Bad News/Good News/Keep the Faith

[BonnieR]

Think that is the best title for this saga! Will try to summarize. I had a chronic cough for a few months. No other symptoms of pneumonia or what not. Finally had scans. PET, CAT. They showed a few areas of concern. Nodules that lighted up. Consult with oncology thoracic surgeon. He suspected possibly 4th stage BC but even more possible, primary lung cancer! Only way to access this lobe for biopsy was to perform surgery. If it was negative, fine. If positive for primary lung cancer he would remove the lobe and that would remove the whole cancer. So I undergo chest surgery to conduct the biopsy. The frozen section comes back positive for bronchoalveolar carcinoma. They remove my right middle lobe and lots of lymphnodes. I spend a few more days in the hospital recovering from surgery and wrapping my brain around this new development. After 3 days the surgeon comes to tell me he has bad news and good news. The bad news is that the lab made a mistake. The good news is that I do NOT have lung cancer! Further analysis showed that the nodules were a chronic pneumonia of some sort! So the lobectomy was for naught. Can you even imagine my range of emotions?
I wanted to share this with you all for the cautionary tale that it is. And for the hope that it contains. Even the darkest moments can turn around. My husband would not accept the diagnosis until the final lab report was done, and he proved to be right!
I am going to take this reprieve and make the most of it!
And please, everybody, KEEP THE FAITH!