Henry had his Annual Pulmonology appointment on Wednesday. He had been treated for bronchitis for several months, . He has COPD. He had the upper left lobe of his lung removed in 1998, an encapsulated adenocarcinoma, and was pronounced cured. So, over the past few years, he had fallen into a routine with the PA: breathing test, x-ray, “do you want an inhaler?”, we will see you next year.
This time when the PA came back in the room, she had the Pulmonologist with her. Henry had never met this doctor and was nervous about what this might mean. The doctor said we see a mass on your x-ray and we want to do a CT Scan today. Henry walked over for the scan and then back to the doctor’s office. “Well, there is a mass in your right lung, in the center of your chest and an inflamed lymph node in the center of your chest. I need to do a biopsy of both to see what we are dealing with.”
So, our first week of waiting began. Having had a very positive quick diagnosis and surgery 21 years ago (Henry had no symptoms, a spot showed up on an x-ray at an annual exam. 24 days later … surgery got it all and no further treatment necessary) I guess we were very naive about what this new bout with cancer was going to entail.
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