Hi all
i was diagnosed with asthma in October last year due to a terrible wheeze. Fast forward to February when I had a nasty dose of Covid, no cough to be worried about during the virus but one that got progressively worse, together with awful breathlessness. I also started to cough up small blood clots but I thought that was due to rupturing blood vessels when coughing. I called Respiratory to get an appointment as it had started to get very worrying
since speaking to respiratory about 5 weeks I had a cat scan which showed a 3cm tumour in my right lung. I went on holiday for a week, with the blessing of the consultant. I then had a bronchoscopy, with the result given to me last Thursday. I have a 3cm malignant tumour in the middle of the right lung (result says T3 N3 squamous cell carcinoma of lung), which protrudes into one of the bronchial tubes (hence the breathlessness) & has also spread into about 3 lymph nodes in the chest. I was told it was inoperable due to the location & was curable BUT that it was treatable.
Im due to have a PET Scan (hopefully this Friday but not confirmed yet) and the biopsies are in London having further test with results in the next 2 weeks.
In the letter it says “we have discussed this is not resectable & therefore not curable, but potentially encompassable in the radical field & we need a PET-CT to give us further information about this”
I’ve been really positive throughout the journey so far but this one paragraph has knocked me for six, probably as I don’t really understand what it’s saying. It says potentially & not “it is” treatable! Does anyone know if this is suggesting there’s a possibility of no treatment or do you think Im over reacting?
im a bit shocked at my reaction as I’m not a drama Queen normally but this has really shaken me up. Any advice is very welcome xx
Hi Mandrose, I am not surprised you are feeling like this. This is a very scary time for you, and as much as we try to stay positive, it only takes one little thing to knock us off balance.
I think you should remind yourself that they have already told you this is treatable, and although the letter is worded with terminology you may not understand, it does not say you are not treatable.
Oncologist work very hard to prolong peoples lives, and they will only say that treatment is not possible if they thought that person was too unwell to be able to cope with the treatment, or all treatment options have been unsuccessful. There are many different treatments available for lung cancer now, and they have to do all of the tests possible to decide which treatment will be most suitable for each patient.
I agree with Elly that either a call to your lung nurse if you have been assigned one, is a good idea, or speak to your GP about the letter. Hopefully they can put your mind at rest and you can get back to your more positive thoughts xx
Thank you both. A good night sleep (well, in between the normal coughing, lol) saw me wake up back in my positive frame of mind. My sister & friend also said the same, it didn’t say it wasn’t treatable, that was just me panicking! im not going to disturb the already overstretched busy nurses, as I feel calmer, so will wait for my pet scan & the final results which hopefully will show localised spread & targeted treatment in one area.
I feel a bit daft for overreacting but as you know it’s a bit of an up & down experience, luckily I’m back on the up again 
️ xx
