TJSMOM Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Hello Everyone...my dad's biopsy report came back today. When his pulmonologist did the scope on Wednesday he said he only found 1 spot even though the PET showed two. He said everything else looked clear and he did the biopsy of the one spot. Today he said the biopsy didn't show any cancer cells at all but he may have missed the spot and just got the area around it. Dad's PFT's weren't good at all due to the Emphysema...his function is only at 37%. The Dr. told him that he would not recommend having the 1 lobe removed because it would make him basically an invalid but that the surgeon would probably do a "wedge" and then he would go through chemo. Then after all that information he said that sometimes patients with lung diseases have serious infections that show up as spots on CAT scans and put Daddy on 850 mg of Augmentin for 2 weeks. At the end of the next two weeks if his spot has shrunk then it's probably infection...if not it's probably cancer. The entire visit he did keep saying that he was almost positive it's cancer because the spot showed up "hot" on the PET scan and since it looks like we have caught it early 2 weeks would not do much damage until we see what the Augmentin does. He has never mentioned an oncologist....just a surgeon. I think that 2 weeks is a long time to wait. If we went to an oncologist could he give us a 2nd opinion? I'm sorry this is long....just really confused and still scared. Any opinions out there? Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debaroo Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 TJ'smom-RUN for a second opinion! I know that when a needle biopsy comes up negative, than usually a surgical biopsy is ordered-because the needle either missed the tumor, or it actually is not cancer-but the surgical biopsy will be more conclusive. I don't understand why the pulmenologist would say that he believes it IS cancer, and yet has a 'wait and see' attitude with regard to trying an antibiotic...your instincts are correct, in my opinion, and a second opinion would be the route I would take. Good luck to you, and your father. I know how rough this time is during the whole 'diagnosis' stage, but you are seeking information, which works in your Dads favor. Please let us know how things go. I hope this was of some help to you, it can be all so confusing, and on top of that, the emotions run wild...I remember as if it were yesterday. Oh, and welcome to the family. I am sorry that you found it necessary to be here, but am VERY GLAD that you found us. Take care, Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phyllis Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I would try to calm down. When I was first found to have spots on my lungs that were suspicious for cancer, I was just panic strickened. This was after a PET scan. My surgeon said to calm down since PET scan can react to different things like recent radiation. They scheduled a biopsy of one of the tumors to see if it was malignant, and at that stage they still were not sure it even was cancerous. It could have been scar tissue. They tried to do a biopsy over a period of three hours, but the tumor was too small and in a location they could not get to well. They could get a little fluid or something which they said they thought was malignant but was not enough to be sure. My oncologist said at that point that we would watch over the next two months to see if the spots grew and how. He said that it was a slow growing cancer and because of the size we could afford to do that. They did grow and I started on treatment. This is not to say you should not get a second or third opinion. I have had probably five by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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