Is 6 months too long?

Naam2013

Is 6 months too long?

Naam2013

In 2012 I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer with lymph node involvement. After chemo, radiation and surgery, I have been cancer free for a year. I recently had a cat scan due to pain on affected side and it showed a spot on my lung. My oncologist said we would wait 6 months and see what it does...frankly I am scared and i dont think i can wait 6 months! Any thoughts? Thank you

dlb823

Naam, there are many things that show up on scans, and there's no way to differentiate between the non-concerning ones (artifacts or damage from current or past lung illinesses, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, for example) and a lung met -- except with a biopsy -- which you certainly don't want if you don't need it. Waiting 6 mos. will give you and your onc a chance to see if the spot changes at all. Hopefully, it won't, which will be a pretty strong indication that it's most likely something other than a lung met. So your onc's recommendation is pretty standard for your situation. But if you have any doubts, by all means get a second opinion from another facility/onc. I suspect they will recommend the same wait & see approach, but even having that might reassure you that you're doing the right thing in waiting. Hope this helps. (((Hugs))) Deanna

208sandy

Don't know how common this is but see it on this board all the time - I had a nodule show up six years ago and we went through the six month waiting period and then again when I switched oncs (I had moved) anyway it turned out to be just a nodule probably from a respiratory infection a long time ago and every so often someone mentions it after a scan - think the six months wait and see is standard.

Moderators

Dear Naam2013, the six month review is the accepted common protocol to see if it is just old scar tissue (as Deanna said above). You certainly don't want a lung biopsy if it can be avoided as that only makes more scar tissue.

We hope that at your review, there is no change and you can relax a bit. Hope the pain goes away.

The Mods