What do I do now?

Wicket59

Hi. I'm a 53 yr old female, smoked since the age of 19.

I had a CT last saturday for an abdominal aortic aneurysm (it's only 3.3 cm, so nothing to worry about). They found a mass in my right lung. Here is what it says.

Prominent right hilar soft tissue measuring 2.5 cm.
Prominent mediastinal lymph nodes.

So what do I do now? What doctor should I see next?

I appreciate input. Marlene

dennycee

Welcome to the ACS website. This is not a death sentence.
Hi Marlene,
Ask your primary care doc or the doc who sent you for a referral. They will most likely want to do another ct using a contrast dye. There will be a PET scan, bone scan and probably an MRI of the brain. If there is an easily accessible spot for the biopsy that will likely come before all the scans. The other scams are to look for metastasis. Ask your doctor to test the biopsy sample for mutations.

The tests are done to stage the cancer and to evaluate its grade. A low grade cancer is one where the cells still resemble the cells of origin. A high grade cancer is where cells look nothing like the original cell. The staging is based on the size of the tumor, the number of lymph nodes and if there are mets probably something else I am forgetting. When that information is all in they will make decisions about your treatment. That can take as long as 4-6 weeks.

All that said, it is not cancer until the bx says its cancer. If it is cancer, this is NOT a death sentence. Noone deserves cancer, NOONE. if that were true there would be a lot of tan people walking around with skin cancer so skip those recriminations. There is some great info on this website I recommend that you explore it. There are many here who have lots of good knowledge and experience to share and they share it freely.

Wicket59

dennycee said:

Welcome to the ACS website. This is not a death sentence.
Hi Marlene,
Ask your primary care doc or the doc who sent you for a referral. They will most likely want to do another ct using a contrast dye. There will be a PET scan, bone scan and probably an MRI of the brain. If there is an easily accessible spot for the biopsy that will likely come before all the scans. The other scams are to look for metastasis. Ask your doctor to test the biopsy sample for mutations.

The tests are done to stage the cancer and to evaluate its grade. A low grade cancer is one where the cells still resemble the cells of origin. A high grade cancer is where cells look nothing like the original cell. The staging is based on the size of the tumor, the number of lymph nodes and if there are mets probably something else I am forgetting. When that information is all in they will make decisions about your treatment. That can take as long as 4-6 weeks.

All that said, it is not cancer until the bx says its cancer. If it is cancer, this is NOT a death sentence. Noone deserves cancer, NOONE. if that were true there would be a lot of tan people walking around with skin cancer so skip those recriminations. There is some great info on this website I recommend that you explore it. There are many here who have lots of good knowledge and experience to share and they share it freely.

Thank you
Thank you for your reply.

I've been reading the posts on this site for days until I got up the nerve to post.

The CT was ordered by the ER because I had stomach pain. I had both IV and oral contrast. My primary doc sent for the results on Monday but I haven't heard from her yet. I've called her office a couple times this week.

What kind of doctor does the biopsy? Is it a Thoracic Surgeon?

My doctor is associated with the Cleveland Clinic so that's where I'll be looking for a specialist. I'm trying to check them out online in the meantime.

Marlene

dennycee

Wicket59 said:

Thank you
Thank you for your reply.

I've been reading the posts on this site for days until I got up the nerve to post.

The CT was ordered by the ER because I had stomach pain. I had both IV and oral contrast. My primary doc sent for the results on Monday but I haven't heard from her yet. I've called her office a couple times this week.

What kind of doctor does the biopsy? Is it a Thoracic Surgeon?

My doctor is associated with the Cleveland Clinic so that's where I'll be looking for a specialist. I'm trying to check them out online in the meantime.

Marlene

Next step
First thing I would do is call your doctors office and ask the nurse what the hold up is. If you hear nothing back by the early afternoon say 130 or2 pm I would walk into their office and ask to speak to doctors nurse. If they claim they can't get a copy of the report get them one. You may want to pick up a copy of the report in the am and bring it just in case. You should get copies of all reports even blood draws from here on out. There is a list of questions you should be prepared to ask your oncologist. I will edit this to add it. There is room to write the answers. From here on in it would be good to have someone along to help record answers.

The Cleveland Clinic has an international reputation for lung cancer care. You are in a great location there. Also ignore the statistics as the do not reflect the new treatment options.

http://m.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003285-pdf.pdf

ToBeGolden

Wicket59 said:

Thank you
Thank you for your reply.

I've been reading the posts on this site for days until I got up the nerve to post.

The CT was ordered by the ER because I had stomach pain. I had both IV and oral contrast. My primary doc sent for the results on Monday but I haven't heard from her yet. I've called her office a couple times this week.

What kind of doctor does the biopsy? Is it a Thoracic Surgeon?

My doctor is associated with the Cleveland Clinic so that's where I'll be looking for a specialist. I'm trying to check them out online in the meantime.

Marlene

In the same boat.
I in the queue for a lung biopsy. (I've already had my vocal cords removed.) I was seeing my ENTdoc today, and he set the wheels in motion for me to see an "interventional pulmonologist. (Didn't even know one existed.)

I guess it depends where the CT says the location of the tumor is. I guess they might try to get at mine thru the mouth. Maybe I should prefer the thoracic surgeon.

My purpose is to suggest alternatives. I don't know the right route. Rick.

Wicket59

dennycee said:

Next step
First thing I would do is call your doctors office and ask the nurse what the hold up is. If you hear nothing back by the early afternoon say 130 or2 pm I would walk into their office and ask to speak to doctors nurse. If they claim they can't get a copy of the report get them one. You may want to pick up a copy of the report in the am and bring it just in case. You should get copies of all reports even blood draws from here on out. There is a list of questions you should be prepared to ask your oncologist. I will edit this to add it. There is room to write the answers. From here on in it would be good to have someone along to help record answers.

The Cleveland Clinic has an international reputation for lung cancer care. You are in a great location there. Also ignore the statistics as the do not reflect the new treatment options.

http://m.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003285-pdf.pdf

Heard from the doctor
I heard from my PCP's office this morning. I have an appointment for Monday afternoon. She wants to go over the results of the CT with me and I assume she'll give me a referral to who I see next.

sailman100

Lung Cancer Survivor - NSCLC Stage IV - Now 8 Yrs Since Diagnosi
Hi Marlene:

If you visit www.rationaltherapeutics.com , click on left column "lung cancer" you will be taken to a page that has my pic on top, click that to see my story. There is great hope provided you get "the correct" treatment, chemo. Dr. Nagourney at Rational Therapeutics has perfected a method whereby a sample of your tumor is tested in the lab for sensitivity to multiple drugs or combinations of drugs for cell death. His test is designed to identify which medicine kills the cancer most effectively. It doesn't mater where you live as they can receive tissue/tumor sample via FEDEX on dry ice and do this regularly. Please check out there site. They have thus far saved my life after earlier doctors told me that I'd be gone in only a mater of months. I wish you peace and renewed health. Now you too are on my prayer list. Rick Carroll

sailman100

Lung Cancer Survivor - NSCLC Stage IV - Now 8 Yrs Since Diagnosi
Hi Marlene:

If you visit www.rationaltherapeutics.com , click on left column "lung cancer" you will be taken to a page that has my pic on top, click that to see my story. There is great hope provided you get "the correct" treatment, chemo. Dr. Nagourney at Rational Therapeutics has perfected a method whereby a sample of your tumor is tested in the lab for sensitivity to multiple drugs or combinations of drugs for cell death. His test is designed to identify which medicine kills the cancer most effectively. It doesn't mater where you live as they can receive tissue/tumor sample via FEDEX on dry ice and do this regularly. Please check out there site. They have thus far saved my life after earlier doctors told me that I'd be gone in only a mater of months. I wish you peace and renewed health. Now you too are on my prayer list. Rick Carroll