A quick update: In Oct following a nagging cough I got a chest x-ray which exposed a very large mass in my left upper lung. This was followed by a CAT Scan, PET Scan and Biopsy all confirming that the big "C" was present.

Thanksgiving week started off with a 6 hour surgery of a "Robotic left upper lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection" in layman's terms " removal of the upper (half) lobe of the left lung and lymph's .. This was I'm happy to say all successful with all the lymph nodes coming back negative and the mass 6cm removed. So as of this Christmas Eve I am "Cancer Free" and more than a little grateful.

My original purpose in posting my circumstances was to highlight that a simple thing like an Chest x-Ray can save your life. The New Year is soon upon us so how about your resolution is to get one.

Footnote: I asked the surgeon back in October "What if I hadn't had an x-ray or I did nothing? He asked my birthday answer May, and with little pause he stated I probably would not see it!!!    

From my family to yours A Very Merry Christmas.

Congrats on being "C" free! I hope that no one ever has to actually go out that way, so I'm hoping you continue down your "clean" journey.

I have a genuine question... What made you want or need to get the X-Ray to begin with? I've never had any Dr. just do a random X-ray because. It seems there should have been a reason you felt you needed it?

I had a long term smokers cough ( I quit in 1997) however because it continued and in October some blood accompanied the cough I asked for help.  I will be honest and say that my first approach to the doctor was mildly effective with the answer that " sometimes this happens when you cough a lot and it will get better" on the second try (with more blood) he sent me for an x-ray.

Thanks for the answer!

the clot shot no doubt

What a great Christmas gift, life and a future. Congratulations!

If you do disclose it to your AME you will be deferred for a special issuance which can take over a year of back and forth with the FAA, they are backlogged and extremely difficult to get a hold of. Congratulations on getting the all clear!!

the scar would give it away.

Pretty sure that's something that is big enough you should prbably disclose it...

Thanks for your concern, however I have been retired for a number of years so the FAA are but a distant memory.

Great news and best for the future!

In a month.

Never ever ever ever disclose anything to the FAA that you don't have to or that you think you can get away with.   CAMI is not there to help you and they will not go out of their way ever to help.  

Congratulations on the successful outcome! (And Merry Christmas, by the way.) Let's hope and pray that the doctors got all of it, and that you truly are cancer-free. But here's the thing: Doctors try to convince us that they know a lot about cancer. My dad's cancer journey spanned nearly a decade. It started in his throat with the removal of his larnyx. After that operation, they assured him, "Not a cancer cell in your body, sir!" But the cancer came back in different places. After the removal of his, um, "boys" the doctors again told him, "Not a cancer cell in your body!" They were wrong, and that wasn't the last of his operations. We learned two lessons the hard way: 1) Cancer can hide in places that a PET scan cannot detect; and 2) Doctors really don't know squat about cancer but will confidently assure you that they do. The only thing they got right was when they gave him six months to live. After dad died, our family's faith in the medical profession was profoundly shaken.

if dad lived for 10 years after the first diagnosis, he probably was cancer free for a good part of it. just because you are cancer free doesn't mean it won't return. to say doctors don't know anything about cancer is ridiculous.

"if dad lived for 10 years after the first diagnosis, he probably was cancer free for a good part of it. just because you are cancer free doesn't mean it won't return. to say doctors don't know anything about cancer is ridiculous."

Now there's some fine logic! Let's see...just because you're "cancer-free" doesn't mean that you're really cancer-free. You've still got it, but by God, you're cancer-free until it comes back! Heh. Dad wasn't diagnosed as "cancer free" in 1985 and then lived ten years with no cancer until it suddenly returned and killed him. It was a long battle. They would proclaim, "not a cancer cell in your body" and it always came back. First it was his larnyx, then they'd have to cut something else out or off. After he died, it became a morbid joke in the family: "If we had a nickel for every time we heard the doctors tell him that he was cancer-free..." By the way, there is ZERO history of cancer in my family, before or since. The doctors never could tell us what caused dad's cancer. They experimented with different treatments with him. None was successful. He was as frustrated as we were. 

At a party twenty years after dad's death, I met dad's oncologist by chance - the man who's name was on the building of the cancer center where dad repeatedly went for treatment. I asked him specifically about that "not a cancer cell in your body, sir!" bull that we were told so often. I asked him, if it's not in our cells, then where is it? In our DNA? At some sub-cellular level? The doctor looked visibly uncomfortable and paused before answering. He said that there was a lot they just didn't know about cancer. And with that, I agreed. Doctors don't know squat about it. 

with his name on the building would know that cancer cells can remain in the body but I doubt the doctors ever said he was cancer free but in remission but I don't believe your whole cockamamie doctors don't know anything about cancer story anyway. cancer does not always come back either and who gives a sh*t if you don't have cancer in you family but that's a bunch of baloney too. people make up elaborate stories to push an agenda know what I mean bro

Heh, believe what you want, I don't care. I was there; you weren't, despite your authoritative but laughable claim of what dad was told. The story is not made up. Dad was never told that he was in remission, but thanks for that assumption, doctor. It was always, "Not a cancer cell in your body, sir!" Got everybody's hopes up, at least the first and second times we heard it. Then we became skeptics. Like I said, it's become a morbid family "joke" now. Maybe you've never had a close relative suffer with cancer, and that's fine. Talk to an oncologist some day. See if they know what causes cancer in a person with no family history of it. Ask them if it's possible for the cancer to "hide" and reappear somewhere else in the body? Then come back on here and spout your dumb remarks, mursey.

dad had throat cancer and they cut his balls off and he was more frustrated than the rest of us

"dad had throat cancer and they cut his balls off and he was more frustrated than the rest of us"

I hope your dad dies peacefully in his sleep with no health problems. In my dad's case, it wasn't only the loss of certain things that was frustrating, but the frequent visits to his oncologist for the "let's see if this works!" treatments, some of which were very debilitating. It's bad enough for the patient, but the whole family ends up going through it with him/her. It's not fun for anyone. You sound like a real compassionate person. May you or a close family member never have to endure it. 

Very sorry for your loss but there is a monumemental difference between now and 1985. Unfortunately it sounds like you guys had an Oncologist who made promises he/she shouldnt have. But living 10 years on metastatic cancer in 1985 is actually phenominal.  Be thankful for what they gave you and stop blaming them for what you think they took. Fact of the matter is Oncologists gave you 10 years with your Dad.

his dad had cancer and died of it after 10 years. The rest of his inane story is hogwash. The part about him meeting the doctor at a party 20 years later was amusing though.