CT and Lung Nodules
Comments
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margecandoit,
Great news about them being small. I hope it stays that way, but make sure you have them scan regularly.
maggie15,
I am glad you did not have any pain with this. Hopefully you will not have to do this again too soon.
So I did have surgery on Friday and they removed a bunch of lymph nodes around my lungs and farther away. The one know cancerous node was the size of a golf ball. The doctor also removed a lymph node/part of thymus to send off and he did cut off a piece of my lung that he said looked different compared to the other areas. The surgery was not too bad, but there is some issue with my laryngeal nerve so I cannot talk very well. Also started Ibrance, Faslodex, and Zometa. The Zometa caused an issue with my right eye so I have been on drop every hour. Other than that everything is going well.
Thanks for checking in
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@bookworm14 thanks for keeping us posted on the lymph node removal and other biopsies.
Sending hugs to All!
Your Mods1 -
bookworm, It's great that they got that golf ball sized node out. My pulmo is of the opinion that lung resection is the best way to eliminate any suspicious tissue so it's good that the questionable area was removed.
Laryngeal nerve damage is a pain but it often resolves over time. I had trouble talking for several months after thyroid surgery. I ended out getting speech therapy which helped. I can no longer sing (I don't think the world is much poorer for that) but I can talk OK as long as I use the tips I was taught.
I'm sorry that the Zometa caused eye issues but I'm glad you are tolerating the Ibrance and Faslodex well.
I've been following my post RFA diet and have had absolutely no pain. I was tempted to eat some good food but I figured I better follow the rules since I might cause damage I couldn't feel. I'll have another endoscopy in a few months to make sure they got all the bad cells.
Thanks for the update. Hopefully the eyedrops will work quickly.
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bookworm- wow a golf ball size did they know the size when you went in. I am glad they did the surgery. Is the meds your on chemo or are the pills you take?
Maggie- glad all went well. I think it’s best that you suck with the diet. It’s hard I am sure.
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margecandoit,
No one suspected how large it would be. The doctor said he had to peel it away from surrounding tissue and veins.
On Ibrance, Faslodex, and Zometa for now
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well, got the news on the pathology of the nodes and the small section of the right lung and it is not good. Numerous lymph nodes are positive for BC including some that were biopsies in July, but the dissection took the whole tissue to examine. The small section of the lung was taken out because the doctor saw some changes that he thought was from infection, but it is confirmed to be BC. He did remove some nodes from the left side due to size and how close they were to other nodes, and those were all clear. It appears it is all in the right side, but now most of those nodes are gone. I don’t know it this changes treatment, but they will tell me next week when I see the doctor. Hopefully the two weeks of Ibrance did some good as I had to stop on week three for my surgery and going into surgery he 7 days off for now.
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Oh bookworm, I wish the news were better. You hadn't been taking Ibrance very long before the surgery so maybe it is working. If there is some other treatment the doctor feels would be more effective you can switch to that. I'm doing OK with essentially one working lung (my left) so hopefully your left lung will stay clear. Cyber hugs and hopes they find that magic bullet for you.
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maggie15,
Thank you. Maybe it can stay clear m…fingers crossed. I am very thankful that he did remove that section so we know. Still a big change from thinking only one lymph to this. I have an appointment next Thursday so that should give him time to decide if treatment changes
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bookworm. I am sorry to hear that. I can’t remember had they biopsy your lung before and it was negative? I am glad they got it out.
my Dr does tumor marker and they been slowly rising and now it’s tied with the tied highest it has been and that’s when I still had cancer in my body. Do you guys to timer marker. My marker are still in normal range though and my Sinatra came back negative.1 -
Hi margecandoit, My hospital doesn’t do tumor markers. They seem to be predictive for some people but not for others. It’s good that your markers are still in normal range (hopefully they'll stay there) and your Signatera test came back negative.
Hi bookworm, Did your MO change your treatment or keep you on Ibrance? I hope you are doing OK whatever meds you are taking.
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Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been dealing with some issues from surgery and then we lost power with Hurricane Francine! I hope you ladies are doing well!
margecandoit,
My doctor said the markers are not always consistent and do not work with some people, but he still does them. They say that those markers can increase with stress and inflammation as well. It’s all just a crapshoot I guess.
He said the Signatera test is a wonderful advance in the cancer world, but he does not like to use it because it is not really up to par to test for BC. He did say he would do it if it made me feel better. I’m glad your test came back negative.
My tumor markers were still normal at 15, but they always stayed at 5-6 for four years. I asked about that change before the biopsy, but he said he was not worried. He said they do them, but it is one tool to use. They never biopsied the right lung as they were only ever worried about the left.
However, the cancer never showed up on CT scans and only showed the one lymph node lit up on PET so nothing really caught it until they went in for surgery.Maggie15,
Keeping the same treatment as the Onco is hoping that since the majority of the cancer was removed (fingers crossed) that the meds will do their job well. I did ask him how are we supposed to keep an eye on this with scans and blood work missing so much…..his answer was do the scans and hope they pick up stuff when I progress and he said ANY issues require me to call him.
During the surgery the zinged my laryngeal and phrenric nerve so still having some issues talking and breathing, but getting better daily. How are you doing?0 -
Hi bookworm, Glad to hear you weathered Francine. It’s difficult when the standard scans and tests don’t find things. I sympathize since my bc was diagnosed by an oral surgeon, my dentist discovered radiation had caused my excised goiter to grow back and I used a radiologist’s description of my chest CT and google to figure out that I had RIPF. All you can do is follow the treatment plan and hope for the best. Your MO seems to be keeping a close watch on things.
My last chest CT showed the tracheal deviation is much worse even though the thyroid didn’t grow that much over the past year. I’m seeing an endocrine surgeon at the end of next month for an opinion. Hopefully your laryngeal nerve issues will continue to improve and your breathing will get easier. If the progress slows it might be useful to see a speech therapist. Hang in there!
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maggie15,
Will they be removing the thyroid to help with the deviation? The MO is definitely keeping a better watch on things now. Keeping fingers crossed for a good scan in November
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Hi bookworm,
My endo thinks they should remove the thyroid (it would be a repeat surgery five years later.) My pulmo thinks the pulmonary fibrosis could be contributing to this by causing unequal chest cavity pressure. I'm wondering if they could do radiofrequency ablation on the biggest nodule but from what I've read there are contraindicatons for that in my case. I feel like waiting until things get really bad again; levthyroxine has some bad SEs, a repeat surgery is much more likely to have complications, and I wonder if I would need yet another surgery 5 years down the road. My first goiter was caused by pregnancy and took a long time to grow big enough to fully compress my trachea. The first surgery left a 1 cm strip of thyroid which preserved two parathyroid glands and left me euthyroid. The fast regrowth was caused by radiation scatter. My RO was reluctant to admit this but couldn't deny the radiaiton lung scarring pattern and figured I was hypersensitive to rads. I'll have to see what endocrine surgeon has to say.
I hope that Ibrance is treating you well, your voice and breathing are improving, and you have good scans in November. Thanks for keeping in touch!
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bookworm thanks for getting back to me. I am glad you are feeling better. Hope for clear scans in Nov.
Maggie wow you been throug a lot.
Schedule my mammagram in 4 weeks.
It’s so good to hear and keep in touch with you guys.3
