Hi you all:
It has been 2 years for me.
On October 30, 2003, my PCP called me at work and said I should come in right away. She read the results of a ct scan to me. It said I had a 4 by 5 cm "mass" in my left upper lobe. She told me, "somebody upstairs must be watching over you, because it was caught early".
I had had a ct scan the previous spring to examine my kidneys and bladder. The lower part of my lungs showed up and a possible node or artifact was revealed in the lower left lung. The radiologist, recommended a follow up ct scan to see if the atifact was still there. After the summer, I decided to do the chest ct scan just to make sure. That is when the mass was found in my upper left lobe. It turned out that I had no significant kidneys/bladder problem, and there was a node in my lower lobe, but it was found to be benign at surgery.
My first raction was to ignore it and go on with my life. I said as much to my PCP. I felt fine. She literally begged me to go see a pulmonologist and pursue it. She said that the most likely outcome was that I would have a lobectomy and be able to go on with my life.
I decided to do it. I have had to believe the docs and the scans and the pathology and finally ended up in having a completion left pneumoectomy last Febbruary, followed by chemo. I think I finally have it beat, and now can have a nearly normal life with checkups.
I am enjoying my life now, and am recently retired.
I miss my lung though. Sounds like a good title for a book. "I Miss MY Lung".
Don M