My PET in November, 14 weeks post radiation, was clear with the exception of the left pulmonary apex with low-level activity. The doctors agreed this was nothing to worry about.

Last Tuesday I had a followup CT Scan. The results were uploaded to my "Follow My Health" account online today. The results showed. "There is a new ground-glass nodule within the left upper lobe measuring up to 14 mm". Followed by: 1. New spiculated area of ground-glass within the left upper lobe which may be
infectious or inflammatory.

I'm not scheduled to see the Dr. to discuss until next week. Has anyone experienced this and does it mean the SCC has spread from my tonsils and lymph nodes to my lungs?

Just when you think your in the clear. WOW!

Thanks,

Dave

Im so sorry you are going thru such a panic from trying to interpret the pathologists report!!! Ive been there many times too and it sure is NOT easy. Best thing we can do here is to point you towards your medical team who ordered the tests. As a group of fellow OC patients/survivors and caregivers who do NOT have professional medical backgrounds, education, training, etc... we arent able to know exactly what your report means. Doctors/pathologists have their own medical-type language with terms the average person hasnt been exposed to. Instead of playing guessing games, I suggest calling the doc who ordered the test tomorrow and speak to the doc or the nurses, you could ask to move your appointment up too.

One thing Ive learned over the years... its NOT cancer til the biopsy says it is. Do the best you can to stay super busy to help keep your mind off over-worrying. Instead of spending time on unproductive and upsetting worrying, try doing positive things instead. I know its not easy to avoid the "what if" way of thinking but at this point you really cant be certain whats going on, hopefully its nothing serious!!!

Please let us know how you make out. Best wishes with everything!!!

Thank you ChristineB!

Saw the Doc this morning. He is setting up another CT in 6 weeks. He said the CT isn't definitive but he suspects it's an infection and gave several reasons why he thought that. He prescribed antibiotics and told me to try not to obsess over it, which is hard to do. He also said to stop Googling it!

It's so hard not to think the worst and look for hope wherever you can find it.

Thank you again for your feedback!

Dave

Im so glad you were able to get in to see your doc so quickly!!! Im sure you must feel so much better after their explanation and reassurance. Its not uncommon for the first scan post rads to "light up" due to many patients who recently finished rads still have some swelling. Any inflammation will show up as a false positive.

Yes, you are correct in saying its VERY difficult not to jump to what everyone here fears the most... a recurrence or mets to another area. Its not easy to stop the immediate reaction almost everyone has with the "what if..." way of thinking, especially so soon after finishing rads where its all so fresh in your mind. In time you can help yourself to avoid the "what if's..." by diverting your attention to more positive productive tasks whenever you find yourself "going there". I used to clean out my closets which was a job I never looked forward to doing. Once I ran out of closets to purge and organize, I moved onto dresser drawers and kitchen cabinets/pantry shelves. Maybe a similar household task would help you to refocus on what you have control over while you do something positive to see all your hard work thru the positive results. You could try doing things that require your full attention like start a new hobby, read detailed books or watch movies with complex plots or anything positive to keep you busy and your focus away from the "what if's...".

It took me years to learn how to avoid the "what if..." way of thinking when suddenly facing something that has the potential to be a serious health issue. Staying busy and focusing on positive things within my control until the entire situation has been fully investigated and explained works for me (after LOTS of practice). I had a lung "spot" come up on a check up scan and on the next scan as well. After a year of the "spot" appearing and never changing it was determined to be nothing serious. If I hadnt already learned to avoid the "what if's..." that would have been one heck of a difficult year, it would have been wasted worrying about something beyond my control. Worrying has never helped anyone, changed a test result, made anyone feel better or done anything positive at all. Worrying about things we have no control over only brings us more unneeded stress, anxiety, it makes everyone feel lousy to the point where it negatively affects their health and everyday lives by making them even more upset and unproductive. Its been at least 8 years since my lung "spot" scare and Im happy to report nothing ever became of it, no changes so everything's ok. We have a couple sayings around here that fits my "spot" situation.... "sometimes a spot is just a spot" and "its NOT cancer until the biopsy says it is".

Best wishes with your upcoming scan!!! No matter what the results turn out to be, please let us know. OCF members always stick together and worry about one of our own when something like this happens. Hang in there!!!

For what it’s worth, my pet scan also showed a couple of small nodules in lung. The doc says those are not uncommon and often are residues of infection and are usually not cancerous. They will be monitoring them in future scans to see if they grow or not