Would you like to follow along? Is it Lung Cancer or not?

[PonyPals]

I am only posting in here for traffic as I need some hand holding I guess.

My dad 68 (who is awesome and I am extremely close to) has not been feeling well, horrible cough and night sweats. Took him to the GP and they thought pneumonia. Same day Xray followed by a CT scan as they saw something on the lungs (can’t complain about Australian health care, they have been amazing)

they told us he has a 5.3cm mass with necrosis (dying tissue) which is what is probably causing the cough.

Referred to the lung cancer centre and they did a series of tests.

brain CT - clear
PET - clear no spread apart from mass and nearby nodes enlarged
Broncho biopsy- and we just got results and they are inconclusive… they said no malignant cells were found but some abnormal cells were found but they don’t know what they are.

They are still convinced it is cancer but want him to take antibiotics for 2 weeks and then do a CT guided biopsy.

i am so confused… one second it is cancer and now they are saying it might be an infection but most likely still Lung Cancer
I am so stressed and feel like I can’t eat or function

I'm not medical so can't comment on tests but just sending you a hug and handhold.

Also not a medical professional: but maybe they want to rule out a simple infection first? That way, after antibiotics, when things are a bit more settled, they can get an accurate picture of what it is. Sometimes an infection can elevate results or distort results.

If it's any help @PonyPals (not an expert, not medical). The husband of a friend had similar about 10 years ago. It was eventually diagnosed as a fungal infection on the lung. It is chronic but treatable. He's never 100% but he's late 70s now.

Fingers crossed.

Because this is part of staging for lung cancer.

OP it does all sound a bit worrying. Biopsy results are sometimes inconclusive because the needle caught a necrotic (dead) part of the mass. They may need to repeat the biopsy

Edited - just reread and see they are planning to do so.

Sorry you are going through this.

They’ll be aware that the type of mass showing as an infection is not normal in an otherwise healthy person so they’ll be reducing the mass ( or seeing if it reduces) with antibiotics and trying to get him well enough to manage the sedation for the guided ct. I’m not a medical professional but I’ve had pneumonia and been through this. Mine fortunately was ‘just’ pneumonia but I still had three years of ct scans to check the nodules they found didn’t grow so I swerved the guided ct.

My DH had a lung infection a few years ago. The doctors were slightly different in that they were saying “we’re pretty sure it’s not cancer, but we just want to do ONE MORE TEST” and that went on for about 3 weeks (not UK). It was a terrifying time. Hope it works out for your family OP.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and comments. As a PP said they do brain scans as this is whew lung cancer likes to spread too. The doctors are seeing this huge mass and it doesn’t look good to them so they think it is most likely malignant but all the tests are inconclusive. It is such a hard time for us. The not knowing is just horrible.
the follow up biopsy is on 6th March and then a week later I hope we finally get the answers

Fingers crossed for your Dad Ponypals, i'm having a bronchoscopy biopsy tomorrow 😬dreading it, they did a lung screen last year found a small nodule on right upper lung, then a follow on CT screen feb where they said it had shrunk from 9mm to 7mm but there was now 2 more a 30mm & a 9mm in upper right lung ,so i had a pet scan which showed the 30mm very bright, & a couple in lymph nodes by chest & 1 in the bowel? so as the 30mm is too close to the chest? they are taking a sample from the nodes instead ,so that tomorrow & then a bowel 1 on saturday,then follow up appointment on the 19th obviously for the results. Ive felt absolutely fine apart from a bit of back ache high up, but nothing else so dont fancy tomorrow but i'll have too. just worried as i feel fine so just worried about the results etc. hoping they sort your Dad as the waiting is the worse.x

Good luck tomorrow Jo. Hopefully you will get answers soon for both of you

@Jo162 good luck for tomorrow 🫂❤️💐🙏

Shellyleppard Thank you so much, nearly changed my mind as my appointment was 10.15 but i didnt have it until 1.30pm & i was thinking of them that say don't have a biopsy of the lymph nodes as it makes it spread, i went ahead took a large sample & knocked my front tooth out, cant find it so straight to x ray to see if it was in the lungs but no, anyway now to look forward to my bowel biopsy on saturday . had enough today very emotional especially when i had no symptoms & it was off the back of a routine lung screen . Results appointment is the 19th,but i really appreciate your message,thank you so much.xx

Thank you so much,xx

All the best for the biopsy tomorrow - it may already be today in Australia.

Thank uou all. My dad is on antibiotics and is feeling so much better. We are praying that it is some horrible infection but the chances that it is not lung cancer are very very slim. We find out the results at the end of his week.
@Jo162 how are you? How did you go? This must be such a worrying time for you!

So confused! No result as yet from the CT guided biopsy but they want to do another CT

Thank you,I had colonoscopy on sunday, No cancer detected in bowl/colon, so what the PET Scan lit up was Severe Diverticulosis , So pleased ,just the Lung lymph node biopsy results to come on thursday. fingers crossed but i havent a good feeling for this one.xx

Thank you so much for reaching out,i had my Colonoscopy on Sunday & no cancer detected, diagnosed Severe Diverticulosis, so so Pleased ,i asked why it lit up in the PET Scan which is a worry in itself they said because it showed abnormality. So just this thursday to get over now ,the results of the lung biopsy but i'e a feeling this isnt going to be as good news, only a feeling,but will come back here after the appointment,xx

Thank you all, you all mean a great deal to me right now, Today i have had my results!!!! Agressive small cell Lung Cancer!!!!! The hospital had their MDT meeting on monday so booked me Oncology appt for tomorrow after giving me the results, they say as of today its stage 3 but theyve booked me an MRI Scan for sunday on my Liver??? & depending on that i could be stage 4!!! theyve said they want me to start Chemo asap. It cant be cured but it may slow things down. As u all might of guessed i'm absolutely devastated in my own little way!!!!!

Oh no I had such a good feeling that it would be OK. I'm really sorry it's crap news. I hope the biopsy wasn't to hideous. I will pray it's not stage 4. Massive hugs. This is so unfair. Life is just so unfair at times

Fingers crossed for your dad. They will want to do the new CT scan to compare to the pre-antibiotics one.

I have cancer. The CT scan can’t tell if a mass is cancer. It just looks like a mass. But it can track changes in size. The CT guided biopsy was literally just to get the sample, not to be used for comparison purposes. Now that he’s had the antibiotics, they’ll be looking to see if the mass shrunk (a good indication it’s an infection). Or if it got bigger (more of an indication it could be cancer, combined with the biopsy). It’s great they are being so responsive. Hope you get some answers soon.

Thinking of your dad, OP x

So sorry to read this. X