to start a new thread of your own so your post gets the attention it deserves. I'm sure somebody with knowledge/experience will be along soon. Sending you hugs and support, though!

I think what Cindy was suggesting is that the NP could order a referral for a biopsy or to a doctor who could order one. No, the NP will not be able to diagnose you or perform the biopsy, but should be able to get you to someone who can.

I know--sending a hug. Those are therapeutic, too.

Maybe one of the "old hands" here can weigh in about this projected wait time?

OK, I just totally relate to your anxiety to find out what's going on. If you haven't, already, I'd let her office know that this is stressing you out and you'd appreciate her getting you scheduled for testing as SOON as she gets back. And, as I said, if it were I, I'd be finding someone else to do it. That way the two of you would have the info all ready to go when she comes back. I'm just thinking of reducing the lead time for any necessary procedures.

I'd travel the two hours, personally, but that's me. I wouldn't be able to stand waiting till the end of July for testing even to be ordered.

Well, if the NP can order the testing, it might be worth it to get the ball rolling. I should just reiterate that I'm new, myself, so I'm really just suggesting what I would want to do, if I were you. Not that it's critical that you do that, but geeze--a month seems like a very long wait.

I'd see if there isn't somebody she uses as backup coverage when she is not available. Have you checked with her office?

That seems to me like an awfully long wait, especially since you don't know at what point during the previous year it appeared, so it's hard to know how fast it's growing. In my case, it grew 2-3 mm between the scan a year ago and now. So there was likely not to be a great deal of urgency--it's not as if it had increased dramatically in size. I think I'd be trying to find a doc willing to do the followup sooner rather than waiting till the end of July. Is this doctor a pulmonologist, or is she your PCP? Will your insurance allow you to go directly to a specialist who can order the testing?

Do you have a date for a consult to find out next steps (biopsy/PET scan)?

Oh, and incidentally, my pulmonologist has said there's maybe a 1-2% chance mine isn't cancer. My surgeon, OTOH, has said he wouldn't put the probability that low--he said it's impossible to quantify. I asked if it wasn't MORE likely to be cancer given the PET scan results, and even with that, he hedged. He said it's "SOMEWHAT more suspicious" after the scan, but reiterated that nothing will be known for sure until surgery. Yeah, waiting to find out what you're dealing with sucks.

Sure, I'd be scared, too (and am, to some extent), but this is a very small spot right now--as far as you know the treatment might be very simple. From what I understand the deal with most lung cancers is that they aren't discovered till after they have caused symptoms--which doesn't happen until it's pretty far advanced. I'm not suggesting for a second that you have nothing to worry about, but try to maintain perspective. Until you know more, the extra worrying won't help. This is the SAME advice I'm giving myself. Has anyone told you what they plan to do to "test"?

Hi, Pearl! I love that name--my mom was Pearl. I'm sort of in a similar boat, though it looks a little more certain that mine will turn out to be cancer--slight growth since last year in a nodule they've been monitoring, and PET scan had that nodule "light up." I'm scheduled for surgery in a week. Were you in a screening program with your annual CT's? That's how mine was picked up. I have a few other very small nodules elsewhere in my lungs, which have remained stable and didn't light up on the PET scan. I was told there would be no point to a biopsy, because given what has been observed, the recommendation would be to remove it anyway. I'm having the upper left lobe removed, assuming they determine during surgery that it is cancer. I'm trying to look at it as something to be grateful for that it is small, evidently isolated at this point, and hopefully completely treatable with this surgery. I know I will remain nervous about recurrences, but that's really something I have no control over other than to be diligent in keeping an eye on things. Certainly I would be happier if I weren't dealing with any of this, but I'm trying to hit that sweet spot between appropriately educating myself and freaking myself out. So far no freakout, but that could be subject to change in the future. Teri

OK, false alarm. At least I don't have to change the title of the thread. Surgery IS scheduled for the 10th. After I got no call back from hospital staff for whom I'd left messages, I called my surgeon's cell (which he had given me and urged me to call "any time"). He said when we first met he had them put it down for the 13th because there was a long procedure he had scheduled for that day, but that that had been rescheduled, so it WAS the 10th, as he had told me. Whew--I am now reassured that I don’t have a brain tumor that’s making me hallucinate. I was questioning HOW I could have imagined the wrong date!

I was just reviewing my pre-op paperwork, and was surprised to see the date of surgery listed as 7/13, not 7/10, as I'm POSITIVE the surgeon and I had discussed. I have a call in to straighten it out, but it's the weekend and so not easy to get a quick answer. I have the surgeon's cell, which I will call if I haven't heard back from anyone in a few hours. It really doesn't make a huge difference to me (I'm not superstitious but glad to see the 13th is a Wed., lol), but I would like to let my friends/family/work know. At least I looked at it now, rather than waiting till next weekend! Ugh, these little snags get magnified when you're dealing with something like this.

Hi, Julie, I'm so sorry--this has got to be scary. I'm brand new, have surgery scheduled for a week from Monday, so I'm not in a position to offer any help or advice. Just sending a hug. What kind of cancer did you have? It sounds like the surgery was the only treatment you got? I know that right now that's all they have on the agenda for me, unless things found during surgery are different from what is expected.

Holy crap. As someone not yet "officially" diagnosed (but with likely cancer revealed during LDCT), I'm ETERNALLY grateful the screening in is available. No matter what this turns out to be, I want to be out in front of it. I read all the pros/cons, and I think given the risks that there MAY be, it's an individual decision, but I looked at the data, weighed the pros/cons and decided the advantages far outweighed the risks.

I don't have any knowledge/experience to share, so just sending a hug.

Thanks, Lydia, I appreciate the work YOU folks do, too. In my current job we work closely with advocates and therapists who work with victims. I know as a prosecutor, the advocates were a lifeline not only for the victims, but for me. The more supported victims are during the criminal justice process, the more engaged they remain and the less likely they are to return to the abuser, recant, testify for the defense, etc. I'm sorry your cancer was not spotted sooner. I'd be angry, too! But it sounds like you've got a positive attitude and are dealing with what's in front of you. Believe me, I'll be recommending scanning to everyone I know, too!

Hey, John! I'm right down the road--Gloucester Twp! I love Collingswood; lived in Haddon Twp for many years. If you ever want to meet up for coffee and a chat or something let me know. I'm brand new to this too, and mine was also picked up by a screening scan (though I have zero symptoms). I've got a few nodules but only one with SLIGHT changes since last year. I'm scheduled for lung surgery a week from Monday. I love my docs. The definitive diagnosis will be after they remove the tumor (and, most likely, upper left lobe and lymph nodes), but the one suspicious nodule was the ONLY thing that lit up on the PET scan, so I'm pretty hopeful that there's been no spread. Never know for sure with this stuff, though. I guess you had a biopsy or something? PET scan? How was it actually diagnosed? I'm a lifelong smoker, too, though I transitioned to e-cigs ALMOST completely a couple years ago, and when the nodules first turned up over a year ago, I gave up the regular cigs entirely. Glad I did, it probably improved my lung function which I'm hoping will make the surgery easier to tolerate. I feel exactly as you do--sure, I wish I'd never smoked but hey--we all make choices in life and nobody has a crystal ball to know how they will turn out. I'm being treated at Cooper's MD Anderson, how about you? We can beat this thing! The treatments are so AMAZING now. I feel pretty much the same as you do on the mortality thing--being helpless or in pain scares me a lot more than the prospect of dying. Quality of life is SO important. Hope you get some encouraging news at your appointment next week, along with a good battle plan!

Yeah, I think if there's one person (almost) as happy as I am that we caught this with the screening, it's my primary. It's funny, I am a retired prosecutor who handled crimes of domestic violence for many years, and I chose this doctor because she literally saved the life of one of my victims, who was being horribly abused. This doc not only treated her until she was brave enough/safe enough to report, but helped her formulate an escape plan. So I REALLY liked and admired her, and decided to use her as my primary. REALLY turned out to be a great choice!

Thanks, Bridget! Tips like the foam wedge are GREAT--anything that will make the week or two following surgery more comfortable is welcome! I live alone, but I'm spending the holiday weekend this weekend taking care of household chores so I come home to a clean house and don't have to change sheets or anything. My neighbors are at home all day, so they are available for me to call on if I find I need any help or errands run. I work from home when I'm not traveling for work, and my job is very flexible/accommodating, so I can work for a couple of hours here and there as I feel up to it, but don't have to do anything strenuous or drive or anything. I'm NOT underestimating the unpredictability of this disease, but I'm an optimist by nature and am encouraged so far by how things are going. I'm especially relieved to have doctors I am EXTREMELY comfortable with/confident about. I'm also grateful I'm in good health otherwise. I need to get more exercise (rather sedentary lifestyle) but I've lost a lot of weight this year (COMPLETELY on purpose--I worked for every half pound that has come off) and all my recent lab results have been great.

Love OC--it's beautiful. I'm in Camden County, right across the river from Philadelphia. I'm being treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper Hospital--I worked in Camden for many years and have always liked Cooper and the Cancer Center, which is relatively new, is really awesome. They have all the pros working together for a multidisciplinary response. Some of my surgeon's other patients that I met had much more complicated situations with metastases, chemo, etc., and they felt they were receiving the best care available.

I was a smoker most of my life--from age 16 until about a year ago. Before that, I'd been mostly using e-cigs but still smoking one a day. When I went to see the doctor for the first time in many years, at age 59, for all the "stuff" one is supposed to do around that age--colonoscopy, etc.--my doctor told me about the "new" lung screening programs. I qualified for screening, so she told me to think about it/read about it--that there were pros and cons (the cons being possible false positives with unnecessary procedures). I ultimately decided to do it. At first scan, there were about four small nodules in various parts of my lungs, so they had me come back three months later. None of the nodules had changed, so they had me come back in a year. This time, ONE of the nodules in upper left lobe had grown SLIGHTLY since the previous year--from .7 cm to .9-1 cm. My pulmonologist felt it was "highly suspicious" and recommended a lobectomy. The screening program is affiliated with MD Anderson, and he referred me to a surgeon, who ordered a PET scan. The PET looks very good--the only spot that "lit up" is the one nodule they are concerned about (which in addition to growth, apparently has suspicious "spicules"). The surgeon professes not to be certain it's cancer, but realistically I'm confident in my own mind that it will turn out to be. I am scheduled for VATS (or robotic surgery, depending on availability of operating rooms) a week from Monday. Surgeon (I LOVE both of my docs--they are awesome and I met some of the surgeon's other patients at the cancer center who praise him to the moon) says he will remove tumor, take it to lab while I'm still under to have it examined, and remove lymph nodes. If it turns out to be benign, that's it. If it turns out to be cancer (as I suspect), then assuming no spread to lymph nodes, I will be put on regular CT scans for at least a couple of years. Needless to say I am less than thrilled I have to deal with any of this, but under the circumstances it seems like about as good a scenario as one could hope for. I'm not freaked out, particularly, but I have made some arrangements like updating my will, etc., that I have been meaning to do anyway. It gives me a bit more sense of controlling what I can to get my ducks in a row--I would hate to have to be rushing around doing that if things were to take a bad turn. Glad to find this forum--I've been active on other support forums and they are great for getting info from people who've BTDT. Would love to know if anyone else here was diagnosed as a result of screening--I am SO grateful my doctor mentioned it to me as an option. As slow as this thing apparently is growing, god only knows where it might travel before it got big enough to cause any symptoms!