Lung Biopsy

[Loki19]

So my mums biopsy went well. She is currently resting before she has an X-ray to ensure all is ok before coming home.

The nurse bringing her back up said that we should hear from the consultants within the week (as when these things are caught like this they deal with them quickly 😬?) it could be a little longer due to the bank holiday but if we’ve not hear within 2 weeks we need to call them. Not sure what’s worst, nor knowing or now the period of time before knowing!!

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

Hurry up and wait is the a major theme in getting a lung cancer diagnosis. A gross pathological exam was done at the time of the biopsy. That exam determined that it WAS NOT small cell lung cancer which has a distinct appearance.

Now they will run a number of tests on it to determine what type of non-small cell cancer it is and to identify the mutations that drive the cancer cell’s growth. Generally, they are able to tell within 72 hours if it’s adenocarcinoma, squamous, lepeidic, giant cell or other cancer.

[Loki19 in reply to Denzie]

Thank you.

[Loki19 in reply to Denzie]

So if it was small cell they would have told us there and then?

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer in reply to Loki19]

Yes and due to its aggressive nature they would have ordered treatment to start this week or early next. So that a blessing. A small one, but a blessing nevertheless.