There was no reason for Andy Glockner to know there was any issue with his lungs. No pain. No trouble breathing. No symptoms at all. But after having a CT Scan as part of a physical, his doctor saw something that shouldn’t have been there.

“He noticed a nodule on the lower left lobe of my left lung,” Glockner said. At first, neither party thought much of it, but it was later recommended that Glockner have a needle biopsy just to be sure.

“They said, ‘Your lungs are in great shape. Your in great shape. All your bloodwork and everything looks great. We’re 98% it’ll be benign but would you care if we did a needle biopsy?’”

It turned out the nodule was malignant, meaning it was cancerous.

“That’s when I was sent over to Dr. Jeremiah Martin,” Glockner said.

Glockner was lucky. He found the issue early enough that it was still small, and that afforded him options for the treatment. He says Dr. Martin told him they could try to burn the place off his lung, or they could be more aggressive and remove the whole lower left lobe. If they did that, his right lung would be able to compensate for whatever he lost in the left lung. He was also told that, because they caught it so early, radiation and chemotherapy probably wouldn’t be necessary.

“That was a godsend,” Glockner said. “I was one of the lucky ones.”

Glockner opted to handle the problem aggressively and had the lower left lobe of his left lung removed. The results have been great. “I just went last week for a checkup,” Glockner said. “Everything’s clean. He said if it hadn’t come back by now, it probably never will.”

Glockner, who turned 70 earlier this year, said he couldn’t feel better. He also couldn’t be happier with his experience at SOMC.

“Jeremiah’s salt-of-the-Earth. True professional. Dr. Saab, Jeff Ramey, the whole staff… they’re just first-class people. You couldn’t ask for a more professional, down-to-Earth, friendly team. I highly recommend them.”

While Glockner is thrilled with the care he received, he also knows that he benefited greatly from just doing routine checkups so that issues like his could be caught early. Without that, his story might have gone differently, which is something he hopes others can take away from his experience.

“Especially as we age, as we get older, our body starts wearing down,” he said. “I would recommend to everybody that they not put off basic physicals. Do your checkups and listen to your professionals.”