Down this road before

LSDaughter
LSDaughter Member Posts: 3
in Lung Cancer #1
I have been lurking here for a couple of months. I lost my Father to colon cancer 14 years ago and my Mom was just diagnosed with lung cancer last week.. She had quit smoking 3 years ago but had smoked for many years. I am trying to brace myself once again.

My Mom had been coughing up phlegm with dark blood in it for the past couple of months. Had an x-ray followed by CT Scan. The scan shows a 17mm spiculated enhancing mass in her right upper lobe. She is going for a CT guided biopsy the week after next.

My question is this. The CT report states that she has Carcinoma of the right lung. It also states that there are "linear tags leading into the visceral pleura 1 cm away". There is no pleural mass or effusion. 3 sporadic subcentimeter lymph nodes are noted but there is no lymphadenopathy in the nilum or mediastinum.

Her mass appears to be about 1.7 cm which is a small sized tumor from what I have read and is located 1 cm away from the visceral pleura but I am wondering what those linear tags mean and if that means that the pleura may contain malignant cells? If so, I am wondering what this may mean - a later stage cancer?

She is so strong and postive and staying off the internet... unlike me her worried daughter. The 1st specialist we saw said she believes it to be confined and in 1 place and operable.. I am hoping and praying it is an earlier stage.

I have been reading many of your stories and am encouraged by them. Thank you for sharing and listening.

Comments

  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    #2
    doctors
    We go to doctors because we trust them, hopefully. If we do not, we should get new doctors. In this case, it sounds as though mom has received some very good news (at least from my view): her cancer is 'confined' and 'operable'. This likely means removal of a lobe, but there are any number of folks thriving with one less lobe than they used to have (including me).

    I can tell you that I when I went in for my biopsy, I HOPED to awaken with one less lobe because it meant my chances of continuing to live for a long time (unless I got run over by a bus, eaten by a tiger, had a piano fall on me from the fifteenth floor of an apartment building, and so on) were much improved.

    I hope that mom learns the same.

    Take care,

    Joe
  • LSDaughter
    LSDaughter Member Posts: 3
    #3
    soccerfreaks said:

    doctors
    We go to doctors because we trust them, hopefully. If we do not, we should get new doctors. In this case, it sounds as though mom has received some very good news (at least from my view): her cancer is 'confined' and 'operable'. This likely means removal of a lobe, but there are any number of folks thriving with one less lobe than they used to have (including me).

    I can tell you that I when I went in for my biopsy, I HOPED to awaken with one less lobe because it meant my chances of continuing to live for a long time (unless I got run over by a bus, eaten by a tiger, had a piano fall on me from the fifteenth floor of an apartment building, and so on) were much improved.

    I hope that mom learns the same.

    Take care,

    Joe

    Hi Joe, thank you so much
    Hi Joe, thank you so much for your response, and I am praying that it will be operable.

    My Mom is having a CT guided biopsy in about 10 days.

    It hasn't sunk in yet for me. My Mom has no symptoms and feels totally normal and healthy. She just would have phlegm with blood mixed in "once" every morning. She had her mammogram, blood work, everything done not long ago and everything came back fine.

    I have a business from home and she was here the other day, cooking for me and cleaning like she always does. She always is on the go and nothing seems to slow her down. It will be hard to see her any other way.

    I hate this disease...

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