Lung cancer

Was diagnosed with non small lung cancer in Jan... Went through 20 sessions of radiotherapy. Only to find out the radiotherapy. Had fractured 2 of my ribs. And the cancer has spread to the ardelene gland. Last pet scan gett the results next week. Praying its staying where it is. And that they can operate.. Immunotherapy was mentioned..   

  • Yes I hope so. Unlike your self. I did smoke.xxx

  • Mario11, you asked what they found on my CT:  They were actually investigating a large growth near an ovary that had caused me acute pain in December.  That turned out to be a simple cyst which had reduced in size, but the CT showed a 2cm lesion in my left lung, right next to the aortic arch.  I had not had any symptoms and thankfully, they didn't see anything else of concern on the scan (from shoulders to pelvis).

    On a PET scan, the lesion lit up strongly, with a slight positivity on one lymph node in the same area.  It was in a position that couldn't be accessed for biopsy, so due to the PET results, they decided on surgical removal of the growth.  During surgery, it was analysed as cancerous (not really a surprise), and they removed the upper lobe of that lung. The nodes in the centre of my chest (mediastinal nodes) were also affected and I believe the surgeon took out as many of those as he could.  Based on the findings during surgery, the stage was 3a.

    I'm now 8 weeks after surgery and getting back to normal - though having to give martial arts training a miss!  I'll be having further treatment in case there are any 'seed' cells floating about.  I was worried about my 'night sweats', maybe just getting overheated at night, but to be sure nothing else has cropped up, they are doing another CT scan this week.  If it's clear, I'll have chemo.  If not, it will be immunotherapy.  So, weirdly, I am hoping for chemo.

    It's possible that I have been cured already by the surgery (surgeon said 20% chance) and if not, it's possible that chemotherapy will cure me.  At any rate I am still hopeful, realistic but optimistic, if not for complete cure then for years progression-free.

    I'm not sure if this is helpful to you.  They seemed pretty confident from the start that my lung lesion was cancer and it sounds like yours is very much in doubt.

  • Softtail, being a smoker doesn't mean you will get lung cancer, and as I have discovered, being a non-smoker doesn't mean you won't.  What a lottery!
    Good choice to have stopped, though. Well done.

  • I was diagnosed with stage 3 nsclc in October 2016. I started Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab the next month and was lucky enough to have shrunk the tumour by about 75% after 2 years.

    If you are eligible for immunotherapy I would certainly recommend starting it, my side effects were also minimal.

  • I had my pet scan on Wednesday, and it’s Friday and oncologist has called me in for Tuesday appointment, I think so quick I should be worried 

  • It's good that it's quick.  Waiting is horrible.
    I had a contrast CT scan on Wednesday and seeing oncologist on Thursday next week (it's always a Thursday), so it sounds about right. 
    I suppose the wait time depends more on which hospital you are attending and whether they have available appointments.
    Good luck for Tuesday.