Update on Surgery - Lung Spot turned out to be cancerous

longtermsurvivor said:

Puggle
Somebody who posts here has been down exactly this road before. I'm braindead today. Soccerfreak? That's not quite right for the name, the man who has the book-long blog. Still alive and kicking. I tried to look him up but failed, and haven't seen him post for a couple of weeks.

Sorry to hear of the need for intervention. Glad to hear about the second primary, and its much improved prognosis. Keep up the good fight.

Pat

Hal61 said:

Some good with the bad
Very sorry to hear your husband will have to undergo yet another cure JC. It is indeed good news if they have detemined that the lung spot is not the result of spread from the original site. When docs go so far as to sound hopeful, then you can bet your husband's chances are good.

The person you can email here, as Pat said, is "soccerfreaks." He's very knoweledgeable, and has a good grasp of the process. His fight has been a long one and he's helped a lot of folks with the details. If you email him (Joe), I imagine he will respond. He's posted recently.

In my thoughts and prayers,
Hal

soccerfreaks said:

I am both a head/neck cancer
I am both a head/neck cancer and lung cancer survivor, and the VATS technique was used to remove my lowest right lobe. Both of my cancers were squamous cell carcinoma and I was bluntly told that if they determine the cancer in the lung was metastasis from the head/neck, they would not do the lobectomy but would instead put me into palliative care, using only chemotherapy to try to hold off anticipated continuing growth.

I was HOPING to wake from my biopsy without the lobe, and fortunately got my wish (it IS odd what we wish for as cancer survivors!). When I did, I had a rather small smiley face under my right arm pit along with two tubes in my side that extended to a machine that collected drainage.

I do not recall any significant pain, probably because I received excellent pain management from my doctors. I did so well that I expected to be home on day 4 following surgery. Regrettably, the night before, I suffered what they thought at first was a pulmonary embolism, and then MRSA, the staph infection, but which turned out to be somewhat milder MSSA. Still, I ended up in the hospital for an additional month, approximately. This, of coure, is not what you or your husband should expect.

At any rate, if they still do things like they did in early 2008, hubbie can expect to have some breathing toys to play with during and after his stay (a spirometer among them), and he may be coughing up chunks of stuff. Depending on the nature of his oral cancer surgery, he may find that the most difficult part of the entire experience is when they slide the breathing tube down his trachea, for which he is required to be awake.

Once I escaped (:)) I had the option to undergo chemotherapy (carboplatin and taxol) to slay the strays as I call it, and I chose that route.

I was dx'd with head/neck cancer in August of 05 and am all clear in that regard now, more than six years later. I was originally dx'd with lung cancer in June of 07 (a long story) and have been NED since, except that my most recent CT scan revealed "a 5mm opacity" in the lower left lobe. OncoMan seems not so concerned and wants to wait three months for another scan to see if it is growing.

If I can be of any help, please let me know.

It IS true, as longtermsurvivor indicates, that I have a "book-long blog" on here(:)) and if you are interested, it can be found doing a member search for soccerfreaks (one word, plural).

Best wishes to hubbie and his family and friends.

Take care,

Joe

Puggle said:

Update on surgery
Well the surgery went well but just took longer than expected. There were adhesions all the way up the ribs connected to the lungs from an old car accident. The doctor really wanted to complete the whole surgery with the scope so he took 2 hours to cut through and clear all of the adhesions before he could actually start the real surgery. Thank God for a doctor that has extreme patience! We were at the hospital at 7am, took him back to the OR at 9 and didn't get to see in in recovery until 5:30. Long day! The middle and bottom right lobes were removed which gave ample margin tissue as well as a lot of lymph nodes for testing. Hopefully he will not need follow up chemo. He was fully off of the ventilator and breathing well on his own but the doctor wanted him in ICU at least over night. Just really glad the surgery is over and hopefully this will be the last of the cancer!

Greg53 said:

Positive Energy
Puggle,

Positive energy being sent your way for good news!

Greg

Puggle said:

Update on surgery
Well the surgery went well but just took longer than expected. There were adhesions all the way up the ribs connected to the lungs from an old car accident. The doctor really wanted to complete the whole surgery with the scope so he took 2 hours to cut through and clear all of the adhesions before he could actually start the real surgery. Thank God for a doctor that has extreme patience! We were at the hospital at 7am, took him back to the OR at 9 and didn't get to see in in recovery until 5:30. Long day! The middle and bottom right lobes were removed which gave ample margin tissue as well as a lot of lymph nodes for testing. Hopefully he will not need follow up chemo. He was fully off of the ventilator and breathing well on his own but the doctor wanted him in ICU at least over night. Just really glad the surgery is over and hopefully this will be the last of the cancer!