I am so scared, can anyone help?

• By carolhg
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 2:22 am
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Hi,
I was diagnosed with stage 3A non small cell lung cancer adenocarcinoma in January of 2005. I had 6 weeks of daily radiation and weekly chemo. My chemo was carboplatinum and taxol. At the end of the 6 week period I had another CT scan and PET scan. The scans showed two of my lymph nodes to be enlarged. My surgeon said that he would take me to surgery but first he would biopsy the lymph nodes and if they were cancerous he would not continue with the surgery. Well the lymph nodes turned out to not be cancerou. Thank God! My surgeon removed twenty lymph nodes and one rib bone. I had the upper right lobe of my lung removed. My surgery was July 1, 2005 my scans have been clean since. I am very grateful to God and to my surgeon.
Carol

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• By joe_s17050
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 6:49 am
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hello carol,
praise God for your recovery. I am recovering from lung cancer surgery done 7 wks ago.
i had stage 1a, caught early as a follow up xray from pnumonia.
sample of lymphnodes came back negative, praise God.
I wish you well and remember, Christ is the big ``C``, compared to Christ, cancer is the little ``c``.
Joe

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• By candifleming
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 7:49 am
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Well said Joe, with a big AMEN.

Candi

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• By pattyp1
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 8:39 am
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hi,
here is a real quick article on lymph nodes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node
in the article, it says there are many reasons why lymph nodes can get swollen up - including infection. The reason your doctor is getting him a PET scan is to see if the lymph node contains cancer - they look to see if it's eating (metabolically active = cancer) or just sitting there (dead = infection).

The same chemo that they are using to fight his tumor will also treat the lymph nodes, if it is having issues.

I know you're scared, as most of us are while we're waiting, but you're among friends and we're sending best wishes your way.
Hugs
Pat

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• By CKP
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 8:59 am
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I had a lymph node light up on my initial (and only) PET and it was an infection. Of course, they had to go in with a scope to figure that out, but I was grateful that was all it was. I was then able to have surgery and chemo. I am also stage 3a and I have been cancer free for 2 years and 9 months.

Worse case scenario, if it is cancer progression, they will more than likely start him on a different chemo.
His stage can certainly be treated successfully, but sometimes they just need to find the right chemo for his type. Then, hopefully, he will be on the road to recovery!

Best of luck to you both.
Cindy

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• By hopeforeveryone
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 10:14 am
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Thank you so much for everyone!!! I feel much better as you respond to my worry. It is so scary to wait for the result. I keep my fingers crossed to his siutation. Hope everyone with good luck and NED!!
GOD bless us!!

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• By LindaFL
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 12:33 pm
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Infection in the lymph nodes can actually light up the PET scan brighter than if its cancer, so they won't really know much without a biopsy. My mother just had surgery a week and a half ago. She had a couple very large lymph nodes that were biopsied pre-surgery and came back negative. Surgeon also did frozen sections in surgery and said it showed inflammatory. Don't have final pathology reports yet, but the surgeon said it can take months for lymph nodes to get back to normal size after an infection. So, hopefully your husbands are just bigger from an infection or from his surgery, which wasn't that long ago. Good luck with everything!

Linda

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• By jazzbo
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 7:57 pm
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Hi Hope, I'm here almost 9 yrs survivorship of 3a nsclc and had chemo,radiation and surgery. They chose to do the surgery last and when they did it had spread to a couple of lymph nodes but they were dead from the radiation and the chemo. So there is plenty of ways to survive. When one door closes, open another one and continue on. Congratulations to your husband on the road to recovery and of course on his survivorship.- John

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• By rghera
• Posted July 21, 2008 at 11:48 pm
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hi i to have stage 3 lung cancer remove right uper lung and 12 lymphnodes chemo in aug. 2007 had ct and pet andtwo weeks ago and all neg.6 of 12 lymphnodes are cancer ,so it is so importain to get it out your body to me thats the key to kicking this cancer

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• By hopeforeveryone
• Posted July 22, 2008 at 7:22 am
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Just to let you guys know the reason..bad news one of the lymph nodes is supicious of cancerous. Our oncologist said he couldn't 100% sure, however he thinks it might be the case. Biospy cannot be done in that area. So he suggests more aggressive radiation and concurrent chemotherapy & second line therapy as well. I hope the earlier we tackle is now, the better we can kill the Monster. Does that mean my husband get worse? That's my worry!!
GOD, please be with everyone of us!! Thank you so much for everyone's support, you guys are wonderful!!

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• By KatInNM
• Posted July 22, 2008 at 10:36 am
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Even if the cancer gets into the lymph system--and you don't know that yet for sure--your husband could still have a complete recovery. Greg Anderson, the "cancer conqueror", was given 30 days to live in the 1980s after his lung cancer recurred in the lymph system, but he's still alive and well today. Google him.

God bless,
Kathy

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• By a_white_rabbit
• Posted August 4, 2008 at 11:25 am
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..i live and learn..

..sooo, the lymph nodes can light up a scan for other reasons ?..

..guess i should print this thread and give it my onco, after all, we all live and learn,....

..many thanks..

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