“Big Bang Theory” actress Kate Micucci’s recovery from lung cancer took a major leap forward when she released a clip of herself in a recording studio singing a song dedicated to a special dog named “Brandy.”
What makes Micucci’s ability to sing so well even more remarkable is it comes just a few months after undergoing lung cancer surgery, which can leave patients with lingering side effects lasting for months. Lung cancer surgery is also known to be painful and can also affect the patient’s voice.
Micucci, an Emmy-nominated actress, portrays “Lucy” on the Big Bang Theory television series. She’s also given life to “Scooby Doo” character Velma in recent years.
While details behind the project remain unclear, Micucci’s talents extend far beyond acting.
“Our live in-studio video from our magical morning,” the Orchid Quartet wrote in an Instagram post. The video clip shows Micucci singing with the Orchid Quartet, beautifully playing violin and cellos.
Supportive fans chimed in with positive comments. “So beautiful and heartfelt, Miss Kate. Thank You,” Instagram user Frederick Watts wrote.
Kate’s Diagnosis and Recovery
Earlier this year, Micucci revealed she had been diagnosed with lung cancer despite having never smoked – a leading risk factor for lung cancer.
“I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life, so it was a surprise,” Micucci said on her TikTok video.
She says she’s grateful her cancer was caught in its early stages, which is rare considering lung cancer’s subtle symptoms make it difficult to detect during its early stages when it is easier to treat.
She underwent surgery for treatment. Research published in the open-access journal Cancer Medicine notes patients who undergo lung cancer surgery “often suffer pain after discharge.”
“Managing pain after surgery is difficult once you get home,” thoracic surgery nurse Melissa Jane Culligan tells SurvivorNet.
While recovering from surgery, patients may have trouble sleeping.
“It’s important that you stay connected and, as things change that maybe don’t feel right, that you connect with your care team and make sure that either they do something to make you feel better or that they reassure you that this is to be expected because your pain will change in location and nature,” Culligan said.
Culligan says patients may experience a little more pain after surgery as they become more active. However, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. She says it means you may need to take a little bit more pain medicine as your body continues to recuperate.
Understanding Lung Cancer
Lung cancer forms when cancer cells develop in the tissues of the lung. It is the second most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the U.S., SurvivorNet experts say.
It’s “completely asymptomatic,” says thoracic surgeon-in-chief at Temple University Health System Dr. Joseph Friedberg.
“It causes no issues until it has spread somewhere. So, if it spreads to the bones, it may cause pain. If it spreads to the brain, it may cause something not subtle, like a seizure,” Dr. Friedberg adds.
Scans such as X-rays can help doctors determine if a shadow appears, which can prompt further testing for lung cancer.
There are two main types of lung cancer, which doctors group together based on how they act and how they’re treated:
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type and makes up about 85% of cases. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is less common, but it tends to grow faster than NSCLC and is treated very differently.
While lung cancer often doesn’t present symptoms until it has spread, some people may experience signs like:
- A cough that doesn’t go away, that gets worse, or that brings up bloody phlegm
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Chest pain
- Hoarse voice
- Appetite loss
- Weight loss
If you are experiencing these kinds of symptoms consistently, contact your doctor for further tests.
Treatment options for lung cancer depend on its type, its location, and its staging. In general, treatment methods include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, or a combination of any of these treatments.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you find yourself diagnosed with lung cancer and are concerned about the long-term impacts, here are some questions you can ask your doctor.
- Has my cancer spread to other parts of the body?
- Based on my cancer stage, what are my treatment options?
- What are the side effects of my recommended treatment?
- Are there ways to help minimize the effects of treatment?
- How long will I be unable to work or carry out my daily activities?
- What financial resources are available to get the treatments I need?
It’s important when you’re looking at lung cancer to find out what the different treatment procedures are.
On the right side, you have three lobes– upper, middle, and lower.
On the left side, you have two lobes– left upper and left lower.
The type of operation that a lung cancer needs depends on the location of that tumor.
So if the tumor is on the outer part of the lung and it’s small, you can get something called a wedge resection, which is a pizza pie-shaped resection of that lung.
Here, you have the nodule.
You cut here, you cut here.
It’s a pretty easy procedure.
And it removes the lung and it spares a lot of the lung parenchyma, which is the functional part of the lung.
A lobectomy is when you take out a segment of that lung.
Like I said, three lobes on the right.
You take out one of those lobes, whether it’s the upper, middle, or lower, that’s a lobectomy.
And the lobectomy is important from the sense that you cut directly on the artery that comes off of the heart, the vein that comes off of the heart, and the bronchus, which is the airway that comes off of your trachea.
And that is removed as a lobectomy.
A pneumonectomy is where you remove the entire lung.
Now, you can’t do a pneumonectomy on every patient.
It depends on how good their lung function really is.
And many of the patients are smokers, so they have damaged their lungs, so you have to get these breathing tests before you go ahead and you do any big lung operation on anybody.
And then there’s another operation called a sleeve resection, where you cut the airway and the tumor with it and you sew the airway back together again.
It’s a little complicated, but that’s sort of a little fancy sewing that you need to spare the lung in certain cases.
Not every patient is amenable to that.
Now, all these operations can be performed with the VATS technique, which is minimally invasive, with a robotic technique, and with the open technique.
