Years ago a chest x-ray was part of my annual physical. Since moving to Florida I had not had one in 13 years so I asked my doctor to write an Rx. I had the x-ray in March and was asked to come back the next day to do it again. Sure enough, a tiny spot was found. I then had a CT Scan, Pet Scan and other tests and yes I had lung cancer. It was in it's very early stages and I was feeling very sad that this had happened to me. I had no symptoms, just had not had an x-ray. Two months later I had DaVinci robotic surgery to remove the lower lobe of my left lung. I was out of the hospital within 48 hours of the surgery. Pathology showed no other cancer cells in my lymph nodes and my cancer was stage 1A.
My takeaway is if you think you are at risk (former smoker or work conditions) have your doctor order tests. If I was not proactive, my cancer might not have been discovered until it was too late. Testing saved my life.
Today I had my first CT scan post-op. I'll have the results when I see my doctor next week.
