Cancer Survivors Network

I'm so sorry for your diagnosis. I'm not sure I can answer your questions, but I at least wanted to let you know that you are not alone!! Depending on what type of cancer it is, I would guess that they will probably want to do surgery to remove it. I will recommend that you ask your doctor about the possiblity of having a VATS, verses the other more invasive surgery. They will find out if it has spread, if and when they can remove the tumor.
I understand your fear, and your concern for your daughter. I'm a single Mom and have one Son, although he's older - 20, still, he was my first thought.
Anyway, good thoughts and prayers coming your way, that they can do surgery and remove all of the cancer!! Learn as much as you can about the type of cancer, that they determine it to be. Information helps deal with the fear. Then if you can, try to get to a Cancer Care Center, where they are better equipped to help you. Be as "proactive" as you can, and ask alot of questions. If you don't like the answers, or have any doubts - get a second opinion!!!! Take care and keep us posted!! Hugs. Deb

I was diagnosed with several nodules in my lung. I kept getting pneumonia and fevers. Finally, the one nodule grew and they did surgery. They were going to do just a lung resection and just take out the nodule, but went ahead and removed the upper left lobe. They also took out numerous lymph nodes to make sure the cancer had not spread. That was in February. They got all the cancer and now I have to go back every 6 months and get CT scans and pulmonary function tests. I know it's scary, but when they find it in the early stages like this, there is a very good chance that they can do surgery and get it all. Most lung cancers are way past the nodule stage when discovered, so keep the faith. It sounds like they found yours early.

Has anyone talked about you having a PET scan done? That's how they discovered that my nodule had turned into cancer.

I will pray for you, but I have faith that you will be fine. I went through the same thing, and so far, so good. Stay strong.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 and lung cancer in 2006. Fear hit me pretty bad the first time around and I dealt with it by reading. On my travels through the maze of information out there, I got to more than one web site that showed pathology photographs of what doctors see when they look under the microscope. It took a bit, but eventually I learned to look and tell the difference between "normal", benign, and malignant(cancer) on my kinds of cancer. I don't know why--I was just curious. But what the doctor sees when he sees cancer is messed up normal tissue. The nucleii in the center of the cell look wrong. Sometimes there are more or less chromosones than there should be.The shape of the cell is off too. Sometimes that shape lets them know what kind it is like "oat cell carcinoma". Solid malignancies show the cancer cells invading surrounding tissue. The color of the prepared slide helped to tell what kind of tissue the cancer came from. Now they also add in genetic testing,but I will let the computers "read" those results. Specialized pathologists should look over what your doctor found and write up a report that tells you exactly what kind of cancer you have and what stage it is in. This is commonly done after all biopsies and all operations.They may want a PET/CAT scan it see what they are dealing with before they go in for surgery. 1 cm is small, but it pays to be aggressive as you can with this nasty stuff. I was lucky enough to be going to a teaching hopital and got the VATS procedure for my biopsy. I was back on my feet in short order, but then they discovered that it was lung cancer and I needed more surgery (about 2 weeks apart). It has taken longer to recover from removal of my middle right lobe, though they tried their best to give me a modified VATS procedure. VATS is like laproscopy on the lung. (Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery) You want an expert if they are doing surgery by camera!!! They told me I did not need more treatment at this time, but some 1 cm. lung cancers do require chemo. Gentic testing is currently being developed to differentiate who does and who doesn't need chemo, but that may not be available where you are. Not smoking will help you recover from surgery faster, so good for you in quitting! Do your breathing exercises and take frequent walks to help recover after surgery. Recovery is possible. You will need help lifting things for a while after surgery, but eventually strength comes back and you don't want to pop stitches after lung surgery. It took me from August to October to get back to the gym and carrying out the laundry basket again. I'm back to taking 3 mile walks, but not jogging yet. I go to the gym for yoga, spinning, cardio and weight lifting (I'm female by the way, but exercise is one researched way to reduce and postpone the possibility of further cancer). The only child care issues I ran into is avoiding strep infections. They took me out the 2's and 3's class because they always were in the doctor's office with strep and I couldn't handle it. You may want to invest in hand santitizer and good old fashioned soap. Also teach your little one how to sneeze in her arm rather than her hand and how to blow her nose on her own. I know, that takes time. No one should limit your survival. The stats are rotten, but they describe populations, not you. Good luck and prayers and ((((hugs)))!

Dear gcolburn:

I was diagnosed with Stage 1 NSCLC in the right lower lobe in May of 2005 (2.8 cm nodule). I had my lower right lobe removed in June of 2005 and then had several chemo treatments in August of 2005 as a precautionary measure (i.e., No other tumors were detected.)

Like you, I was terrified, because my mother died of lung cancer. I am happy to report that I have been cancer free for 25 months now.

Your 1 cm nodule is very tiny. I think you have an excellent prognosis of having it removed and living a normal life span.

I don't know where you live but, I would encourage you to find a surgeon that can do your surgery by laprascope (several very small incisions)so you won't have such a long recovery time.

You can do it; just keep the faith. Feel free to send me a message any time you would like.

God bless you on this journey.

Madelyn

I, like you had a 1 cm nodule in the lower left lobe of my right lung. Scared to death but my family doc was very good. They did a biopsy. The doctor that did the biopsy told me that day that he was reasonably sure it was cancer. It was. The next step was a PET scan. It light up. That was confirmation of cancer. I then called the University of Pennsylvania ( rated as one of the top 10 cancer hospitals and only 2 hrs away from me.) The number 1 hospitatl Sloane Kettering was not able to see me they told me to try Penn. I had an appointment with a surgeon. She was wonderful. They did VATS Surgery. Minimally invasive ( as minimal as removing the lower lobe of my lung could be) First the where going to do a wedge section. But the surgeon decided to remove the lower lung. After the surgery the pathologist sliced and diced the lung up. They also remove some lymphnodes to see if it spread also had an MRI of the brain to see if there was anything that spread there. Nothing spread. This is where the official dx came Stage Ia lung cancer. I didn't need chemo. I spoke with a oncologist from Penn, she offered a clinical trial, but was not pushing me towards it. The surgeon said about a 85 to 90% survival rate after 5 years. Oncologist said she would go as high as 95%. I went back to work 8 weeks after surgery. Light duty because I do heavy lifting at the Post Office. Now 8 months cancer free. I walk about 3 miles a day(not all at one time) I work out at curves. I only have a little discomfort at the surgical site. Not even enough to complain about. The doctors said I probably would not be running any marathons, but I didn't plan on it anyway. Hopefully yours will not be cancer. But if it is there is alot they can do especially when they catch it early. Good luck and God Bless you and your family. Let us know how you make out.

Hiya gcolburn, I had stage 2 lung cancer in my upper left lobe with no spread. It was larger than yours. I had half of my lung removed and I'm writing this over 20 years on.

All the best.

My husband too was just diagnosed. What to expect? Lot's of tests and a lot of time in between to diagnose. It was about 3 months between my husband seeing the spot on a pre operative chest xray to the time he started chemo. They also may want a full body PET scan and brain MRI to see if it has spread and this will tell them the cancer stage. It seemed like everything going on was taking so much time but unfortunately it all has to be done. My suggestions is you need someone to go through this with you and someone to go to the doctor appointments and keep track of all of this. Set up a calendar with all of your appointments. Get and keep track of all the doctor and diagnostic reports for future reference. And of course get at least 2 or 3 second opinions since every doctor talks about things in a different way so even if they all agree on diagnosis and treatment you will hear things a little different.