I posted a minute ago about the solitary nodule found in my lung. I'm fairly positive I will be undergoing lung surgery soon BUT, I have advanced emphysema and it has been "hinted" to me that my lungs aren't strong enough to undergo lung surgery. My regular doctor is adamant that this is malignant cancer and I must make a decision soon on what to do...I haven't spoken to the lung specialist yet but will do so soon.

I want to try the less painful, quicker healing VATS surgery but one lung has to be collapsed during this surgery and I'm afraid I won't be able to do that one, or even the more invasive, "regular" lung surgery where the lung isn't collapsed.

Has anyone here with advanced COPD had lung surgery? Did you get a pneumothorax? How long were you in the hospital? Did you have to do chemo and radiation afterwards? I'm terrified of chemo/radiation, I don't think I can make myself DO that.......this "cancer" doesn't appear to have spread anywhere, it appears to be just the solitary lung nodule, I had read that removing it is often a "total cure". I have smoked for 40 years and read that cancers from smoking don't respond to chemo/radiation anyway. Can you do radiation and NOT chemo? Is chemo the part that makes you vomit for hours or is that the radiation?

If I can SURVIVE the surgery I'm not too terribly afraid of it, and I plan to come out of the hospital as a non-smoker. But I'm so afraid my lungs aren't strong enough.

If someone can describe the whole process I would be grateful.

Thank you.

Hi there,
Don't know if this will help or not but thought I would respond. My Mom (76) has Stage 1A or B NSCLC. She was diagnosed in November. She has severe COPD and began oxygen therpy about 5 weeks ago using oxygen about 70% of the time. The Dr's said she was too frail and could not withstand surgery. She is very fragile weighing 86 lbs. She started radiation 6 weeks ago and will have her last treatment on Monday! They said she would not be able to tolerate chemo (mostly concerned with weightloss). I was scared about the effects of radiation on her. It's hard to say which came first the chicken or the egg, but 1 week into radiation her respiratory issues became much worse and she finally began using the oxygen (which she's had in the house for a few months). She also became very weak and so sleepy. Interestingly enough a change in blood pressure meds the 3rd week of radiation resulted in her doing wonderful the last 1/2 of her treatment (these last 3 weeks) and her strenght has improved. Her appetite has increased (maybe from using the oxygen ...her blood oxygen levels are very low without it). She's lost 1.5 lbs during radiation, which from what I've read is very little. This was my biggest concern. The radiation Dr said this week "things look good", but no further explination other then in week 4 and 5 of treatment that the tumor is shrinking. A Cat-scan or Pet-scan will be done in the next 4 weeks to determine the final outcome. My Mom is still smoking :nono: , but from using the oxygen has cut down from 1 1/2 packs a day to about 7 cigarettes.
Her Dr's actually said to not try to quit during radiation as she's going through enough at this point :confused: . I doubt she'll ever quit, but I respect her decision and have come to terms with it. So that's our story. Don't know if it at all relates to you, but your severe COPD issue hit home. Please discuss the benefits/risk of surgery with your Dr's. Could you try radiation first (to shrink the tumor) and see what comes of that....the Dr's said that my Mom with the isolated tumor had a good chance of the radiation getting rid of it completely! Wishing you well. Keep us posted!

I had an uncle who had emphysema and could not undergo the surgery because of his health. HE did do the radiation and chemo and did extremely well and lived 6 years after that. Please keep us posted and good luck.

CJ

Hi, thank you all for your replies, they are encouraging and I appreciate your help.

Here is an update on what's going on with me. There is no way to know if the lung nodule is cancer until after they remove it, they can't do a biospy on it because it is too far from the airways to be sure of an answer with a broncoscopy (down the throat biopsy) and it's too small to find it with a needle biopsy without having to poke around in there, causing damage to my already severely damaged lungs. So surgery is my only option.

I have chosen a surgeon and he, of course, is sure I'll survive the surgery so there's not much I can do but trust him and hope for the best I guess. I had a spirometer, the number from that they use for surgery purposes is the FEV1...they like that number to be around 70% of predicted....mine is 29% pred. My normal weight is 120 lbs, I weigh 103 now, that worries me.

I had a VQ lung scan that clearly shows the emphysema damage, it is "significantly" worse in the left upper lobe, the same place that the nodule is....so the surgeon wants to do a LVRS (lung volume reduction surgery). In order to remove just the nodule and the surrounding lung area they'd be taking nearly half that lobe anyway so he said it is better to remove it all.

He said he can't do the easier VATS surgery (video assisted thoracic surgery), I'll have to do the regular thoractomy, 8 inch incision and rib spreaders...he didn't say anything about breaking my ribs but I read a bit that said they would, I was too upset to read more about that right now. I'd like to find someone who's had a thoractomy (or lobectomy with open surgery) and find out how bad it is, I'm so terrified but I need to know before I get there how much it's going to hurt, I think.

I'm not exactly sure what his reason is for not being able to do VATS but I believe he said he would need to staple lung tissue DURING the surgery and my lung is so damaged he's sure it won't HOLD the staples....I do know he said he needs to remove the entire lobe cuz any lung area he left is too damaged to hold staples and I'd have great risks of air leaks..he said removing the whole lung I'd only need staples along the natural lobe line which is stronger.

I was supposed to do the surgery this week but I have bronchitis now and he can't do the surgery while I have an active lung infection. I took Zithromax but it didn't help so he concluded this is a viral infection and we'll just have to wait. I've had bronchitis many times, it usually lasts for 6 weeks in me, I've had this one for 2 weeks so the surgery probably won't be for another month or longer.

Anyway, that's my update. Thank you all for your earlier replies, they do help me feel better. I hope you and your loved ones are all doing well..........Tiz.