3-time lung cancer survivor: MD Anderson is keeping me healthy with SBRT

I started using cigarettes in the early 1970s, when I was just 16. I smoked a pack a day for more than 35 years. I didn’t quit until my granddaughter was born in 2009. Even so, somehow I never thought I’d get lung cancer. When you’re young, you feel invincible. And later, you think it’s never going to happen to you.

I don’t think that way anymore. Because I’ve been diagnosed with stage I lung cancer three separate times since I stopped smoking. The first time, I had a golf ball-sized tumor in my right lung. The last two, I had tiny nodules in my left lung.

The only treatment I’ve ever had for any of them is a kind of radiation therapy called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). But it’s done the trick every time. And MD Anderson has kept me going with that therapy alone for more than seven years.

My first lung cancer diagnosis

The first time I learned I had lung cancer was in the summer of 2013. I’d started feeling some weird chest pains. I knew something was wrong, because up until then, I’d been pretty healthy. A local nurse practitioner who is also a family friend ordered an X-ray. That’s when I found out I had lung cancer.

I’ve lived in the greater Houston area all my life, so I was aware of MD Anderson’s reputation. I knew I wanted to go there for my lung cancer treatment. That was especially true after a doctor near my home in Beaumont suggested the complete removal of my right lung as my best option. That just sounded crazy to me, so I made an appointment at MD Anderson. A few days later, I made the hour-and-a-half-long drive to the Texas Medical Center.

My lung cancer treatment: Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)

At MD Anderson, I met with thoracic surgeon Dr. Reza Mehran. After confirming my diagnosis, he discussed the best possible treatment options for me with some of his colleagues, including a thoracic radiation oncologist. Initially, they thought I might need surgery. But finally, they decided SBRT would be a better fit. It focuses the radiation directly on the tumor itself, to minimize damage to any healthy tissue around it.

As it turns out, my doctors were right. I had four days of SBRT starting on Sept. 12, 2013. And it worked so well, I didn’t need surgery, chemotherapy or anything else.

The first SBRT treatment kept me cancer-free until 2016. Then, doctors found another tiny nodule in my left lung during a routine checkup. I had another four days of SBRT to treat it, and was cancer-free until this past January. My doctors, who now include radiation oncologist Dr. Joe Chang, prescribed another four-day round of SBRT to treat the new nodule.

It wasn’t until I had a routine CT scan just before starting the next round of SBRT treatment that I learned I also had COVID-19. Dr. Chang thought the images looked suspicious for the coronavirus, so I was sent for an emergency COVID-19 test. My diagnosis was confirmed the next day. My case was so unique that Dr. Chang reported it to the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

MD Anderson helped me recover from COVID-19 and lung cancer

I never dreamed that whatever I had going on was COVID-19. It sapped my energy and appetite for a few days, but aside from that, it felt just like the allergies I’d had my whole life. Looking back, I probably caught the coronavirus at a concert back in mid-March. We didn’t know the importance of social distancing and wearing masks at that point.

The safety precautions MD Anderson took not only helped me to recover fully. They also protected other patients and employees from COVID-19. That was a real comfort to me.

Life after COVID-19 and lung cancer

Today, I just feel extremely lucky. Not only because I survived COVID-19, but because I’m still here, even after three bouts of lung cancer.

I still have about 10 more tiny nodules in my lungs that my doctors are watching. But those spots haven’t changed in years. And my doctors assure me that even if those nodules turn into cancer someday, I still have plenty of treatment options. So, I can’t complain.

My doctors at MD Anderson are the experts. I trust their judgment. And that gives me a lot of confidence.

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