Advice needed -Adenocarcinoma lung resection

zoebsmom

Hi everyone, 

I'm new to this board.  My mother (73) was enrolled in a hi-def CT scan program because of her heavy smoking history and so was being monitored for a number of lung nodules -- one of which, located in her upper right lobe, grew to a size of  3 cmx 1.7cm and required a surgical VATS at the University of Minnesota.  She just came home on Saturday and is recovering well -- we had learned in the hosptial that it was NSLC - Adenocarcinoma.  We were waiting on the pathology but she only spoke to a nurse who said that no further treatment was needed because the margins were clean and no lymph nodes were involved.  They forwarded the full pathology on to her primary doctor -- where we will go on Wednesday.

I am curious as to what questions I should ask.  I am somewhat familliar with staging and grading because of my best friend's cancer battle (though it was with breast cancer).  I am anticipating, given its size that it will be T1aN0M0.  

Is there any evidence that chemo or radiation is useful in addition to the resection at this early stage?  I was shocked and scared to see that the early stages 5-year prognosis and am wondering if the accepted treatment after resection is always just scans/waiting.

Thank you for your time,

 

Pam in Minnesota