Laney Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Hello all! Looking for some insight. Let me start with my moms story. She was diagnosed with Squamish cell 1a, she had her left lower lobe removed. No lymph node activity, all her MRIs / PET scans were clear (expect for her 1.3cm cancerouse node) No other treatment was given. She just had her 6 months follow up CT scan and I don't know all the verbiage but she looked up her report and she read there was a 2 mm spot in her right lung and a 3 mm spot in the lower part of her left lung (this could potentially be from scare tissue, since it's in the area of removal). So my question. I am fully aware that Squamish cell is known to return. But is it common for BENIGN nodules to appear after cancer diagnosis? She will meet with her doctors in the coming week or so. And I am sure it will be a wait and watch approach. Anyone have experience with what we should anticipate?? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Laney, Indeed, non small cell Squamous cell lung cancer is persistent. That is my type but stage IA is an early find. I think it best for your mom's doctor to assess her nodules. The likely scan would be a PET scan. (I've hyperlinked PET so you can read about it) Two and 3 mm nodules are very small and would be very hard to biopsy. Did she have post surgical chemotherapy? I hope someone is planning on going with your mom for her consult. Here is some information on Squamous cell non small cell (we abbreviate it as NSC) lung cancer. You may want to pass this to your mom or to the person that accompanies your mom to her consultation. What should you anticipate? Any nodule in a long cancer patient is suspicious until dismissed. So I suspect your mom's doctors will want to know if the nodules are metastatic. So, she'll likely have a PET that is capable of revealing metastatic activity. If the PET scan is negative, then she can go on with her life. If it were me, I wouldn't want to be in the wait and watch mode. I hope this helps. More questions, fire away. Stay the course. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laney Posted March 3, 2017 Author Share Posted March 3, 2017 Tom- Thank you for your reply and for the informative links. Yes by chance her cancer was found. We feel very lucky about that. No she didn't have any post surgical chemo. Maybe that was a bad decision. But her doctors didn't offer her anything post surgery. They all felt at stage 1a surgery was all she needed. They did say it's very common for recurrence of this type of cancer and she would be monitored closely. I agree on following up with a PET scan. But from what I have read 2mm/3mm nodes won't show up on a PET scan. But I am not a doctor so hopefully this is something she can get. I do plan on going with my mom to her follow up appointment. The waiting stinks! She is hanging in there but I can tell it's eating away at her and I am just trying to inform myself so I can be there more for her, I hate asking her tons of questions. Just curious with your Squamish cell. Did you have recurrence? Did you ever have small nodules that turned out to be nothing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Laney, I had three recurrences. One after first line radiation and chemotherapy (Taxol and Carboplatin) and "curative" surgery, the second and third after 2nd and 3rd line chemotherapy. I finally achieved NED after more than 3 continuous years of treatment from a CyberKnife. Here is a blog I wrote that cites a National Cancer Institute study showing how frequent recurrences are for various stages of lung cancer. Stage IA patients have a 1 in 3 chance of recurrence. I didn't realize it was that high. I've had lots of scares from PET scans where inflamed tissue (in my suture area) lit up and CT scares from hypo-dense cysts in the liver, but never a lung nodule that was not malignant. But, that is just my experience. There are nodules that turn our to be non-malignant. Here is a Web MD article that talks about them. I've heard other survivors speak of them but I never had a non-malignant lung nodule. That said, according to the National Cancer Institute, your mom has a 66-percent chance of non-recurrence so her small nodules could turn out to be nothing. We don't mind your questions. That is why we are here. It takes a while to understand "lung cancer speak", so fire away. Stay the course. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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