Large ground glass opacity - 1273599

Thanks Janine.

We had thought that perhaps the bloodwork would show something autoimmune going on to explain the mass. The pulmonologist is kind of amazed that I'm not having symptoms from a mass this size and I find it especially hard to believe that pneumonia or TB wouldn't be causing symptoms, especially for three years.

I'm 41 and aside from being about 50 pounds overweight am in good health. I smoked about a half a pack a day for 8 months around 2010. There's a strong history of cancer in my family, but no lung cancer.

I have a three year old and a one year old and am nervous but if it is BAC I'll be grateful we caught it this early.

Should also add that I have a similar but much smaller growth in my right lower lobe and that my left hilar node is enlarged. I'll have a pre op exam, including ct scan, the day before the surgery and want to be prepared to talk with the surgeon about possibilities. I don't know if they'll just do the biopsy or if he'll say something along the lines of if it's x we can do y or z while we're in there.

Good lord I hate all the unknowns.

Thanks again Janine.

That's what's got me worried about decision making. If it's a slew cancer that's spread in my lungs would it be smart to do a lobectomy without trying other treatments first and/or knowing more about what type of cancer it might be and possible mutations.

Still praying it's just some scarring from chronic aspiration or a treatable infection but trying to be prepared for everything.

Thanks again. This site is such a wonderful resource!

Thanks Dr. West. The question though is whether a lobectomy would still be smart if it's not confined to one lobe? In that case does it make more sense to get more information before deciding on the lobectomy?

Thank you Dr. West.

Thanks Janine. I'm fortunate that we have a decent cancer center that is part of the Seattle cancer care alliance. So if the biopsy does turn up a malignancy I'll have a great place to go for some direction and advice.

My main worry, that y'all have helped me resolve, was whether to go along with or request a lobectomy if they found something. Now I feel comfortable telling the surgeon to just do the biopsy and we'll go from there afterwards.

Thanks again. You've both been very helpful.

That second opinion article is great by the way. Thanks for the info!

I'll be having a VATS. We talked about doing a needle biopsy first but the pulmonologist didn't think it likely that we'd get a diagnosis that way. And I'm more confident in the surgeons and radiologists in the bigger city because of what I know about the local ones. So we decided to just go to vats and find out what we're dealing with. We've been trying to figure it out since January and the not knowing is wearing.

Ugh.

It doesn't change anything about how we're proceeding, but I just found out that the 3cm of growth may have happened over 7 months, not three years like I thought. Turns out that on the radiology report of my December 2015 ct scan the radiologist referenced a comparison to the May 2015 scan I had for the pulmonary embolism. Trying to find out for sure from my doc.

Okay so hazy area seen in 2012, approximately 3cm of growth and more ground glass appearance between May 2015 and December 2015. I have no idea what that means as far as the chances for diagnosis. Pulmonologist says it might be a good thing and point more to inflammation. We'll see next week I guess.

Another question before I talk to the surgeon: if the growth rates of the masses in each lung are significantly different and the larger left turns out to be malignant, is it safe to assume that the smaller mass on the right is the same cancer? Would that affect the decision to have a lobectomy of the left side?

Thanks Jim. That's what I was thinking. So far nothing I've read our heard makes me think I should have a lobectomy immediately. If it does end up being a cancer we can find out what's going on for sure before we make any decisions.

So I had my biopsy. And on the ct scan the day before the radiologist noticed something on my liver. In the evening after the vats they did a full abdominal scan with contrast. Next morning the doc told me that it looked like cancer in the liver. Had a liver biopsy that afternoon. Still haven't gotten any official results. Surgeon said he still thought that the issue in the lungs might be some unrelated benign process. Once I get the calls on pathology I'll be making an appointment with an oncologist I guess.

Lung biopsy finally came back. Chronic organizing pneumonia. But at least it's benign and not related to the cancer so it's going on the back burner for the time being.

Final diagnosis is stage iv colon cancer with tumors in my liver and microscope spots of the same adenocarcinoma in my lungs along with the chronic organizing pneumonia. Thanks all for your advice.