One of the early things to get your head around when you get a cancer diagnosis is the technical “staging” of your disease. At first we luxuriated in the thought that the spot was caught early and had not moved outside the confines of my right lung. I was shocked when the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) classified my case as Stage IIIB – not early stage, but seriously advanced lung cancer. How did it get to that?
Den’s offficial cancer classification – T1c N2 M0
T = Tumour size N = lymph Node involvement M = Metastasis (cancer spread)
T1c – Tumor >2 cm but ≤3 cm in greatest dimension.
N2 – Metastasis in ipsilateral (one sided) mediastinal (centre of chest) and/or subcarinal lymph node(s).
M (Metastasis) 0 – No distant metastasis.
Basically it is the spread of the cancer to the lymph nodes in centre of my chest (near bottom of trachea) that pushed me into stage IIIB.
For the detail-fascinated, like me, I put a copy of an excellent and detailed article (written for medicos) about the treatment of Non Small Cell Lung Cancer into the Research section.
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