[CoolBreeze]

That was interesting, Jackie, thanks.

GQMom, sighing is not a sign of lung mets. In the years I've been involved with metsters, I've never once heard anybody complain about sighing as a symptom. You admit to having anxiety and I am guessing your sighing is part of an anxiety syndrome.

It's shameful how nobody teaches people to get well after a traumatic experience like cancer. They amputate a body part or two, they put us through a poisoning system, they tell us that it could come back any time and we aren't safe for years, if ever, and then say "good-bye." So, we are left with these new bodies, and every ache and pain or odd thing we imagine is cancer returning.

They really need to teach us how likely cancer is to return (not very) and what to look for and how to relax and not think every ache and pain is cancer. And, that it takes a long time to get used to or heal our bodies, and stuff like pain in the hips and lower back is normal after chemo. Sighing could be a sign of low red counts still, or it could be anxiety. And, the more you pay attention to these aches and pains, the more real they become and the more they bother and hurt.

I think most cancer survivors need a little PTSD therapy as I think most suffer from it. And, who wouldn't? You go through the wringer and then are left alone.

Your symptom is not a symptom of mets. The truth is, a lot of us don't have symptoms when we are diagnosed. It's found incidentially (as mine was). I have symptoms now but that is two years of a tumor growing in my liver to feel it. Common symptoms would be extra fatigue or weight loss. Cancer has to take up a lot of your lungs to cause coughs and shortness of breath so it is usually not going to have the kind of symptom you describe.

However, if it is coming back, it will make itself known. My liver mets were found, even though I had zero symptoms, no tumor markers or anything. Most people have the same experience. And, remember, finding mets is not like finding early stage cancer. The quicker you find it, does not mean you will live longer. At that point, it responds to tx or not.

Please try to enjoy this time you have. Please tell yourself every day that you are a Survivor, that you made it, that you will live a long life. Tell yourself that every morning and tell yourself that every night and tell yourself that with each sigh. Enjoy these beautiful days you have. Don't let fear imprison you. If you find that it is, get some help - there is no shame in that. The reality is cancer can come back - the reality is also that the odds are in your favor that it won't. So try to mentally put yourself there. Even if it did come back, you would never regret doing that.

*hugs*