Come back in 6 months......Do we wait????? - Cancer: Lung Message Board

calista307 · 10-25-2005, 09:23 PM

Have a friend having surgery for a sports injury and the chest xray showed something.....had to have a CT scan - report faxed to orthopedic. From what we could even begin to understand from all the medical jargon.....2 small masses - 7 centimeters (?) show up - Ortho seems comfortable to go ahead with surgery, but said will forward to primary Dr. and have it checked in 6 months. From all the information I have read here - I don't think we should wait that long. Your opinions would be appreciated.

tuckygal · 10-26-2005, 07:05 AM

Calista, my opinion, as a small cell lung cancer patient, is to not wait for that long. A PET scan will show if cancer cells are present. The way my oncologist explained a CT scan is that it will show more than an X-ray and it could still be harmless scar tissue, infection, etc. A fast growing cancer could be devastating in six months time, in my opinion. I certainly don't want to alarm anyone, but I think it is better to be safe than sorry. If my family doctor hadn't sent me for a biopsy on the swollen lymph node on my collar bone, I can say I probably wouldn't be writing this, because it spreads so fast. Best of luck to your friend and my prayers are with you. Please let us know how things are going. The feedback and information I have gotten from these boards has helped keep me going. (My cancer is presently in remission.)

signing · 10-26-2005, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calista307

Have a friend having surgery for a sports injury and the chest xray showed something.....had to have a CT scan - report faxed to orthopedic. From what we could even begin to understand from all the medical jargon.....2 small masses - 7 centimeters (?) show up - Ortho seems comfortable to go ahead with surgery, but said will forward to primary Dr. and have it checked in 6 months. From all the information I have read here - I don't think we should wait that long. Your opinions would be appreciated.

Are you sure it's 7 cm or 7 mm?

calista307 · 10-26-2005, 08:42 PM

Oops - not sure at all - they seem to think "small"......I'll have to have the report read to me again. Thanks!

Sammi814 · 10-27-2005, 04:38 PM

NO!! Do not wait!!! This is exactly what happened to my husband. He cracked some ribs playing frisbee, a small spot showed up on the x-ray, a CT was run, and the doc said it was too small and to come back in 6 months. Before Jim went back he had a seizure and was found to have stage IV lung cancer that spread to his brain. He is only 40 years old.

I don't mean to scare you, just keep going to doctors until someone gives a biopsy. If it is cancer, if you catch it early it is all the difference.

Good luck,
Sammi