Grateful for the compassionate care at Lung Nodule Clinic

In October 2021, Denise Pelima was in a car accident and taken to the emergency department at Summa Health System – Akron Campus. She received a CT scan to see if she had any internal injuries from the accident.

She was surprised when the emergency physician said the scan showed she had a lung nodule. In the following weeks, she saw her primary care physician to follow up on the CT scan results, who referred her to the Summa Health Lung Nodule Clinic.

“My first appointment was with Dr. Bauman,” Denise says. “As soon as I met him, I felt a sense of confidence and peace that I was where I needed to be.”

During her initial visit, pulmonary physician Dr. Brian Bauman shared the CT image of her lung and the area of concern. “He told me it could be an infection but that the shape of it made him think it could be cancerous,” she says. “No one wants to hear the c-word, but I also didn’t want it hidden from me; I wanted to know what it was.”

Denise had another CT scan six weeks later and the nodule was still there. Because of what she told Dr. Bauman during her first appointment, he recommended a biopsy to determine if the nodule was problematic.

At this point, Thanksgiving was approaching and Denise would be traveling to visit her family.

“Dr. Bauman remembered that I would be away for the holiday, so they scheduled my biopsy the day I returned,” she says. “I was amazed by their compassion in accommodating my time with my family.” When she returned, she had the biopsy and the result was precancerous. She wanted the nodule removed.

Dr. Nkem Aziken, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Summa Health, performed the minimally invasive procedure to remove the lung nodule in February 2022. “Before the surgery, Dr. Aziken sat with me, drew a picture of my lung and showed me what he would be doing,” she says. “He ended up removing a fraction of what he thought he would have to in my lung.” Dr. Aziken removed the nodule and surrounding lung tissue. She was diagnosed with stage 0 non-small cell lung cancer.

Denise meets with Dr. Bauman every six months for the next two years for follow-up CT scans to ensure her lungs are clear. After that, she will meet with him annually for three additional years.

“The entire team at Summa Health is phenomenal,” she says. “I am so happy I was in the care of Dr. Bauman, Dr. Aziken and the Lung Nodule Clinic; they are remarkable.”