Need advice

Hi everyone. My brother who is 38 recently went to the hospital for tests because of a nagging cough and swollen lymph nodes in his neck. after doing an x ray the doctor discovered a 1mm spot on his lung and suspected lung cancer. They then referred him to a specialist and he performed a biopsy on a lymph node under his arm,.after the surgery the specialist told my brother that it was definitively NOT lung cancer but that the results would show what was going on, the specialist then gave him his results a week later and the paperwork states that it is ""1mm focus of metastatic adenocarcinoma highly suggestive for primary lung"....He has an appointment on friday at the Ottawa general cancer clinic for Pet scan and brain scan and counseling. He has not lost any weight or appetite and feels great other than his lymph nodes being swollen in his neck and a small cough that he says is from the pressure of the swollen neck lymph nodes.I would like to know what you guys think might be happening as he has been going through these testing phases for 1 month now and they still are not telling him exactly what he has. This is very hard on my familly as well as his as we don't know what to tell him to keep his spirits up.

 

On 6/29/2009 canadiens wrote:

Hi everyone. My brother who is 38 recently went to the hospital for tests because of a nagging cough and swollen lymph nodes in his neck. after doing an x ray the doctor discovered a 1mm spot on his lung and suspected lung cancer. They then referred him to a specialist and he performed a biopsy on a lymph node under his arm,.after the surgery the specialist told my brother that it was definitively NOT lung cancer but that the results would show what was going on, the specialist then gave him his results a week later and the paperwork states that it is ""1mm focus of metastatic adenocarcinoma highly suggestive for primary lung"....He has an appointment on friday at the Ottawa general cancer clinic for Pet scan and brain scan and counseling. He has not lost any weight or appetite and feels great other than his lymph nodes being swollen in his neck and a small cough that he says is from the pressure of the swollen neck lymph nodes.I would like to know what you guys think might be happening as he has been going through these testing phases for 1 month now and they still are not telling him exactly what he has. This is very hard on my familly as well as his as we don't know what to tell him to keep his spirits up.

Your brother is very fortunate to have caught it this early if it is in fact lung cancer.  The PET will show if there is any metabolic activity anywhere.  If it turns out to be cancer, 1 mm is extremely small.  And they will need a biopsy of the spot to actually determine if it is cancer and what kind it is.  The fact that the node was negative is very good because it may mean it has not spread. 

Even if it turns out to be malignant, your brother has an excellent chance to beat this.  I was diagnosed with stage 4, both lungs, from the very beginning and I'm still here 3 years later and going strong. 

Keep your faith and a positive attitude.  That's half the battle. 

Good luck and God Bless

Thank you for your reply. Well some of his results came back today and the doctor confirms that it is lung cancer. they haven't specified what kind but he did say it was aggressive and his chance of survival where almost zero. things are very complicated because my brother was rushed to the hospital 3 days ago because he couldn't breath right, had no energy and was coughing alot, it turned out to be that fluid had accumulated around his heart and they had to go in and drain it, then the next day his lung collapsed and fluid is still being drained because it keeps acumilating so they need to solve that problem before they can work on the other. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does this mean that it is too late for him? We have so many questions but seems to take so long for answers.