Lung resection questions

menright
menright Member Posts: 256 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
I have an appointment with my oncologist to discuss a plan for radiation and then a wedge resection surgery on my left lung.

What questions should I ask?

Concerns with radiation on the lung?

How long for recovery? ( I read a note of 8-weeks recovery???)

I have had liver resection surgery and it was a BEAR! How will lung surgery compare?

The tumor board recommended systemic chemo. My Onc is suggesting radiation and lung resection. I like his idea.....should I be concerned?

Any of you who had lung resection might prove helpful. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome.

Thanks,

Mike

Comments

  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #2
    Hi Mike
    I've had 3 lung resections done before but I've never had radiation. First, I would ask if he could do the "muscle sparing technique" with the lung. It's where they go in through the side instead of through the back. As the name suggests, they try to avoid cutting through muscle and the recovery is slightly easier. If they can't do that, don't sweat it. By the third one they went in the regular way and I didn't notice anything major.
    I would also ask if a RFA is possible. It's an radio frequency ablation and they basically insert a needle into the tumor and then heat it up which dissolves the tumor. If there are many spots or if they are scattered they don't do that procedure but it's worth asking about. Those are a cakewalk in comparrison.

    The hospital stay is usually 5 days or so. I almost always had issues with the pain meds stopping or slowing my bowels down which is NOT fun and added many extra days to my stays. With the wedge resection, you will likely have a drainage tube set up to drain the usual fluid that collects with lung surgery. I can't stress this enough, WALK, WALK, WALK, like they suggest. The more you walk the faster then lungs clear and the sooner you'll get out of there. The recovery wasn't too bad from what I recall, my last one was 4 years ago so my memorys faded.

    I go to Sloan Kettering and they've never used radiation on me. They had me on Erbitux and Irinotecan to shrink the tumors prior to surgery. That was 2005 I believe, and that's what I'm still on. It's done a good job of shrinking and controlling the lung mets. I've averaged one RFA per year the past four years. After three lung operations I have a lot of scar tissue in there and surgery would be difficult.

    I guess I would ask why your Onc wants radiation and what benefits does that give YOU over doing systemic chemo.
    Or, ask why the board wants chemo and what benefits that gives YOU.
    Like I mentioned, I have no experience with radiation at all.
    I hope this is of some help.

    I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.
    (I know that's a hell of a way to end this post!)
    -phil
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #3
    similar
    Hi Mike,

    My response is going to be similar to Phil's. I've had three lung surgeries. The first was a lobectomy (the nodule was tiny but right in the middle of the lobe, dammit), the second two were wedge resections. I had mop-up chemo following each one. No radiation before or after. Not sure why. All three of my spots were pretty small.

    Agree 100% with Phil regarding walking. They will make you get out of bed and take a few steps within 24hrs. That's probably similar to when you had liver surgery. Keep walking! I wasn't allowed to go home till I could walk up a flight of stairs, so that's what I practiced every day -- that and walking laps around the wards. Make sure your pain is under control -- but I kinda hated the morphine (or equivalent) and tried to get off that as soon as I could.

    They'll ask you to do breathing exercises (blow little blue balls in a tube). Do them!

    Depends what you mean by "recovery". I live near a running track. My first day home, I walked a loop of the track. Second day, two loops. I think I went back to work after 3-4 weeks but I have a flexible job and I took a lot of naps (!). My lung function -- after 3 surgeries -- is over 95% -- I hike in hills.

    It's psychologically scary. But, you will be in the hands of a brilliant surgeon and team, I am sure.

    Good luck! Sending all good wishes

    Tara

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