The story I have to tell with ground glass nodules – Shrinking ground glass nodules
In early November 2017, I had a medical checkup at a local hospital and was told that two ground glass nodules were found in the upper lobe of my left lung, one of which was larger (14mm) and vacuolated. The doctor at the local hospital solemnly advised me to ask a specialist doctor for further review and diagnosis and not to be careless.
I realized that the problem might be a bit serious. I am not a smoker or an alcoholic, and although I had inhaled a lot of second-hand smoke before I retired, I had never had any lung abnormalities during my medical examinations. How could such a problem suddenly appear now?
With the CT film, I went to two major hospitals one after another to consult with specialist doctors. Their advice was “remove it as soon as possible”.
I felt very unfortunate. I was already extremely sad and depressed because my wife, who had been with me for more than 40 years, had died recently, and now I was even more depressed and upset.
My son was very anxious and wanted me to listen to the doctor’s advice and have the surgery as soon as possible. My family, friends, colleagues and classmates were also very concerned after hearing the news and gave me a lot of comfort and good advice. They all gave me examples and told me that early detection and treatment is not a big problem, and that the results of treatment are quite good. I was very touched by the warmth of the care.
But after all, I still have to make my own decisions. What should I do?
This was one of the biggest personal health challenges I had ever faced. In fact, despite the fact that everyone says minimally invasive surgery has a good prognosis and a quick recovery, I am still afraid of it. I still need to hear more from specialists before I make a decision. If surgery is necessary, I would like to arrange for a more relaxed approach. I need a mental preparation process and some time to organize my life in the face of a sudden health problem. Besides, there were some important things I had to do before the surgery, otherwise, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
So, I went to the hospital in Shanghai and asked the attending doctor for a diagnosis. The attending doctor was a pulmonary specialist I knew through the internet. He was relatively young but highly specialized, especially in ground glass nodules in the lungs. He looked at my physical examination CT film and related reports, asked some more questions, and told me that there was about 60% chance that the vacuolated ground glass nodules would be cancerous, and it would be better to remove them by surgery earlier. Since it was the first time I found a ground glass nodule, I was advised to observe it for a while and follow up and review it after three months, depending on the situation. I asked: Since it was something bad, would it be a mistake to observe it for several more months? He said that the glass nodules would not grow malignant in a short period of time, and that in a very small number of patients (a few thousandths) the nodules might slowly absorb themselves or even disappear. Dr. Xie’s calm attitude and patient answers deepened my trust in him. After this visit, in response to my questions, the attending doctor sent me several articles (paragraphs) of his research on milled glass nodules via WeChat to further dispel my doubts.
The doctor gave me a new sense of hope for recovery and eased my anxiety. It would be nice if the nodules would resolve themselves or even disappear after a while. Even if it didn’t disappear and I still needed surgery, I could do what I had to do and organize my life before and after the surgery while waiting for the review and surgery. So, I decided to follow Dr. Xie’s advice and make a follow-up visit in three months.
Time flies, and more than three months have passed. During this period, I held a burial ceremony for my deceased wife in the garden with sadness and sorrow, and held a memorial service on the anniversary of her death. After this very important event, I seemed to be able to rest a little bit and face the problem of my lung nodules.
In early March of this year, I went to the pulmonary hospital for a low-dose CT plain film review. This time, the attending doctor looked at the CT images of that day and told me: this nodule might be early stage lung cancer, it is better to remove it surgically. My hopes were dashed, the nodule was still there, and I still had to undergo surgery. Since “this cut” was inevitable, I listened to Dr. Xie.
I made an appointment for inpatient surgery after Qingming. On Ching Ming Day, I went to the cemetery to visit the graves of my parents and my late wife.
After receiving the notice from the pulmonary hospital, I was admitted to the hospital ward. It was a Wednesday.
On the second day of hospitalization, the main focus was on a series of pre-operative tests, including enhanced CT, Millets ultrasound, MRI and several blood tests. Towards noon, the nurse’s desk informed me that the surgery would be scheduled for the following day (Friday). In a large hospital in Shanghai, patients from all over the country come to see us, there are many patients, doctors are busy, and beds are very tight. So the surgery schedule was very tight. I understand this. When my son heard the news, he and his daughter-in-law rushed to the hospital at noon and bought a bunch of necessary supplies for the hospital. They had to come in early in the morning for my surgery tomorrow.
After my son and his wife left, I tried to get some sleep, but couldn’t for a while. In a dozen hours, I will have to undergo surgery to remove a pulmonary glass nodule, so I was a bit apprehensive and had trouble calming down, so I thought about it.
In life, everyone has to face the problem of life, old age, sickness and death, all inevitably suffer from disease, there is no escape. Sick or not sick, not by their own decision; when to suffer from what disease light sickness, also not by their own choice. This is the so-called fate of God. It is a magnificent, mysterious and irresistible fate. The only thing we can do in life is to listen to God and obey it. Everyone can only be in the limited time and space given by fate, running in their respective life path. No one can predict what kind of illness they will encounter in their life, or where their life will end. I don’t know what the outcome of tomorrow’s surgery will be, and how it will affect my future life. Everything is unpredictable, so let’s leave it to fate!
However, to obey the fate of God does not mean that we can only sit passively and do nothing when we are ill. People have subjective initiative. In the limited time of life, people rely on their subjective will and wisdom to pursue various life goals, including love and happiness, family happiness, career success, etc., and the most important of which is a long and healthy life. Although longevity is the number of days, but due to the lifestyle, survival conditions and other subjective and objective adverse factors will cause people to encounter various diseases or injuries, resulting in the fate of the day to break, life depletion. If you are not careful, the life expectancy of a hundred and twenty years old will be reduced by tens of years. However, through various efforts, people can avoid or make up for the improper depletion of life caused by life errors and seek medical treatment in case of illness, in order to enjoy a healthy and healthy life. Life is only once and should be cherished. It is up to you to choose and decide how to face the disease. Therefore, if you have a disease, you still need to actively deal with it. Not only do we have to “follow the order of God”, we also have to “do our best”. The so-called “personnel”, the first thing is to promptly ask a good doctor with high medical ethics and professional expertise to treat themselves. Doctors are extremely important role in between the fate of God and the patient. They regard it as their vocation to treat the sick and save people. Do not people call doctors “white angel”! Now that medical science is advanced, there are many good hospitals and doctors. Hospitals and doctors can also be chosen on their own. However, it is important to find the right hospital and doctor. When I failed to find the right doctor for my wife in time to save her life, it has become a permanent pain in my heart. So “finding the right doctor” is also the right and key to “doing your best”.
The hospital in Shanghai is a top-ranked pulmonary hospital, and the attending doctor is a research specialist with a high level of expertise. It is my choice to be treated by a doctor from a well-known hospital in Shanghai. I have done my best, and I will be on the operating table tomorrow. God bless me!
The nurse lady came again, smiling at me, and said that the doctor had called to inform me that my surgery tomorrow was unnecessary and that a follow-up visit would be sufficient.
At the entrance of the hospital operating room, I met the attending doctor as promised. He told me: The nodule in your lung is not big, and it is not conclusive that it is bad (cancer) (the statement on the discharge report later was “indications for surgery are unknown”), so there is no need for surgery now, and follow-up is fine. I said: My lung nodule was found to be 14mm during the physical examination, which is not small! He said: Not that big, only about 8mm. I also asked if the surgery was not advisable because the lesion site was bad or other physical problems such as a bad heart were found during the pre-operative physical examination, making the surgery difficult and risky. The attending doctor denied all of them. However, I understood that the doctor must have made the most reasonable medical decision for me after analyzing the CT test results and my basic condition.
I was pleasantly surprised by the expected and unexpected outcome. Initially, it was the doctor who told me that the nodules could be absorbed or even disappear, and that I should observe them for a few months before making a decision. After four or five months, my pulmonary nodules had actually gotten significantly smaller. Now, based on the results of this preoperative examination, the attending surgeon has categorically changed his decision and cancelled the surgery for me. This shows that he is an excellent doctor with high moral and medical skills, who is very skilled in his profession and has the best interest of his patients in mind. I admire and appreciate Dr. Xie from the bottom of my heart.