Jimmy Howard was tired of going under the knife by the time he found out he might need another surgery.
Howard, 69, had already undergone several vascular procedures when he experienced a cardiac event that required him to have triple bypass surgery in January. Then, providers reviewing his pre-surgery testing noticed a spot on his lungs.
“I’m finding out after the triple bypass that I also probably have lung cancer,” Howard said in a phone interview.
A lung biopsy confirmed the tumor was cancerous and Howard needed treatment. He wasn’t convinced at first that surgery was the best option and considered just doing radiation instead, joking that he already “looked like one big zipper.”