3mm nodule grows to 5mm, six months after Stage 0 diagnosis

jk729

In September 2015 after monitoring a mass (it was discovered when she got a CT scan for a hip replacement surgery) on my 67 year old mom's lung every 6 months for 18 months, it 'changed' and was removed. To the doctor's surprise, it was cancerous but had not spread to any of the 21 lymphnodes the doctor took out so she did not get chemo or radiation. From what I know she was diagnosed with Stage 0. She just had her first scan (6 months after the surgery) and they found a nodule that is 5mm on the other lung. They looked back at her previous scan and this nodule was 3mm back in August. I've read a little bit to see that when a nodule doubles in size that quickly it is likely malignant, however the doctor wants to still monitor it but moved her next scan up to 4 months, rather than 6.

I'm worried that the cancer is/was somewhere else, but that should have been determined when they looked at the cancerous mass, right? Also, I'm really scared that this second nodule is also something and that she will lose more of her lungs or even worse. I know we were so lucky to find it so early but what I'm reading seems like she may have to go through all of this again and I'm nervous that it's somewhere else.

To give you an idea of my momma, she is 67 years old, walks 15,000 steps a day, is a healthy weight and smoked socially from ages 17-22.

Not even sure if this makes much sense, but I feel better writing it down. Thank you everyone!