LONDON (AP) — Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has revealed that he feared the worst after being diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year.

The 70-year-old guitarist says he thought it might be "time to say goodbye," after a doctor performing routine tests offered the news that he "had this supernova burning away on my left lung." The musician says he just told the doctor to get it out of him.

Wood told The Mail on Sunday that he had decided not to have chemotherapy if results turned out to be bad. He says he decided, "I wasn't going to lose my hair. This hair wasn't going anywhere."

He thanked doctors in May for treating a small lesion in his lung and will undergo checks every three months.