Lung Cancer Biomarker Test Results: The Waiting Room Nobody Talks About

There is a particular kind of fear that settles in after a lung cancer diagnosis — not just fear of the disease, but fear of the waiting. Waiting for test results that will determine everything. Waiting to know if there is a specific target that treatment can aim for. Waiting while the cancer is, as more than one patient has put it, "in my body and I'm not doing anything to stop it."

This experience is common, often intense, and rarely talked about openly. But experts in lung cancer care say it deserves as much attention as any other part of the diagnosis journey.

What the Waiting Period Actually Feels Like

Leah Phillips, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer over six years ago, describes the 14 days she spent waiting for her biomarker results over the holidays as among the hardest of her life. She was physically unwell, emotionally overwhelmed, and surrounded by frightened family members — all while trying not to scare her three young children.

"I wish somebody would have told me that people were living with stage 4 lung cancer," she said, reflecting on what she needed most during that time. Her first oncologist had told her family to get her affairs in order and hope she would make it to the following Christmas. That framing, she says, made everything feel impossibly urgent. Now, when she talks to newly diagnosed patients going through the same wait, she offers them a different frame. "Try to look at it like when you were a kid and you're waiting for Christmas. It seems like it's going to take forever, and all of a sudden it's there. This really is a time to just take care of yourself."

For Phillips, that meant prioritizing eating well, resting, and building up her physical strength so she would be ready to tolerate treatment when it came. She encourages patients to use the waiting period to build their question list, arrange their appointments, connect with advocacy groups, and get familiar with their patient portal — all things that will make the next step easier.

Emotional Health Belongs in the Exam Room

Lisa Spain, executive director of Rexana's Foundation, says one of the most important things patients and caregivers can do during this waiting period is to protect their emotional health with the same intentionality they bring to their medical care.

She starts every conversation with encouragement and real examples. "The first thing I tell them: let me tell you how many patients I have that are living 12 years now that have been on treatments. When you've been in this 20 years, you've seen a lot, but you also see these patients." This, she says, is not false optimism — it is evidence-based hope.

She also advises patients to be deliberate about their information environment. She recommends identifying a caregiver or trusted person to do online research on the patient's behalf, filtering and moderating what comes in. "That helps your mental health too."

And she encourages patients — no matter what else is happening — to find moments of joy deliberately. "All of us, even if you're not battling cancer, we need to stop and be intentional about finding joy in our days. And you really need to lean into that. It will just help calm things a little bit more."

Bringing These Conversations to the Care Team

Dr. Bruna Pellini, chief of thoracic medical oncology at Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute, wants patients to know that emotional distress is not something they need to manage alone or hide from their medical team. Her clinic operates as a team — nurse, nurse navigator, nurse practitioner, and physician — and she makes clear from the beginning that patients can reach out to any of them. "You don't bother us," she tells her patients. "Do not wait until the next appointment if something happens”

Dr. Eric Singhi of MD Anderson describes himself as a "realistic optimist" — someone who leads with hope because the advances happening in lung cancer research warrant it. He says the oncology team should be a source of calm, not just information, especially in those early weeks.

Both oncologists stressed that the emotional tone of that first conversation with a care team can shape a patient's entire journey. Spain has witnessed this over 20 years of advocacy. She shared the story of a patient who was told at diagnosis to prepare to die — a message so devastating that he spent months in a dark place. It was not until much later that he sent her a message saying he had "turned the page" and was now deciding to live instead of planning to die.

"What you say matters," Spain said, speaking directly to clinicians. "How that patient navigates the rest of that disease is really going to be predicated on what comes out of your mouth in those next few minutes."