Spots on lungs

[kgatwood]

My wife is 30 years old and has recently completed a mastectomy, radiation, and chemo. The tumor was 2.7x2.7x2.7 in size was growing at a 9/9 rate and is her2nue+. She is still taking herceptin treatments. Before she ever did the mastectomy, chemo or radiation the hospital examined her thouroughly and found another lump in her other breast, some small spots on her lungs and a small spot on her liver. The lump was biopsied which came back negative and the lung and liver spots were too small to do anything with at the time (1mm). Now that she is finished the treatment plan (except for herceptin) the latest CT shows that the lump in her remaining breast has dissapeared and all the spots on her lungs and liver have dissapeared except for one spot in her lungs which is now at 2mm. What is the likelyhood that the the lump and spots dissapearing were reactions to the chemo? What is the likelyhood that the remaining spot on the lung is cancerous? The Doctors keep saying not to worry that it is probably nothing, but they said that before when she found the very first lump. All we kept hearing was, "oh you are so young it is probably nothing, don't worry" then when it was cancerous it was, "don't worry it is probably slow growing and we can get it with a lumpectomy, etc, etc.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

[Londres70]

I would recommend getting the opinion from the Pulmonologist first and asking him/her if she should adhere to this 3-6 months schedule in regards to the CT's.  

In my opinion the 3-6 months schedule is reasonable.  

[kgatwood]

I will have her request that the Pulmonologist right away. Your opinions have confirmed what my own concerns that the spots dissapearing/growing were in response to chemo and radiation i.e. cancer.
I am tierd of hearing from the doctors that it is likely nothing to worry about and that they will be monitoring them.

Right now she is scheduled for CT's every 3-6 months. Would you say that is a reasonable program?

[Londres70]

I am not exactly sure what you last question is.  

Sounds like she responded to the combo of the chemo/radiation in regards to the "spots" that are gone.  

I couldn't imagine the spot on her lung being nothing other than malignant/cancer, however, this could be something else.  I would be getting a Pulmonologist's opinion.  

[lucknlove1989]

It is quite possible that it might be metastatic. Have they diagnosed her with lung mets? If so then that might be what you see in the CT scan.

[kgatwood]

She did have a PET scan done after chemo but before radiation. The doctors said that it didn't show anything. Since then and post radiation was when the CT showed that all spots on her lungs except one were gone and that the one was growing. I was wrong before and the size was actually 2mm to 4mm. The lump in her right breast also was gone in the CT. What do you think the likelyhood of the spots going away was due to chemo and do you think it is likely the spot growing in her lung is cancer?

Thanks everyone who have posted. I really appreciate it.

[Londres70]

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging technique in which a radioactive isotope (a radionuclide ) is administered to a patient. These radionuclides are gathering in certain places in the body (e.g. a tumor).

This imaging will scan overall for tumors.

[kgatwood]

What is a PET scan? It sounds familiar so I think she may have had one already.

I agree with you that she is a stage III. I will also look in to the Pulmonologist

[Londres70]

She sounds like a Stage III in my opinion.  

Well, I would request a PET to be done and a Pulmonologist's consult.  

[kgatwood]

She has finished with chemo and radiation but is still taking herceptin. She went through 6 cycles of chemo and 5 weeks of radiation.

The oncologist said that she was somewhere between a stage two and three. I'm no doctor but from the research I've done, he size of the tumor puts in in a stage two but because she had 4 nodes also infected that would put her in stage three (the only information I found on nodes was that if there were 4 or more the cancer would be considered stage three)

[Londres70]

To add: what stage are they diagnosing her with?

[lucknlove1989]

How many cycles of treatment has she completed? And the "you are so young" comment is very commonly made, but it is definitely not accurate. Is her cancer metastatic? Has she had a PET scan done recently?