Healthy 70 YO White Male Sharing Lung Cancer Experience

[rdflynnjr]

Okay. I’m a lung cancer survivor. I’ve had cancer and I’m not dead.

The non-small cell adenocarcinoma they removed March, 2017, along with the lower lobe of my left lung, was stage IA. That’s damn good. Statistically, that means I have a 49% chance of living another five years. Of course statistics are not applicable to individuals. The five year stats are always five years out of date.

(Lynne Eldridge, 2017)Most lung cancers that recur do so in the first five years following diagnosis. That said, the risk of recurrence never returns to zero.

So October, 2017 I had my six-month CT scan with contrast. A very small nodule showed up in my lower right lung. Ugh! At five millimeters, it’s too small to attempt a biopsy. They are doing another CT scan with contrast in December to see if there is any change. It could be gone. It could remain the same. It could be bigger. It could be nothing. It could be cancer.

If it is cancer, it could be an entirely new (primary) one or it could be a recurrence of the same one they took out. If it is a new primary, I will still potentially be in the 49% statistical group for five year survival. If it is a recurrence of the carcinoma they removed, the odds get worse. If only the METS was just a baseball team.

I am a Vietnam veteran. The VA considers the lung cancer to be a service connected disability since I was apparently exposed to Agent Orange. I was a smoker too so who knows? I feel that my care at the VA hospital has been nothing short of great. My oncologist is on a fellowship at Moffitt Cancer Center and he works one day a week with cancer patients at the Tampa VA hospital.

I'm here in this forum to openly share my experience and learn from others. I feel that is what true humanity is all about. Simple but difficult. A change for me. A change for the better, though.

Rick

[JeanE41]

Welcome Rick. So happy you have joined us. I'm a healthy 76 year old woman who had her lobectomy in 2015 and is also facing the possibility of a recurrence. We have been following a tumor for over a year. As of the last scan it was 8 x 9 mm. Still too small to biopsy, so it's wait and watch. Be glad that the V.A. is considering this service related because many of the new treatments are very expensive.

I wish you well in your journey and most of all thank you for your service.

Jean

[FtB_Peggy]

It is great to have you with us!

It is so wonderful to hear that you are receiving such good care. It sounds like you have worked through a lot of different feelings and challenges on this journey. And here you are with that wonderful smile on your face. You look happy.

Thank you for being here, and thank you for serving our country.

[Steph60]

I was 53 yo was I was diagnosed at stage 1B, it has been 4 years since that diagnosis. I had a ct scan with contast every 6 months following 4 rounds of chemo. About 1 1/2 years ago they saw another growth on my lung, but it was too small to biopsy. As of my last ct scan the grow has changed it’s shape and it is now determined to that the growth is non-cancerous. I now get ct scans with contast 1x each year, that being said it does not elimated the anxiety since I had no symptoms when it was found. I just live each day to it’s fullest. Good luck with your next ct!

[Lyubov]

Just joined recently, after nodules showed up on CT scan taken in February, then followed up with PET/CT earlier this month. Compared to PET/CT taken 4/2016, this one showed a total of 5 nodules. Four in the right lung; one in left that could be "vascular in etiology," whatever that means.

Of the 4 nodules in right lung, 1 is new & in right upper lobe (0.7 cm, with max SUV 1.8). The nodule of most concern is right mid-lobe, 1.2x0.8 cm (prev. 0.6 cm), with max SUV of 6.3 (prev. 0.5). This "significantly hyperbolic nodule" is the one that I had a CT-guided needle biopsy done on this past Wednesday. Waiting for biopsy results.

Of the remaining 2 in right lung, 1 is quite different in appearance -- a partially solid spiculated mass with central cavitation, 2.5x1.5 cm (prev. 1.2x0.9 cm) with SUV of 1.9 (prev. 0.7). Finally, a stable groundglass in right lower lobe anter. 0.6 cm, stable with SUV 0.5.

So far on this site I haven't seen any posts by anyone with "multiple" nodules. So, I'm especially scared.

Irka