Comedian Kathy Griffin Pranks Fans with Her Friend ‘Doctor Sia’ As She Recovers From Lung Cancer Surgery

In a new video posted to Instagram, Griffin tells fans, “Hi, you guys! Here's an update so my surgery has been 3 weeks [ago] and my voice is still hoarse, as you can tell. But my doctor has been giving me vocal exercises and the weirdest thing happens which is, when I sing, my voice is fine. Like, watch."

 

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Hilariously, Griffin, 60, begins to sing Chandelier by Australian singer-songwriter Sia, but there’s a catch it’s not Griffin singing. It’s Sia herself! Griffin says to the camera, “Yeah, by the way, did I mention my doctor is Sia! Very strict.”

Sia’s Chandelier has been viewed on YouTube over 2 billion times.

Griffin’s Lung Cancer & Treatment

Griffin, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer. There are two main types of lung cancer, and the type a person is diagnosed with will impact their treatment plan. The two types of lung cancer are:

• 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.

Treatment options for lung cancer can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, or a combination of these treatments. Griffin had surgery to treat her cancer, as she mentions in her Instagram video.

In an earlier interview, Dr. Joseph Friedberg, the head of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at University of Maryland School of Medicine, explains the preparation process for lung cancer surgery. He says, "At this point, CAT scan, the PET scan, the MRI, and we've biopsied these lymph nodes through one of two different techniques. We say this is stage one. And then if we're thinking about surgery simultaneously with the tests that we're getting to "stage" the cancer, we're also going to be getting a risk assessment."

"So what is your nutritional status? We'll get your heart checked out," says Dr. Friedberg. "We'll look at the carotid arteries, which are the blood vessels that supply blood to your brain. Because in addition to smoking, which is the most common cause of lung cancer causing cancers, it also causes heart disease and other arterial diseases."

Preparing for Lung Cancer Surgery

Screening for Lung Cancer

Griffin is not a smoker, but former and current heavy smokers should screen for lung cancer because they are at risk of this disease.

According to current recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released this spring, people at a high risk of lung cancer (i.e. current and former smokers) should receive free annual screenings with a low-dose CT scan starting at age 50, whether or not they have symptoms of the disease.

Lung cancer symptoms include:

• A persistent cough that doesn't go away after 2 or 3 weeks.
• A cough that gets worse.
• Recurring chest infections.
• Coughing up blood.
• Pain when breathing or coughing.
• Breathlessness.
• Fatigue.

Former & Current Heavy Smokers Should Get Lung Cancer Screenings Using CT Scan, Says Leading Expert