Background - what's happened so far

As I said, I hoped not to get to this point. Consequently, I didn't make good notes about what happened up to this point. Here's my best recap of the events that led up to today...

• July 1, 2007 - I got a miserable cold that led to some sort of sinus infection. It lasted for weeks and seemed to be going away. After a family reunion on July 14, I started to get a fever.
• July 16, 2007 - I finally gave in and went to see my doctor. He prescribed antibiotics and sent me for a chest x-ray and blood test just to play it safe.
• July 17, 2007 - My doctor called to say that I had pneumonia. This was a surprise since I felt lousy but not that lousy! He told me to stay home for a week. That seemed like an eternity. It was also my first taste of how kind people can be when you're sick.
• July 23, 2007 - Back to work feeling much better. I went for a follow-up x-ray.
• July 24, 2007 - X-ray showed residual shadowing (or some words to that effect) that made my doctor uneasy. He said that the report suggested another x-ray but he wasn't comfortable with that. His reasoning was that if the first one didn't show anything conclusive, then a second one wouldn't either. He recommended a CT scan.
• July 31 2007 - I went in for the chest CT scan with contrast. That was a snap. I was lucky enough not to have any reaction to the iodine.
• August 9, 2007 - The CT scan results came back 'abnormal' with a mass in my right lung. My doctor set up an appointment with a pulmonologist with the suggestion that I have a bronchoscopy with a biopsy.
• August 15, 2007 - Met with a pulmonologist who showed me the scan results and scheduled the bronchoscopy.
• August 17, 2007 - I went for the bronchoscopy. My friend Sue went with me for that. That couldn't have gone better. It was a little stressful, of course, but everything progressed according to plan. I did get a chance to see the pictures of my lump. It's right in the airway of my right lung where the tube branches to feed air to the middle and lower lobes. Sue and I agreed that it didn't look scary. We were both imagining that the camera would show some science fiction sort of malevolent looking thing with an eyeball looking back at you.
• August 23, 2007 - My brother John and I went to get the news. I found out that I have a lung carcinoid tumor. My pulmonologist had suggested at the beginning that this might be the diagnosis because of my medical history and other symptoms. Carcinoids aren't that common so I was impressed that he had figured this out. I need to have surgery to take out the tumor. Carcinoid is technically cancer but it's not nearly as scary as most other forms of cancer. It looks like I'll have to have a lobectomy where they take away one or two lobes of my right lung. Ugh. The tumor is in an inconvienient location in my right lung just at the spot where it divides to supply the middle and lower lobes. This will most likely involve real surgery - going through the ribs, big incision, etc. While this all sounds scary and complex - at least it's not one of the worse forms of cancer. Surgery may well clear up the whole thing - that's good news.
• August 24. 2007 - I went for a PET scan to make sure that there are no other sites where I have carcinoid growth. It is likely that this will come back clear but, as they say, you never know. I'll be glad when this part is over. It's just possible that I'll also have to go for an octreotide scan or OctreoScan. This is something that's particularly well suited to locating carcinods. I don't know yet if that will be needed. Tomorrow will tell. Now I have to do some research and choose a surgeon. If these tests come back with no surprises, then it'll be time to have the surgery.