Joey,

As Kat has said, it does happen.

I would add that normally this sort of statement would be qualified with the words possibly or probably. In my case I was told that I had a "growth" and that we would only know the type and whether or not it was benign after the biopsy results came back.

Although it was a shock, and I obviously wanted the results to show something different, the early warning gave me time to prepare myself for bad news. 

I hope your Mum's doctors were wrong and the results show something different. The PET scan will show in detail the size and shape of whatever was discovered during the endoscopy. 

Best wishes
Dave

Joey,

As Kat has said, it does happen.

I would add that normally this sort of statement would be qualified with the words possibly or probably. In my case I was told that I had a "growth" and that we would only know the type and whether or not it was benign after the biopsy results came back.

Although it was a shock, and I obviously wanted the results to show something different, the early warning gave me time to prepare myself for bad news. 

I hope your Mum's doctors were wrong and the results show something different. The PET scan will show in detail the size and shape of whatever was discovered during the endoscopy. 

Best wishes
Dave

thank you for your reply Dave. Until last week I had never heard of a Pet scan. I assummed they would be able to see everything from the endoscopy and the ultrasound. The doctor said that they do not perform pet scans that often. Don't understand if that has any relevance or not. Jo x 

Jo,

It sounds as if they are being very thorough, which is always a good thing. There are standard care pathways which use standard diagnostic tests. It's all routine, as they say on the best TV cop shows.

I'm not an expert but here's my simplified take on different scans (I'm hope someone who knows more about these things than I do will jump in and correct me if I get it wrong and I've added links to an NHS website which explains each of them). These are in ascending order of granularity/level of detail (and cost).

Ultrasound - uses high frequency soundwaves whose echoes are recorded and put on a screen. These are pretty good at spotting solid lumps like babies and some types of cancer, but there isn't much detail and the pictures can easily be obsured. In my case the ultrasound showed nothing, but I was told that this didn't mean that I was out of the woods.
www.nhs.uk/.../Introduction.aspx

Endoscopy - a lovely experience as you know. The camera goes down (or up if the problem is at "the other end") and you can see every bump, lump and scar as it progresses. Small pieces of tissue can be cut out for testing (biopsies) without the need to cut into the body. In my case the endoscopy showed a large lump that hadn't shown up on the ultrasound and the bipsies identified that it was cancer and what type of cancer it was.
www.nhs.uk/.../Introduction.aspx

X-rays - the good old-fashioned 2D representation. Sometimes a standard X-ray for something else will show an unexpected "shadow" which will lead to a referral for further tests and scans.
www.nhs.uk/.../Introduction.aspx

CT scan. A high number of salami slice X rays are taken of your body. These have enough detail to show exactly where a cancer is, whether it has spread elsewhere and, by comparing with earlier scans,  any changes in size.
www.nhs.uk/.../introduction.aspx

MRI scans - you lie in a strong magnetic field and radio-frequency waves are directed at your body. This produces highly detailed 3 D images of your body. MRI scans are often used to plan any physical surgical work. 
www.nhs.uk/.../How-does-it-work.aspx

PET scans - a special chemical is injected and the PET scan shows how this has built up - an indication of how well different organs are functioning. PET scans are often used with either CT or MRI scans to give the team with a really good view of what is happening.
www.nhs.uk/.../Introduction.aspx

I hope this helps!
Dave

Thank you so much Dave. The information you have given me is very useful. I hope you are dealing with  your own  diagnosis. Thanks for taking the time to help others too. Mum has the Pet scan on tuesday. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Jo x

Hi hope you can help me I has a cough for over 5 months my doc did an examination and said I had lung cancer he advised me to tell my family and my 16 year old som doctor phoned me next week with blood test results saying there was an increase in white cells he then asked if I had told my son and I needed to have this talk with him ,told him not telling my son until I know what I'm dealing with and what can be done ,I've had xray and ct scan came back OK should I ask doctor for biopsy so I know for sure thanks 

Hi Kitty,

A very warm welcome to our forum, although I'm sorry to hear why you're here. Who has instigated these tests - is it your GP or a hospital doctor? If it is just your GP, I would expect that you will be referred to a cancer Consultant for further treatment. I am not a doctor, so cannot answer your question about a biopsy. There may not be a need if they have already diagnosed lung cancer, but I would expect them to do this in order to get the grade of your cancer.

Have you asked your doctor where you go from here and what your next steps should be? Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx