Hello,
I'm an active 67 year old male who gave up smoking 10 years ago. I got a cough which wouldn't go away so had a chest X-ray which showed a small left pleural effusion. I've has CT and PET scans and a bronchoscopy, but no official diagnosis. Today is my appointment to find out what the future holds. Wish me luck.
Good luck Razzhead, hoping for the best possible outcome for you 
x
Wishing you lots of positive thoughts & hoping all is well for you! Please keep us informed of how you get on. 😀
Good luck
Really good on you for getting it checked out. Top marks already.
Oh well, here we go - it's NSCLC.
I have been diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma of the left lung. The tumour seems to be confined the left lower lobe and there are no distant metastases. I spoke to the thoracic surgeon and he wants to do a lobectomy via thoracotomy on the 14th December. He can't do VATS as the tumour is large and is close to a significant blood vessel. The staging is unclear at present as the two lymph stations that showed positive from the PET scan showed negative from the needle biopsy.
I feel positive but a little apprehensive.
Watch this space.
Hi my tumour was In the same place in 2012. I was in and out of hospital in 8 days and at home for recovery after my op .
Wishing you good results and let us know how you get on.
Best wishes
Hoggy
Hi Razzhead, sorry for your diagnosis but just wanted to reassure you - I had my right lower lobe, along with 14 lymph nodes removed on 7th November and left hospital on 15th. I am cancer free and recovering now at home. 😀 Good luck with your operation. Will be keeping you in my prayers and thoughts.
Diana x
My surgery went ahead as planned on 14 December but they encountered hilar involvement. So as well as the lower lobectomy, they had to do a sleeve resection of the adjoining lobe, which involved a great deal of replumbing of the various vessels. The procedure took 6 hours which meant the other surgeries booked for that day had to be cancelled.
I woke up in the Thoracic Critical Care unit, where I stayed for a day before being transferred to the ward. I had two chest tubes attached to a vacuum tank, a Foley catheter attached to a bag and an epidural pump, but nevertheless I was able to get out of bed and take short walks.
My recovery was a little problematic as the very effective epidural - which enabled me to cough very effectively without too much pain, failed after 2 1/2 days due to an issue during a nighttime bag change. By the morning shift, it was decided to abandon the epidural altogether as the canula would have become compromised due to lack of flow. The alternative oral painkillers were ineffective and as a result, coughing became impossible. By day 4, my breathing had become poor due to consolidation of the left lung. I went back to theatre on Sunday 18 December for an emergency bronchoscopy to vacuum and wash out the build up of secretions.
At least without the epidural, my waterworks came back to life so I could lose the dreaded Foley... Over the next few days coughing gradually became easier and was able to get rid of blood, mucus and other rubbish. In the meantime my surgeon was encouraging me to walk around the ward which, which of course made me breathless, but that was the whole point. I was even given an exercise bike in my room which I was using twice a day. By the end of the week I was able to lose the chest tubes which was a relief. By Christmas Eve my X-ray showed the lung was clear and fully inflated so I was discharged.
I spent a lazy Christmas day at home being waited on hand and foot with the result that my breathing became worse due to lack of movement. On the ward I had been able to use Oramorph 10mg on demand to help with coughing, but unfortunately they couldn't allow me to take any home so I had to rely on a cocktail of codeine, paracetamol and ibuprofen, which simply was not enough to enable me to cough effectively. In addition, I'd been able to use a nebuliser on the ward which was effective in keeping the airways open. So without effective pain relief and no nebuliser my breathing became worse so that early on 27 December I was admitted to A&E.
I ended up on the original ward and was given intravenous antibiotics as a precaution. I was able to get the pain relief to enable coughing, the nebuliser and of course the exercise bike. Gradually over the next couple of days the x-rays showed improvement, so I was discharged again on New Year's Eve. I had purchased my own nebuliser for home and was prescribed Salbutamol nebules. I saw my GP who also prescribed Oramorph for my coughing.
Since then I have been conscientiously walking round the neighbourhood and now can walk to the bus stop with only one rest. I am attending a Thoracic Surgery Rehabilitation Programme twice weekly and am progressing well. Although I am now allowed to drive again, I use the bus to get there as midday parking at the hospital is a nightmare. Of course I don't have a blue badge yet, but that's a different story...
Yesterday I went for my surgical review appointment. The histology results showed good margins but the tumour was quite big at > 6 cm and there was involvement of some hilar lymph nodes but no remote nodes. As a consequence the staging is set at T4N1M0 which equates to stage IIIA. The surgeon says I'm now fit enough for adjuvant chemotherapy and will make his recommendations back to the multi disciplinary team. I will get a letter from the oncologist for the next appointment in due course.
I wonder what the future holds...
Good luck hope all goes well
Hello Razzhead,
I am very sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis, understandably this will be a difficult and worrying time for you and only natural that you should feel a apprehensive. This is a very supportive forum and a great place for gathering information and finding advice, it can help to read the experiences which have been shared by others. We have information booklets on surgery which you can order on line or if you wish to speak with any one give our nurse led helpline a call on freephone 0800358 7200
Sorry to hear of your diagnosis Razzhead, it can be daunting news I know and I can understand you being apprehensive. On the positive side, it is good that the lymph node biopsies came back negative and that they can operate and remove it. I had a lobectomy (upper left lung) in Jan 2013 and after recovering was able to get out and about walking, then I started swimming and eventually was able to start cycling. Keep your chin up and stay as positive as you can, we'll be rooting for you x
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