Weight Gain

korusgirl · Regular Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 26

I have just been dx. with a 2cm lesion in upper left lung and will be seeing chest surgeon on Monday.
I have gained weight over the last 6-10 months. I wondered has anyone else experienced weight gain before being diagnosed with lung cancer?

Also, could you nice folks give me any clue as to what I should be asking the surgeon Monday. I iam at my wits end now and feel like I am going to faint.
Will I be sent for a biopsy?
Is that inpatient or outpatient?
How long does it take to find out the results?
Thank you everyone
Joyce In Upstate NY

Max · Regular Joined: 30 May 2005 Posts: 25

Hello Joyce,
To answer your questions.

Will I be sent for a biopsy? Yep. Bronchoscopy most likely but they can also use a needle.

Is that inpatient or outpatient? Outpatient but best done in a hospital with at least 2 doctors present. There?s always a chance that your lung can collapse. Your can ask your doctor what your odd are but do you really want to know? I had 3 doctores present and a couple in training when I went in and there were some very serious complications, which is extremely rare. Be sure to ask for Valium.

How long does it take to find out the results? That day and you can probably get a copy of the report the next day.

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Also, after surgery the specimen they remove is sent to a pathologist who perform a study of the tissue that?s removed and he writes a report. They may also do studies with your tumor to discover which drugs would be the best to use to kill any microscopic particles of cancer that might be left in your blood.

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How did the meeting with the surgeon go?

It?s kind of weird talking about your chances of survival like it was a game of Monty Carlo but that?s exactly how the doctors speak of our chances when we ask them if we?re going to live or die. They speak of statistics and like it or not, you and I have become a number in their game. Another fact is that the doctors really don?t know enough about cancer and they are reluctant to guess. I think I would be too if I were in their position. They refer back to statistics and such.

Maybe it will help you if I were to share my stats with you so here are my ?chances? as the doctors have explained it to me. When I entered the hospital they gave me no chance of surviving. They had told my Mom and Dad that there wasn?t even hope. After that I was told that with chemotherapy and radiation there was a 6 percent chance of becoming eligible for surgery, statistically speaking. Without surgery my chances being cured were bleak. After Chemo and radiation my tumor shrank to 1.2 cm and I became a candidate for surgery. Now, after surgery, my chances of being cured are over 41 percent, which is to say that statistically speaking, 41 out of 100 people that have gone through what I just went through became cured. My chances keep improving and the doctors are extending my life. The doctors are all patting theirselfs on the back for pulling me out of what was a sure death.

I will go out on a ledge here and guess that your odds of beating this are better then most and I hope and pray you have your surgery soon, your surgery goes well and you have a speedy recovery.

http://www.secondlaw.com/

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korusgirl · Regular Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 26

Hi Max and everyone out there!
Thank you so much for your support and information.
I returned this afternoon from the chest surgeon visit and promptly fell asleep, as I hadnt slept all last night.

He suggested a "open" biopsy, I'm not sure that is what he called it but, they take out a wedge of the tumor and tissue around it, and a few lymph nodes and have it tested immediately for cancer, and if it is, they will take out the upper lobe. He told lme the risks of the operation and it would be anywhere from 3 to 5 days in hospital.
He is ordering tests fto be done, including a new cat scan and a bone scan, and I return in two weeks.

This tumor is located in the upper left lobe almost on the periphery, about 2cm. and lit up on the pet scan ,2.3 uptake.. I DO have two other patch densities in the left lung as well, but they did not light up. Also, I read the report and it stated there was mild uptake in the thoracic spine. This worries me, as my entire life I have had bad lumbar problems including ruptured discs. But no thoracic spine problems so I pushed for the bone scan.

I have to go back now to this morning's appt. which was made by the pulmonologists office with the chest surgeon (which is what I was told he was). I stood reading the info sign by the elevator and I knew they were on the 4th floor, but there were no thoracic surgeons listed, only a cardiac center. And that is where he was located. I'm just wondering, and I haven't even looked it up yet, but isn't there such a thing as a thoracic surgeon specializing in lungs?
I asked this doctor how many of these types of operations he has done and he said a few dozen. I acted normally, but this response bothered me. Am I just being paranoid, or should I be looking for a thoracic lung surgeon who does only this type of surgery?
Does anyone have information regarding my concern?
Thanks everyone,
Joyce Upstate NY

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