Another thing to be considered: many patients, when diagnosed with a lesion that is concerning for a malignancy, will ask to have the lesion resected as soon as possible. It can be anxiety-provoking to have a possible malignancy present in one's body; I would not be surprised if the Pope was having serial CT scans for a pulmonary nodule, the nodule increased in size on a recent scan, and the medical team recommended resection of the concerning lesion. Being a human being, I suspect that he would naturally want to proceed with curative-intent surgery as soon as possible. I certainly would.
Another thought that is also not emphasized in this article: surgical procedures require follow-up; I doubt the Pope would be simply "free to go" after a surgery, without the surgeon recommending follow-up in a few weeks to assess surgical excisions to ensure that there is no post-surgical infection, and to ensure that no pneumothorax has developed. Honestly, I suspect that if he did not have his surgery rather urgently he would have to cancel his trip to South America (it is not ideal to have a post-surgical complication a half a world away from your surgeon) or wait until late November for the operation. I doubt that any thoracic surgeon I work with would advise on an international flight within three weeks of a VATS (any thoracic surgeon on here may disagree with me on this and prove me incorrect) as the potential for post-surgical complications would have to be monitored for appropriately. Thus, I suspect that the Pope was given the option to have the surgery urgently so as to have appropriate follow-up, or after his trip to South America; I know which option I would choose.
This is (as usual) the best breakdown & analysis that I have seen thus far on the Pope's health situation & is pretty much where my opinion has been landing. If I had to guess, it's probably gone something like this:
1. Leo had a regularly scheduled checkup, but asked about issues with his voice/throat that he's been feeling (you'll notice, he's had a bit of trouble chanting as well lately) & so it was checked.
2. The doctors discovered the problem as a nodule.
3. Not wanting to take the risk if it was possibly cancer or not, Leo & his doctors decided remove it now than let it grow, just in case. Meaning the urgency is likely a combination of "let's get this over with now" & the Pope's upcoming busy schedule.
4. They picked a day as soon as one was open for as soon as it could be, so as to not risk the nodule becoming more of an issue & to recover in time for South America.
I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure the only way to find a nodule is through imaging test. That would mean that Pope Leo had a symptom that warranted some concern when he was having his routine examination considering most routine medical exams do not include imaging unless perhaps, the pope gets some type of imaging on a some type of regular schedule.
Per St Paul (“Have no anxiety about anything”), Catholics shouldn’t worry about the pope’s health, or anything else. Our Father in heaven is in control.
True, yet there is a progress, here. We are legitimately and naturally concerned, which moves us to prayer, so that by "casting all your cares upon Him" we may become free from deep anxiety without trying to live in denial. I think the reality is we do live in that progress, and we may make things worse by trying to skip to the conclusion. But--true, God's got this under control, for sure.
He was sick and tired of the Amoris meeting, so just wanted to skip the ending... =)
seriously--when does he ever have enough "free time" to do things like this? It's actually a little like gossiping, guessing about someone's private health information. We have hardly any information. Let's just pray for him and his health team.
Another thing to be considered: many patients, when diagnosed with a lesion that is concerning for a malignancy, will ask to have the lesion resected as soon as possible. It can be anxiety-provoking to have a possible malignancy present in one's body; I would not be surprised if the Pope was having serial CT scans for a pulmonary nodule, the nodule increased in size on a recent scan, and the medical team recommended resection of the concerning lesion. Being a human being, I suspect that he would naturally want to proceed with curative-intent surgery as soon as possible. I certainly would.
Another thought that is also not emphasized in this article: surgical procedures require follow-up; I doubt the Pope would be simply "free to go" after a surgery, without the surgeon recommending follow-up in a few weeks to assess surgical excisions to ensure that there is no post-surgical infection, and to ensure that no pneumothorax has developed. Honestly, I suspect that if he did not have his surgery rather urgently he would have to cancel his trip to South America (it is not ideal to have a post-surgical complication a half a world away from your surgeon) or wait until late November for the operation. I doubt that any thoracic surgeon I work with would advise on an international flight within three weeks of a VATS (any thoracic surgeon on here may disagree with me on this and prove me incorrect) as the potential for post-surgical complications would have to be monitored for appropriately. Thus, I suspect that the Pope was given the option to have the surgery urgently so as to have appropriate follow-up, or after his trip to South America; I know which option I would choose.
Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Leone Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
This is (as usual) the best breakdown & analysis that I have seen thus far on the Pope's health situation & is pretty much where my opinion has been landing. If I had to guess, it's probably gone something like this:
1. Leo had a regularly scheduled checkup, but asked about issues with his voice/throat that he's been feeling (you'll notice, he's had a bit of trouble chanting as well lately) & so it was checked.
2. The doctors discovered the problem as a nodule.
3. Not wanting to take the risk if it was possibly cancer or not, Leo & his doctors decided remove it now than let it grow, just in case. Meaning the urgency is likely a combination of "let's get this over with now" & the Pope's upcoming busy schedule.
4. They picked a day as soon as one was open for as soon as it could be, so as to not risk the nodule becoming more of an issue & to recover in time for South America.
I saw the Press Office updated that the nodule was founded during a routine medical exam, not due to symptoms. That is a good sign.
I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure the only way to find a nodule is through imaging test. That would mean that Pope Leo had a symptom that warranted some concern when he was having his routine examination considering most routine medical exams do not include imaging unless perhaps, the pope gets some type of imaging on a some type of regular schedule.
Per St Paul (“Have no anxiety about anything”), Catholics shouldn’t worry about the pope’s health, or anything else. Our Father in heaven is in control.
True, yet there is a progress, here. We are legitimately and naturally concerned, which moves us to prayer, so that by "casting all your cares upon Him" we may become free from deep anxiety without trying to live in denial. I think the reality is we do live in that progress, and we may make things worse by trying to skip to the conclusion. But--true, God's got this under control, for sure.
He was sick and tired of the Amoris meeting, so just wanted to skip the ending... =)
seriously--when does he ever have enough "free time" to do things like this? It's actually a little like gossiping, guessing about someone's private health information. We have hardly any information. Let's just pray for him and his health team.
Very reasonable speculations--which remain, as you clearly state, speculations. Meanwhile, our prayers continue. Ave....
Pope Leo has lung cancer.
Had. It was removed.
I don’t know that cancer works like that. I hope so.
I've had 2 different kinds. In my experience it works like that. If you get it all early it's gone.