Post Surgery results from RLL Segmentectomy

[SOUTHERNCAGIRL]

Since my surgery on February 17 (lung segmentectomy on RLL) I still have the same exact feeling around my chest as if someone pressing and squeezing in on it. I’ve been doing some research on this and finding out that some people never have that go away. There’s actually a medical name for it. called “postthoracotomy pain syndrome”.,.. when certain nerve damage is more permanent so I’m concerned about that being me.

Aside from that, during the day, I just deal with it and I don’t take any pain meds for it, but nighttime is the hardest very very difficult for me to sleep. I'm hoping this will not be permanent.

I'm going to see my oncologist on Wednesday to discuss targeted therapy. My stage was upgraded from 1A to 1B. I had a 18mm non small cell cancer nodule removed and eleven lymph nodes were taken out and all were negative. There was one small pinhole invasion in one layer (there are several layers, so it did not penetrate too far and the entire cancer, including the margins around the penetration was all captured) and thats what upgraded it from an A to B (the pinhole sized invasion)

But they said even with the pinhole invasion, they got all the cancer out so I can technically say I'm “cancer free”. Because of the invasion only hit the first layer and I guess there's a couple layers before it would be considered invasion outside of the origination.

But because I'm being upgraded to a "B" they are referring me to an oncologist to consider taking targeted therapy of this medication call Tagrisso which treats the EGFR mutation which I have (and the potential side affects look frightening). Along with the TP 53 mutation, which does not have treatment available. And something called immunotherapy may be discussed as well, but, I don't think my doctor was persuading me towards that as much as the Tagrisso.

Otherwise, they would not have done anything more if my stage would’ve remained at 1a.

Not sure if it’s just Insurance qualifying me that’s driving this (because I am now at a "b" level instead of "a") or if it’s something I really seriously need to consider to lessen the chances of recurrence. My surgeon said he's confident I have gotten it at early stage and survival rate is still high. I have a lot to study up on. If anyone can comment on any of this with their knowledge or experience, I welcome the input and guidance.

Thank you.