For what its worth I read the impression that the radiologist wrote about my CAT scan...

Buzzard

and he says that I have a neoplasm(tumor)in my lower left lobe in the ligula area. It is 1.4 centimeters (I figure about the size of a small marble). There seems to be no other neoplasms showing up at all and only a few calcifications that did not light up. The ligula as I read about it is a small tongue like piece of lung that juts out from the lower lobe. It also is adjacent to the heart or surrounds the heart, but it seems that it can be moved away from the heart enough to be removed without to much difficulty. If I am correct in all of this then it seems to me that if in fact it is not attached to the heart (which it says that it only borders it that it can removed and maybe by a wedge resection with hopefully a 99% complete removal and all clear margins...I am hoping for encapsulation and removal by wedge resection or VATS...I was hesitant to read the impression but by doing so I feel better about things than before. I may be fooling myself about all of this and what I read into it, but I am taking it with a grain of salt because I know how the drop kicks feel , Im not gonna set myself up for one of those again....Im just trying to get a little better or lighter mood in here and I know I sure feel better about all of it now.

Love and Hope to all of you......Buzz

catcon49

Well, the drs may opt to
Well, the drs may opt to take the entire lower lobe ( that is what they did to me) It was done as a precaution. Also it was not like taking a whole upper lobe. I always get a copy of my scans and read them. Anything I don't understand can be looked up on the internet anyway.

c

cabbott

VATS
A VATS procedure is like laproscopy of the chest. You end up with three little cuts that could practically be covered by a bandaid and though you feel like you've been run over when you come out of surgery, recovery is fast. I was up and jogging slowly (I'm alway a slow jogger!) around the high school track in less than 10 days after my first VATS surgery with no major pain. They can biopsy and do a wedge resection and even remove a lobe or the entire lung using a VATS procedure. Be aware that surgery to remove the lobe where the cancer is located is sometimes curative and just happens to be the gold standard of treatment when the cells turn out to be lung cancer and haven't spread beyond the lobe. That doesn't always turn out to be the case, but it is actually great news when it happens. You usually have to sign tons of papers before surgery allowing the surgeon to do whatever he or she thinks is in your best interest but rest assured that you can live with just one lung or slightly less than two without a problem or they won't remove a thing. That's why they do all the breathing tests before surgery is considered even for a biopsy.

Conventional surgery can do all of the above, but regular surgery entails a bigger cut and longer recovery time.

Problems with VATS surgery: only a thoracic specialist trained in the technique can do it. Also, sometimes to do what has to be done, the surgeon has to do the conventional surgery. Multiple operations on the same lung (my problem, hopefully not yours) can start with a VATS, but eventually you have to opt for conventional (what I have been told is in store for me the 3rd time around on the same lung should it be needed...).

Lung cancer doesn't double overnight. See if you can get a VATS procedure or at least talk to a surgeon who does them to see if you are a candidate. Good luck!

C. Abbott