Lung Cancer

Please dont quote.

They are 99% sure my MIL has lung cancer. She had pneumonia, went for a Chest Xray and saw two masses, followed up with the CT Scan and confirmed. She has a biopsy next week, but they told her they are 99% sure it is lung cancer. One step at a time.

With that said, I know xrays are a poor diagnostic for lung cancer and rarely catch it.......does anyone know if they saw it on an Xray that it means its probably advanced?

Hoping its not the case, but wondering if anyone has any insight. Everything I have read says xrays are very poor at detecting early lung cancer, so Im terrified that if IT DID SEE IT that means its advanced?

Lung Cancer

I don't have any answers to your questions but I wanted to say I'm very sorry.

Re: Lung Cancer

Im very sorry. If its visible on a chest x-ray, it's highly likely that it is. My hairdresser was diagnosed with stage 4 LC at age 58. She was told she had bronchitis 6 months prior and didnt push for x-rays or getting any care other than visiting urgent care places for cough medicine. It wasnt until she had an x-ray that revealed large masses and subsequent biopsies confirmed it was stage 4, low grade and inoperable. 6 weeks later she went into hospice and a week later passed away. I truly hope your MILs condition is caught at a treatable stage.

Re: Lung Cancer

Posted by EclecticEsq10810

Im very sorry. If its visible on a chest x-ray, it's highly likely that it is. My hairdresser was diagnosed with stage 4 LC at age 58. She was told she had bronchitis 6 months prior and didnt push for x-rays or getting any care other than visiting urgent care places for cough medicine. It wasnt until she had an x-ray that revealed large masses and subsequent biopsies confirmed it was stage 4, low grade and inoperable. 6 weeks later she went into hospice and a week later passed away. I truly hope your MILs condition is caught at a treatable stage.

Message edited 1/21/2017 12:30:49 AM.

Re: Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer

My mother had lung cancer (she also had breast and skin cancer). She found got during her pre-op checkup for a different procedure and the x-ray confirmed it. They ended up taking about 3/4 of one lung and she went through chemo. That was 10 years ago and she's going strong. I always tell her it's her Irish blood that keeps her fighting!

I hope they caught your MIL's early and she has the best outcome!

Re: Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer

My coworker at 67 was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Luckily it had not spread. After chemo and raditation, she had surgery to remove the mass and this week after her surgery check up she is considered cancer free. I pray for the same outcome for your MIL.

Re: Lung Cancer

I'm so sorry you are going thru this.

MIL was diagnosed with lung cancer after pneumonia. The cough would not go away and an x-ray was done that showed the tumors. Biopsy confirmed the diagnosis.
It can't be staged from an x-ray, the biopsy and further testing will stage it. MIL had lymph node involvement too.

It was stage 4, and she agreed not to have a lung removed because she wanted quality of life.

Staging doesn't always mean much. The docs told us they did not expect her to make 3 months and she made 4 1/2 years. My mom was stage 2 uterine and only lived less than 2 years.

Breathe, take it one day at a time and don't be afraid to ask questions or seek other opinions.

Lung Cancer

my mom recently was treated for Stage 3a lung cancer. She had a kidney stone in June, and the abdominal CT scan picked up on the lung mass. I see your mother in law had a CT Scan. A CT scan is a better diagnostic tool. They should also do a whole body PET Scan in addition to the biopsy. It's a tough diagnosis. We were all surprised. But have remained strong for my mom. It's important to get the ball quickly in terms of treatment. I don't know where you are located but we learned it's important to get treated at a major cancer center early on. My mom wanted to stay local first (Rockland County), but things were moving so slowly and I wasn't getting the answers that I wanted. Her insurance was taken at Sloan Kettering. We chose to get treated/surgery at Columbia Presbytarian. I can recommend my mom's oncolologist if you want. Everyone there is wonderful. Right now my mom is not showing any signs of disease after 4 rounds of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation. She has a follow up chest CT scan in a few weeks so finger crossed.

Please FM me if you need any advice. I was so confused at first with everything I read on the internet. It was hard to know what to do next.

Re: Lung Cancer

By the way, the only way to know it is advanced is to see if it has spread beyond the lungs. X ray or CT scan won't show that.

Message edited 1/21/2017 8:06:03 AM.

Re: Lung Cancer

My mil had lung cancer and lived for 10 years after her diagnosis.

Originally they only had given her 3 years.

I am sorry you are going through this

Lung Cancer

A few years ago my mom had an ultrasound for diverticulitis that happened to spot a mass on her lung. During preop tresting they found a mass in her brain and we freaked out to say the least. She went through surgery to remove the mass in her brain which turned out not to be cancerous. Then she had surgery to remove part of her lung and found the mass there to be a carcinoid, which is basically the best case scenario with cancer. Her recovery was difficult and she still feels the effects but she didn't need any further treatment after the surgery. I wish your mil the best and hope she gets the best news possible.

Lung Cancer

Seeing masses on an x-ray as opposed to other means does not mean the cancer is advanced.

Cancer prognosis depends on the type of lung cancer- the histology, grade, and now most good practices look for gene mutations. It's very complex. The size of the tumors has nothing to do with how "bad" the cancer is. If the cancer has not spread beyond her lungs (which, you are correct, early lung cancer is often not caught before it spreads- this is because it take a while to exhibit symptoms so by the time the symptoms show it has already spread) the prognosis is good.

That being said, in general, yes, the prognosis for metastatic lung cancer is quite poor. Once the cancer is biopsy-confirmed I would find an excellent oncologist who specializes in lung cancer- specialization is very important.

On the flip side, I've seen community hospitals (not sure where she is) take an x-ray at the wrong angle and scare people to death especially since it's tougher to see things with pneumonia. It doesn't happen often, but more than you would expect.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this and am praying for a good outcome.

ETA: Lung masses could also be cancer that has spread from somewhere else. Breast cancer often metastasizes to the lung and some lymphomas can present in the lung as well.

Message edited 1/21/2017 9:48:47 AM.

Re: Lung Cancer

I'm so sorry that you're all going through this. I hope you get positive news.

Re: Lung Cancer

Sorry you are going through this! please take it one step at a time It has to be staged as pp said through more invasive testing.

My father (heavy smoker, emphysema) had a chest xray Jan 2012 which showed a mass, passed away Dec 2012.

Re: Lung Cancer

I'm sorry to hear this. My dad had lung cancer and his was not definitively diagnosed until they did a surgical procedure. He also had RA and had been taking Enbrel (or maybe Orencia) and it made the cancer grow unbelievably fast. He died less than a month after being diagnosed- if not for the impact of that medication, his prognosis would have been better. It's no longer an immediate death sentence. Good luck to your MIL.

Re: Lung Cancer

My mom passed away of lung cancer. I'll fm you.

Re: Lung Cancer

I am so sorry.