Carcenoid lung tumor

amyc2376
amyc2376 Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Lung Cancer #1
Hello everyone. I am 33 years old and have had the most challenging 17mths of my life thus far. My daughter was born on christmas of 2007. SHh wasnt supposed to come until april of 2008. She spent 4 1/2 mths in the nicu. Apon her arrival home we were so happy. It was short lived. I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease so rare that no one could really tell me much about it, how to treat it or if I would ever be cured. It took awhile to come to grips with it but I eventually did and then about 3 mths ago I got a cold. My cough never seemed to go away and after having chest pains I went to the doc. After 2 xrays a cat scan and a pet scan I was diagnosed with a carcenoid lung tumor. I underwent surgery to remove my right middle lobe. Thankfully it didnt effect my lymph nodes and they got all of it out. I am currently recouperating but I can't help but wonder whats next? will this come back? I have no one to talk to who understands what ive been through and continue to go through. I have a wonderful husband and an amazing baby girl. I want to be happy, truely happy, but I dont know how to just let this go and put it all behind me. Any advice for anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    #2
    How to deal with it
    Amy: congratulations on motherhood, first of all! What a reason to keep fighting, eh?

    Amy, I am a survivor of tongue/neck cancer (diagnosed at end of August, '05) and lung cancer (lobectomy of lowest right lobe, Jan 31, '07) and am now NED (no evidence of disease).

    What I have found in my conversations with others and through my own experiences is that most of us never really get rid of that question you ask: when will it come back?. But it recedes, it moves to the back of our psyches, hopefully, and only rears its head during scheduled follow-up scans or doctor appointments, or perhaps when we get a cold. Those are facts, unfortunately.

    The way I deal with it is to remind myself that cancer has taken a lot from me, physically, for sure, but in other ways as well, and that I CANNOT let it have more than it has taken. I have to refuse it that additional extraction.

    Consider this, Amy, a slap in the face regarding your mortality, and use that reminder to live your life even more fully than you would have before. Enjoy every day as if it is a bonus, enjoy your family and friends and everyone you meet as if they are gifts: they are!

    It is not easy to do, I know. For some, therapy is a very good option. It is helpful to talk to someone on a regular basis who is there to listen (you might also try the Chat Room on this site, which I have found to be therapeutic over the past few years).

    Some advice I read somewhere: Act the way you want to feel! I think that is great advice and I try to follow it, Amy.

    Best wishes to you and yours. You will be fine.

    Take care,

    Joe

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