There is a woman thoracic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering that does surgery on these. It is not something that many attempt, since the area is where all the major arteries from your heart are located, and the slightest misstep is a catastrophic event. I don't have her name, but it could be chased down. That combined with RFA for the lung issues, might buy time, or reduce things to a point where other measures MIGHT be effective.

Many here might remember Glenn, who had this same progression. He tried all of this. In the end it bought him enough time to see his daughter get into college. I know from many conversations with him on the phone over a year, how difficult all of this was physically and emotionally. It is not a path for everyone. Glenn was a particularly tough and stoic man, a NY cop that was probably one of the toughest men I have ever known. When he had mets to his kidney he had it removed and lived on one. Mets to his liver were caught early and he had surgery to resect them. He never once bitched to me about the physical discomfort, and he didn't know the meaning of the words - give in. Eventually his progression was beyond these stop gap efforts. These are tough choices. In the end they may not produce the results that you wish. I am only posting this here for your consideration as you view the big picture.

I might also add that there are CT guided biopsy techniques to confirm that those chest nodes are actually malignant, again a dangerous procedure, but I can't count the times that people have been told that they have chest mets, to find out that the nodes are hot in a PET scan from something other than cancer.

Hello all,

I have a question about metastasis to the lungs which I hope to be able to attribute to nothing more than hypersensitivity.

On Monday of this week while exercising I noticed that my lungs hurt a little when I was breathing heavy. Throughout the week I continue to notice a soreness/tightness in my lungs. It is possible that I could be coming down with a cold or something but I do not have any other symptoms.

I ended up calling my Oncologist today and left a message for the nurse practicioner but feel a little silly. A one year post treatment PET CT is scheduled for 5/5/09.

What do you guys think? Can you find out that you have metastasis to the lungs in this manner or am I freaking myself out over nothing?

It is nice to be able to come to the board and ask about my fears whether they turn out to be founded or not. Thanks for being there.

Hey Frank,

There is nothing to feel silly about, we suffer from a cellular disease that has a nasty habit of hiding from treatment.

As I started recovery I developed some swelling around the ear on the same side that I had the big node removed from.

Messing with it for a couple of days I finally decide to go to the next doctor in the follow up rotation a couple of weeks early, my ENT.

It turns out that I had a blockage, umm can you say EAR WAX?

Probably nothing, could be something, its worth a quick trip to the Docs to be sure.

Jogging behind a diesel delivery truck sucking up fumes? [{;-)

Be well,

UncleVern

When was the last time your lungs were scanned? They did mine three times within a year post Tx. The first 2 had "areas that could not be excluded" and the last thankfully was all clear. With all the crap going around this flu season it may just be a bug or a pulled muscle from exercise. Sometimes I think I do more harm to my body exercising than good. But you're correct about contacting your doctors. It's never good to put anything off with our history.

Frank I almost hate to reply because I don't want to scare you with my answer, but yes it 'can' come about that way. I'm currently in treatment for lung mets which was discovered eventually after I experienced intermittent pain in my lungs (such as with deep breathing) over a period of several months. When I first experienced it (around June/July '08) they did an x-ray which didn't show anything. Finally it seemed to get worse and they sent me for a PET/CT in October, which revealed the mets to the lungs.
I hope and pray in your case the issue will be something else, but my case should at least serve to support what others have said, which is to definitely get it checked out.

I agree with what the others are saying. It's never silly to have something checked out. We know our bodies and if something doesn't seem right it's always a good idea to go to the doctor.

At the Head and Neck Support group I attended this week, there were 2 people that had gotten spots on there lung after treatment. Neither for cancer. However, I would definitely not wait to have it checked out.
Sandy

Hello all,

Thanks for the replies. Went skiing with my daughter for the weekend but before departing, at the advice of my Oncologist's nurse practicioner, I scheduled a lung x-ray for
Tuesday morning through my PCP. If it shows anything I will then follow up with my Stanford Oncologist.

I have my one year post treatment PET/CT scheduled for May 5th at Stanford. Given Steve J's response I wonder if I should push to have the PET/CT done much sooner. Any thoughts?

In the mean time, I will let you know about the X-ray.

Thanks

David,
When you say your lungs were scanned 3 times within a year post TX, what does that mean? Did you have 3 PET/CT's done within a year?

All,
The x-ray today showed all clear with no pulmonary nodules. Thanks for your support.