My Dad has finally been given information on the type of lung cancer that he has.

He has been told he has stage 2 non small cell lung cancer on his left lung near the bronchi.

He is due to undergo surgery next Tuesday to remove 1 lobe of his left lung. His consultant and surgeon have been very positive, saying that he is in the top 10% of people in this situation for a complete cure and that he has the best lung capacity out of everyone they have seen this year.

Once he has had the surgery they have said that our hospital offer chemotherapy as a standard procedure, though he may or may not require it. But to be honest we would like to get over the surgery first before any other decisions are made.

However he is very concerned about how he is going to feel afterwards, will he be able to breathe o.k?

He had a triple heart bypass operation 5 months ago and has been told the recovery is quite similar, though he is still very worried.

I was wondering if anyone else has gone through this kind of surgery and would like to share their experiences. He doesn't acutally come on the forums himself (not very good with computers) but I tell him about the forums and sites that I find, and he likes hearing other peoples experiences.

Hi,

Let your dad know that I was operated on June 2, 2004 and had my first lobe on my right lung removed, a small section of my chest cavity and some nerves. I was dagnosed with small cell lung cancer stage 11B. I also decided to do the chemo in August after the surgery. It lasted for three months. I wanted to be sure that no cells escaped into another part of my body during surgery. I do believe that chemo increases your survival rate. Let your dad know the surgery was not fun, recovery for me was a good 6 weeks before I really started to have energy. The bottom line is he will be fine he just needs to do what must be done for him to live. went back to work full time November 15, 2004 and I've been absolutely fine since. I feel very good. I went for cat scans every three months the first year following the surgery and this year I will be going every 4months.

The best of luck to your dad,

Janet

Hi Kinggrossi

I am glad to hear you are doing so well.

It helps to hear other peoples experiences. His surgery is on Tuesday and he goes into hospital tomorrow so he is becoming very anxious.

I can't imagine how he is feeling, and the best we can do is comfort him with all the positives that the surgeon has outlined.

I will keep you updated.

Thanks

Patience and love. Make sure he eats. My boyfriend (43) is three months post his surgery for stage 4 small noncell. Best advice I could think of after the surgery is to not be afraid to politely ask for pain medication when in the hospital as your doctor prescribed during his stay. We learned that due to shift changes sometimes it was forgotten. Also, he had two tubes removed which had been inserted to allow for drainage. When those are removed, it is especially important to have the pain medication. He had opted not too, against our will, and admitted after the fact it would have been better to have had it. When you get home, have cooling pads (frozen peas work) and heating hot pads ready to go ($12 at Targ-et). And, vitamin E, or whatever he responds to in order to heal. Best wishes to you and your family.

Please be sure to let me know how your dad is. I hope the surgery went smoothly.

Janet

Hello all.

My Dad had his surgery yesterday and all went well. He had been told the day before that it might be more complex as he had recently had a triple heart bypass and that tissue from this surgery may have stuck to the lung.

However he went down at 8 am yesterday morning and was back on the ward at 11.30 am.

When we went to see him last night, I was extremely suprised to see him sat up. He was talking away and had really good colouring (unlike after the heart bypass), and he had just had his tea. He said he had spoken to the surgeon and they had said the operation went well, they got everything they wanted and it is now in the bin instead of inside him! They did however say that they had to remove some lymph nodes.

We will know more today. My Mam and I are just off to the hospital, which luckily for us, it is just a 10 minute drive, so I am sure the doctor will have explained more by now.

I think that with the mention of the lymph nodes, a course of chemotherapy is going to be highly likely.

As always, I will keep you updated.

Hi All

It has been a while since I posted. My Dad is recovering, though he is still suffering pain approaching 3 weeks after surgery.

He went through a period last week were he felt quite isolate and alone as he felt the hosptial operated then sent him home with no further contact. However he has since been in regualr contact with a cancer nurse at the hospital and she has been able to advise him on all his concerns.

After a meeting between all the specialists today, the nurse rang and advised my Dad of the results.

He has been told that everything went very well, one lymph nodes showed cancerous cells, which they expected at stage 2, but it was excellent that it was only one. He has been advised to have a course of Chemotherapy (which we expected) for 4 months to kill off any cells that may have leaked into the blood stream, they described it as a precaution.

He will go ahead with this, as he wants to do what he can to ensure the best result. He has to meet with a chemotherapy doctor within the next few weeks to discuss what will happen.

This is all completely new to us, and we don't know what to expect from Chemo, I have only ever heard stories of a negative nature regarding how it makes you feel and the hair loss.

I would really appreciate hearing other peoples experiences.

Red:

My husband had NSC also and he was lucky in the fact that when they took out 22 lymph nodes and 2/3rds of his right lung it didn't travel into the lymph nodes. They also gave him chemo for precaution in case a cell slipped away. He did very well on the chemo. It was once every 3 weeks, a total of 6 treatments. He also worked while taking the chemo and he didn't get nauseous. This is going to sound strange but he got the hiccups real bad and I called the doctor about it because he didin't want me to, my husband couldn't believe that chemo could give you hiccups but it was from the chemo, and the doctor gave him some meds for it. It got better but not totally. If your father has any changes after taking the chemo be sure to tell the doctor, because they don't tell you everything that could happen. They feel that your brain will make it happen which is ridiculous. My husband will be six years cancer free on Dec 15.

Good luck to youy father and the family. I think he'll be okay. They caught it early enough.

Hi RedChez200. I have undergone this surgery twice. My first was 11 years ago and the right upper lung was removed. This past October I underwent surgery to remove the left upper lung. Life is good. I was very concerned I would not pass the breathing tests due to my diminished lung capacity on the 2nd go round. I passed with flying colours. Tell your Dad that for awhile he will be breathless, but regulard exercise such as walking at a steady pace, forcing you to breath deeply will soon have him back to almost his old self.
Silkygirl2006

If you're on, how is your Dad doing??