I saw an ad on television about the Smart Lung Scan. I had quit smoking more than 17 years ago and wondered whether I qualified. At my annual wellness checkup, I asked my doctor if it would be a good idea to get one. He was reluctant at first, as it had been so long since I quit smoking, but he ordered it anyway. The scan was so easy. You walked in, kept your clothes on, slid in and out of the scanner a few times, and were done. I don’t think it took more than five minutes.
A few days later, the results came back with a suspicious nodule. I went to the nodule clinic, where they began to monitor it. Three months later, I had another scan and the nodule had grown, so I had a PET scan and it lit up. I had a biopsy, and it came back stage 1 squamous cell carcinoma. I had a lobectomy. Tests confirmed stage 1 lung cancer, with no lymph node spread. They got it all — no chemotherapy, no radiation. Almost two years later, I am still cancer-free.
I had no symptoms. If I hadn’t seen that commercial about the Smart Lung Scan, I don’t know what my future would be.
