Waiting for lung nodules to get bigger

In 2018 

Hi Maggie59 I am sorry to hear you have this worry over lung nodules. That is an awful situation to find yourself in. It is so frustrating not being able to have a biopsy. Have your medical team been able to give you any thoughts as to what is going on? I have known people to have lung nodules that have been benign, in fact my dad has lung nodules, but he has been told it is nothing of concern. I hope you get some answers soon, as being in limbo is not a nice feeling. 

Hi chellesimo

It’s great that your dad’s nodules are benign, my oncologist seems to think mines are malignant, I think they can tell from the scan. I will get my scan results at the end of December so hopefully they will be big enough to biopsy and I can get a treatment plan in place. 

Hi. I had two nodules on my left lung in dec 21. It was wait& watch for 3 mths ' apparently thats the procedure they do to see if they grow ..I had a wedge resection done on the lower lobe& an ablation on upper lobe.Op went well with no further treatment ,was in remission until a week ago.. 

Oh no sorry, has something else shown up? They have been monitoring my nodules since April which is a very long time to cope mentally, mine are too numerous to resect so will probably be chemo and immunotherapy. My scan is at end of the month so I'm really hoping this time they can do a biopsy and then I can start treatment.

Morning. Yes on my pelvis & they think  on my lung again but it could be thickening  due to my op a year ago.. Will find out more next weds 20th when I speak to my oncologist.  I'm here if you need to chat.x

Good luck on the 20th, let me know what happens x

Hi Maggie, I hope you don't mind me jumping on your post. I sincerely hope things are going better for you. The fear of the unknown and having no plan is worse than anything isn't. 

My Mum is going through a similar journey to you. She had a lobectomy in December 2020 (middle lobe of right lung) and then follow up chemo (lymph showed some when removed during lobectomy, but hadn't showed any previously).

Since then she has had the clear scans until Jan 24, one nodule in the right lung top lobe and another in the bottom lobe. 

The scan in April then has shown the nodules have grown slightly (still only 4mm) but nevertheless they have grown. The left lung now appears to have a cluster of nodules as well. 

The plan is to just wait (initially umtil October but thankfully they are now going to scan again in July)...but to me it feels so wrong, the rule I understand is find it and treat it early is key!

Hi AElen

I'm sorry to hear about your mum's progression, waiting for cancer to grow before it can be treated doesn't seem to make sense.I did ask my oncologist about that early on and he said that it is the case in early stage cancers that can be cured, but mine was now stage 4 and incurable so had to now be managed in the best way possible. I waited from April last year until January for a biopsy. I was so worried about it that I went for a second opinion at the Royal Marsden in September and the doctors there agreed with my oncologist saying the lung nodules were too small to biopsy. My oncologist did say to me I could opt to have chemo at any point but, because they had no biopsy, it would be a general treatment and not specific to me. I was also feeling well with no symptoms and he wasn't keen to stuff me full of toxic chemicals. When I eventually got a biopsy it was because it had spread to my lymph nodes. 

I'm now happy that I didn't opt for chemo as I was lucky enough to have a gene mutation and am now on targeted treatment in the form of a tablet (Tagrisso) that I take at home every day. So far, so good, virtually no side effects and I had my first scan end of April after two and a half months on Tagrisso. The radiology report said there was a significant decrease in the size and number of nodules, some lymph nodes had disappeared and some were bigger, but I believe that can sometimes be due to swelling after starting the treatment. I think my next scan will be end of July so will give me a clearer picture. I feel SO lucky that I'm able to have this treatment and will never take it for granted.

Wishing your mum all the best, I hope she doesn't have too long to wait before she starts treatment.

Thank you so much for your kind words and for opening up about your journey, I really am glad the new medication is going well and I will be crossing everything that your scan in July goes well xx