I am so sorry about your recent health problems; this is a very worrying time for you. Your diagnosis and staging are actually best discussed with your own medical team, as they will know all the information relevant to your particular case and can advise on definitive treatment plans. You should have been allocated a Cancer Nurse Specialist and she will be a great source of information and advice. If you haven’t been allocated one, then this can be organised through your GP or consultant. You might find the booklet below helpful and page 49 gives examples of questions you should ask your medical team about your condition and treatments
These range from diagnosis, staging of lung cancer, treatments and living with lung cancer. Paper copies of these booklets are also available on request.
You may be interested to look at lung cancer staging in diagram form, from cancer research UK: cancerresearchuk.org/about-...
This link will take you to our INSPIRE magazine, the only lung cancer magazine available, where it provides updates, news articles and question and answer section: roycastle.org/help-and-supp...
There is a lung cancer pathway from NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), where it is presented as a flow chart and you can look up the type of cancer and see the recommended treatment options. When you click on the link, click on the icon that looks like a mobile phone and this open up to another page with the flow chart: nice.org.uk/guidance/condit...
SUPPORT
This forum is helpful and you can find support and encouragement here from those living with lung cancer: healthunclocked.com/lungcancer
We have a range of support services, from one to one support to online support groups through zoom , if you are interested in any of these you can register through this link: roycastle.org/help-and-supp... Or by emailing Ellen.Knapp@roycastle.org
Our campaign section provides encouraging accounts from those living with lung cancer: roycastle.org/campaigns/
The Maggie’s centres are a great place to have a cuppa and a chat, they provide practical, financial and emotional support; maggies.org/
I hope some of this is helpful, but if there is anything else you would like to ask or discuss you can email ask the nurse at lungcancerhelp@roycastle.org or call our free phone nurse led helpline number on 0800 358 7200 Monday to Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1600
Welcome AnnaDora, It's a scary and unfamiliar world when we're first diagnosed and all these scientific/medical terms are written about us.
If you have a lung nurse, you can ask her or your consultant but in plain English, it means the pathology of your biopsy has revealed a certain type - non mucinous adenocarcinoma (I had mucinous BAC (adenocarcinoma) in January 2011.
It then describes the specific look of some of the cells when under microscope and where these were found in your body (airway) and recommends treatment of chemotherapy tablets. They're described as 'adjuvant' in other words 'follow on' - to mop up any 'stray' cancer cells.
The 'special stains' relate to tests where a different type of test is needed (often in different colours) to look at other aspects.
The reason this sounds so complex is because it is!
The treatment landscape bears no resemblance to when I had my open surgery (thoracotomy) in Dec 2010 and my resected tumour/lobe were sent to pathology. Now most surgery is keyhole and back then, you were either offered chemotherapy or not after surgery. I was told it didn't work for the rare type I had at the time but since then the pathway has altered and I would have been offered it based on the size of the tumour I had (7cm). there are many different treatments determined by the tumour characteristics which is why the pathology report is so important.
I presume you have a follow up appointment with your consultant to check how you're getting on after your surgery and they will explain the findings from the pathology with you and what that means for treatment i.e. which type of oral chemotherapy may be most suitable. The letter you've received will be on your file so do write down any questions you have in advance and also ask them for details of any support groups locally or who you might call if you had other questions. I wasn't allocated a clinical nurse specialist and they were fewer of them then - but their role is to be the advocate for the patient within the hospital team so hopefully you can connect with yours.
Well done on being eligible for surgery - I hadn't appreciated when I had mine, how few were detected early enough for this to be possible. I was back at work and swimming a few months after my open surgery . wishing you a speedy recovery from your op. good luck.
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