Diagnosis delay and mets

[Andrea]

I know I am jumping the gun since my dad's biopsy is not until tomorrow, but I am bothered by the spot that was there in June and not reported. I am also bothered by the multiple nodules and back pain he is having.

If nothing else, this post could answer questions others have (as I have found myself seeking out prior posts this weekend such as the one about the relationship of nodule size to mets, etc)

Does anyone have any knowledge if a 2 month delay in diagnosis can move a LC from a Stage I to a Stage IV?

[Don M]

Andrea: I doubt there could be much change in 2 months, at least from how my cancer behaves. The radiologist missed a spot on my ct film in august 2005. It was caught in Feb 2006, 6 months later and turned out to be my 3rd cancer. It had not spread anywhere else. In retrospect, one could compare the August film to the Feb film and see that the spot was there in Aug. In February, the spot was 1 cm by 1.4cm. In august it was certainly less than 1 cm, but visible. My pulmonologist caught the missed spot in February and showed it to me. From now on, I am going to take my ct scans to him to see if he agrees with the radiologist.

Don M

[gail]

Yes, you are jumping, but that's okay.

I started having symptoms to October, they treated me for pneumonia, the nodule wasn't discovered until March, and surgery was in April.

Try, try, try to go one step at a time. Please???

gail

[Ry]

Andrea don't make me and Gail come to California and slap you silly-- especially since you may be expecting. Now...take a deep breath, relax, and wait.

[icbn]

It is always best to catch cancer as early as possible so it doesn't penetrate any adjacent tissues, lymph system or throw Mets. But Two months will probably not make it go from a Stage I to Stage IV.

What it will or will not do may never be known. If the original spot is removed and nothing else happens, no harm. If later on there is a spread to adjacent structures or lymph nodes etc, then the original tumor did send out cancerous cells.

Even if cleanly removed I'd recommend seeking opinions on adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation that might kill any yet undetectable cancerous tissue traveling in your Dad's body.

Be careful on 2nd opinions on this. Some Oncs believe in it, some scoff at it. The scoffers say, its only a 5% increase in survival. Stage IIIA realizes a 35% with adjuvant versus 30% survival rate. A 5 point change in percentages at 30 to 35% is actually a 16.7% increase in survival.

Duke has a new test to see who will definitively benefit from post operative adjuvant treatment. Even without the test the overall population realizes about a 17% increase in survival with post adjuvant therapy.

I had a area light up on a 3/31/06 PET scan. The Radiologist didn't catch it. A 7/6/06 CT Scan radiologist did not detect it. A 7/12/06 PET Scan showed an approximately 2 cm spot light up with a SUV of 7.8.

General question. Aren't these guys paid over $300,000 per year to be accurate? What gives when they keep missing this stuff? What should our response be?

[cindy0519]

(((Andrea)))

Waiting is SO VERY hard! It took 3 agonizing months for them to finally arrive at an offical diagnosis for my Dad and I can still recall how very, very difficult it was on our family. All the fears and "what if's" are haunting and so hard to avoid no matter how hard you try.

While this is indeed easier said than done - TRY - to take one step at a time. Sometimes even baby steps are called for

Prayers for your family during this wait!!

Cindy

[gail]

It was Ry's idea not mine!!

I would come to California and take you for a facial. It is tough to stay stressed when someone is rubbing your face for 30 minutes.

What is the nesting update?

gail

[Andrea]

You gals just may want to come to California. You can slap me, we can go for facials, and hit Disneyland

Gail: I am testing today at the hospital while we are there for my dad's biopsy. It is two days ahead of time, but would still show up.

Icbn: You hit the nail on the head, they get paid so much, and more importantly, we as patients put our lives in their hands, something should be done about these misreads. It makes me wonder, was my chest xray a few months ago read wrong too, etc. Are we supposed to hire our own private radiologist to review things?? Crazy!!!!

[Dazy]

You don't even want to get me going on the subject of misreads, and the conflicting opinions of our highly-paid, our so-called "professionnals" ....arghh!!

Just popping in to wish both of you lots of luck today!

Yours in HOPE!

Stacey

[ma's kid]

Had to laugh at Ry's post to you

Seriously, let's wait together and we all will be praying that this turns out to be a big, fat NOTHING!

Hugs and lots of prayers

Libby