Feeling Blessed: Diagnosed Early

Last summer June of 2019 I wound up in the emergency room for AFib, a heart-related problem. While there,one of the blood tests came back a little high so I had to have a ct scan of my lungs. Good news was no blood clots were found. Bad news was that there was a 4mm nodule on my lower right lobe.

Additional scans

In September I went for a low-dose ct scan and the 4mm was now 8mmX7mm and suspicious. In Nov I went for a PET scan and the 8X7 lit up. My Pulmonary Doctor said the bad news was that it was probably malignant, good news is that it was small and hadn't spread.

Biopsy and pneumothorax

I was scheduled for 8am, Dec 17th, for a biopsy in my local hospital. I woke up with a chest tube on my upper breast. The biopsy was successful, the Dr got all the tissue he needed but the procedure had caused a pneumothorax (collapsed lung). Instead of going home, I was in the hospital for 5 days. I had stage 1squamous cell cancer. As I wasn't a candidate for surgery, my doctor recommended radiation with Varian True Beam.

Deciding on a treatment plan

So in Jan of this year, I got the call to meet the Radiation Oncologist and her team. I only needed 5 treatments - Wednesday and Friday of one week and then Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the next and I was done. There were 3 small nodules 3mm in size when I had the September scan that were too little for the PET scan to determine if they were cancer.

Good news after treatment

My doctor scheduled a ct scan with contrast for the end of April, 3 months from my last treatment. She called me and told me that there is no cancer and that this scan actually looked better than the last! I'm feeling very grateful and blessed.

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