Lung Biopsy tomorrow, TERRIFIED!

tuckersmimi

This is my story from beginning to now. I am only looking for someone to give me hope and to help me stay calm, which is not what I am now.

On October 3, 2015 I had my pre-op blood work and chest X-ray in preparing for surgery.
It was noted on the x-ray that I had a small nodule on the lower right lobe....Everything however looked normal no other problems seen, ect. ect.
I had a mastectomy on my right breast on October 5. I was told great news after surgery, cancer free only one node invasion out of 15 removed, Oncotype score 3, only take Arimidex and everything is rosy. No one ever brought it up to me that a "spot" was on my lung.
In December when I saw my primary care dr. I ask her if I should be concerned about the nodule. At that time she wasn`t aware of the report.
After she looked at the report she said we would do a CT scan to put my mind at ease.
No growth noted and she even had a pulmonary dr. to look at CT results and he said he was 99.9% sure it was scarring.

I had my 6 months follow up scan on July 25th. Doubled in size and is now 2cm, Pet scan 3 days later, intense up take on nodule, a few lymph node in hilar with mild uptake.. Seems as the pulmonary was 100% wrong.
Needle biopsy tomorrow with appointment on August 12th. with onco to review biopsy results. She`s out of town for a Medical Convention all next week.
Just wishing some of you wonderful people here could give me a little hope and help me to try and stay calm while I wait.
I did cough A LOT from Feb. to June. My primary care dr. put me on Lisprinol for B/P and I coughed my head off for months.
Medicine was changed and even though the coughed lasted for two/three weeks it has gone away now. I only cough maybe once or twice a day, nothing serious.
Only other maybe symptom is pain across my shoulders. But then I have been doing some strenuous work that could have caused that.
Gasping for straws here, and I hope whomever reads this can make some sense from it, as I know I am rambling. I am stressed and just need a kind word or hug..Thanks.

LoveMyFamily

((hugs)) to you... it's sooooo hard to wait.... can you do something to distract you a bit today? a movie, book, time with friends, or ? whatever transports you? Keep us posted. ((more hugs))

Hopeful82014

I'm so very sorry you're going through this and particularly that you'll have to wait so long for your biopsy results; that's adding insult to injury. I'm crossing my fingers for good results. I will also tell you that I know women with metastases to their lungs who are doing very, very well. I hope you won't need to deal with that, of course. Take care of yourself, get some Ativan or similar if you need it, and know that you have a whole on-line family pulling for you.

edwards750

Bless your heart the waiting is brutal. My sister has BC too and a nodule showed up on her lungs too. She was having a MX so her ONC ordered a lung biopsy just to make sure. She told my sister it's probably been there 20 years! Anyway, my sister said the biopsy was not pleasant but the results were good. It's a nodule. End of story. She continues to have scans big it hasn't grown in size.
Btw my brother had one too. Apparently it's caused by some bird virus believe it or not. Weird to be sure. Anyway his was no big deal either. It was found when he was having minor surgery.
Idk if either of them had prior coughing problems. Neither one of them are smokers. Never have been. Smoking didn't cause the nodule anyway.
I know you are scared - that's understandable. Whatever it turns out to be it doesn't mean it can't be taken care of.
We are here for you. I would do what Hopeful suggested and take an anti/anxiety med.

Keep us posted and keep the faith.

Diane

grainne

i have nothing to say of any use except i am thinking of you and hoping all is well. I should just say i think coughing your head off for months can cause shoulder/back pain. Surely it must be a good sign that your cough has stopped?

farmerlucy

Fingers and toes crossed that it is nothing sinister. Yes, yes, if you have any happy pills, now is the time to take them. How about a stout margarita? We're hanging with you tuckersmimi, you are not alone. Please let us know how it goes.

ElaineTherese

Hi,

I've been on Lisinopril for years for BP. One of its SEs is a dry cough. So, that definitely could be the source of your cough.

I don't have any experiences with lung nodules, but my husband does. He has some nodules on his lung that became apparent during his problems with a pulmonary embolism. They were determined to be benign.

Hope yours is too! ((Hugs))

tuckersmimi

Thank you all for all the kind words and the cyber hugs too. You are all so very sweet and at your suggestion I called my Primary Care dr. who did write me a script for Ativan.
Now with the help of you all here and the happy pills maybe I can get through the wait with less stress.
Hospital called and I will have the biopsy at 7:30 tomorrow. At least it should be finished in the morning and I`ll not be there all day, maybe.
When the final biopsy results are in I will be back to report here.
My oncologist has already said that she thinks it`s all doom and gloom from this point on, but pray for me that she is wrong.

dtad

Good luck to you. Try to keep in mind they have to prove it is malignant before it is. Glad you are taking something to take the edge off. We all know how hard the wait is. Please keep us posted. We are all here for you...

FaithAndTrust

tuckersmimi I am going to say a prayer for you tonight...not helpful at all your Onc ...hopefully she is just the doom and gloom type..but that doesn't mean you get bad results..strength and hugs to you 🙏🙏

Apologies if my signature details don't come up I have to try sort that out!

fightergirl711

Glad to hear you are taking the ativan. Is there an onc who can give you results sooner rather than later? I'm sorry you are so scared. Praying for you.

tuckersmimi

Faith and trust thank you so much for the prayers, and yes you are correct about the biopsy and my oncologist. I like her but I don`t love her as some do theirs...

tdad, thank you so much for being here for me and as soon as I get results I will come here to post.

fightergirl711 the "Happy Pills" have done wonders for my well being. I slept wonderful last night.

I will also be seeing my Pirmary Care doctor on Tuesday. I love her and we are very close. She`s been my doctor for many years and are really great friends.
She of course will not be able to tell me a treatment plan, but I am almost certain when I ask her to tell me if it`s malignant or not she will do so.

FaithAndTrust

so good to hear you tuckersmimi...you sound STRONG which is going to help you. Glad you have a good relationship with your Primary Care doc ..at least you know she is in your corner.

Big hugs and wishing you strength.

grainne

waiting and watching and hoping with you x

shoppygirl

I am so sorry that you are dealing with this. Lung nodules are so common (I have one). It is possible that your cough caused it to grow and that it is just inflammation left behind. I think that it is a very good sigh that you only have one.

I am thinking if you and sending you healing thoughts. 🙏🙏

Let u know what happens.

VLH

Waiting for test results is the pits and it's difficult to know if symptoms are cancer-related or something else completely. Accupril gave me a dry, hacking cough to a point where I couldn't get a single sentence out, but now my mind would immediately go to mets. Fingers crossed for good news!

Hopeful82014

I hope the bx went ok today and that your MO will soon be prove wrong on all counts. It's good to know that you can turn to your PCP. Praying for good results and that you can get through the waiting without too much more wear and tear. Hugs and prayers.

TarheelMichelle

I wish you well. I had a difficult, CT-guided lung biopsy but at least it clarified what I already suspected.

It sounds like you "like" your doctors but from an outsider's opinion, your medical care missed the mark. I had pleural effusions and 2 cm size lung lesions. They didn't show up on an X-ray; too small. The fact that you had something show up on an X-ray was a red flag IMO and two people ruled out cancer from looking at CT scans -- are these the people you want to take care of you if you do have cancer in your lung?

Please, get second and third opinions. You can spend time looking for one now. And consider getting another oncologist even if you have to travel farther. It's your health. Not every hospital is staffed with the best of the best.

I hope you won't consider my words harsh. I'm just concerned. I've had someone read my CT scan incorrectly and I feel it's my duty to caution people about human error. Three years ago, the person who read my CT scan at my local hospital said I had cancer in my liver and needed chemo immediately. I went immediately to my MO (at Sloan-Kettering, best cancer care in the country)and had a PET scan done, which not only measures lesions but quantifies their avidity. I did NOT have cancer in my liver, have never had cancer in my liver and don't need chemo. But if I had believed my local cancer center, I'd have gone through chemo for nothing (which could have made my cancer worse).

In terms of organs, better the lungs than the liver. Plenty of treatments available.

Best wishes for the future.

tuckersmimi

TarheelMichelle, no I do not find your words harsh and you haven`t said anything that I am not already planning to do.
I am in the process of making preparations to go to M.D.Anderson as of right now.
My next door neighbor who has liver cancer, has just returned from there and is giving me advise as to how to set up the appointment even before I get the biopsy results.. Thank you.

LoveMyFamily

Thinking of you, Tuckers... hoping the biopsy results come soon. Glad you got a good night's sleep... that can do wonders. ((gentle hugs))

tuckersmimi

Just wanted to come back here to report that I got the results late this afternoon from the needle biopsy.......B9....!!

Giving all praise to God and to those of you here that prayed for me and sent well wishes.

I do have some kind of lung infection and will be seeing a Pulmonary specialist one day next week to try and decide what is going on within my right lung.

Surely it can`t be as serious as Stage IV breast cancer mets to my lung. Thank you all for caring.

You are an amazing group and I wish you all health and happiness. Prayers for you all.

grainne

great news! Thank goodness. You will sleep better tonight!

Meow13

What great news!

ChiSandy

Whew! Inflammation from infection or even excessive coughing (thanks to ACE inhibitors like Lisinopril) can cause granulation tissue that shows up on scans as nodules. Happened twice to my husband....and both times benign, followed by disappearance of the nodules. Once you get this lung thing cleared up, you might want to ask about being switched to another, newer class of antihypertensives, such as ARBs (angiotensin-receptor-blockers like Cozaar or Avapro, which don’t carry as great a risk of intractable cough). The cough, BTW, is a feature--not a bug--of ACE inhibitors because it is triggered in the bradykinin cycle. It’s a reflex that can’t be suppressed without powerful and often harmful agents like opioids. I started out on Zestril (lisinopril). I couldn’t attend plays or symphony concerts, much less sing. And on a bus trip through the Alps, an entire busload of angry doctors and their spouses insisted I hit up pharmacies for codeine cough syrups and lozenges--which only barely worked. I’m on an ARB (Benicar, or olmesartan/HCTZ, which doesn’t make me cough and gives me great BP management).

Moderators

That's great news tuckermimi! We're delighted for you.

farmerlucy

Hooray!!

AmyQ

Tuckersmimi,

I started reading your thread a short time ago and much like a great book, couldn't wait until the end...thank goodness! If I feel relief, then of course you feel relief as well. What a blessing.

Good luck with whatever your future treatments hold. Please look around BCO, learn, laugh and connect. Before you know it, you'll be enjoying a daily check-in with your first cup of coffee.

Amy

Sunshine0804

I just received a call from my BS. I had a chest xray done yesterday and she said it shows a nodule. I go for a CT scan tomorrow morning. Freaking out!

tuckersmimi

Sunshine0804, please try and not panic the way that I did.
I know, easy for me to say because my scare is over for this time. I`m sure there will (could) be other scares down the road.
As soon as I read your post I said a prayer for you, and please do come back and update us here when you get your C.T. results.
One thing that my scare brought to me beside a good ending, was a whole new group of caring people that I now know that I can turn too in troubled and scary times.
Again thank you all for caring and ChiSandy thank you for the information. I will pass this on to my Pirmary Care doctor at my Tuesday`s appointment next week, as she is the one that monitors and prescribes my b/p meds.

shoppygirl

Best news I have heard all day! I am so happy for you!

I guess that this is a good reminder to us that even though we have had cancer, we can still have other benign issues too!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend ! 😘

FaithAndTrust

dear tuckersmimi have been thinking about you a lot...so so glad to hear your great news. Prayers answered God is good. Your relief must be huge. Have a wonderful weekend you deserve it♥️👍