A few weeks ago, I had been on asking for advice on how to get my doctor to help me. I was having a strange noise in my lower rib cage, and was still dealing with not being able to breathe well after 5 months of therapy, antibiotics and steroids. Well, I had a bad attack with my asthma and went to my regular doctor and insisted he take another x-ray to see what was going on, and why I had that weird noise. I hadn't had an x-ray for 4 months, so the doctor agreed, and as he got the results, he and I looked at it together, and he pointed out a cloudy spot on my lung. He couldn't quite say what it was, so he sent me to a specialist, who sent me for a complete PetScan (sp?). It turned out the cloudy spot was cancer. They did a Bronchoscopy, and did a Biopsy on the spot, and it came back that yes, it was cancer, but, since it was only within the last 4 months (the first x-ray had no cloudy spot) that this cancer had grown, I have a very very good chance of being able to have it surgically removed, without having to lose the entire lung. That isn't 100% guaranteed yet, but after meeting with the Oncologist, she said the cancer was a type that doesn't spread, and the surgeon still felt pretty good about saving the lung.
I consider myself so lucky, not for getting cancer of course, but for catching it early. A lot of the reason I did catch it early was because I came on this site, frantically searching for answers, and the good people that replied to me...well first of all they settled me down! They told me their stories of what happened to them, and I learned so much from listening to them. Then they had me calling my doctor for help over and over till somebody listened (my doctor gave me the second x-ray). They taught me to be persistent and because of that, it may have saved my lung. I will find out this Wednesday when I meet with the surgeon. I have a long road ahead of me, but I know I will have my friends here to talk to about it.
The other thing I want everyone to know, is this...quit smoking if you haven't. I smoked for over 20 years and to even think about a cigarette sickens me. To think this may have been avoided had I not smoked, sickens me. It isn't easy, and I hated it when people would preach to me, but really, what is your life worth to you? Is it only worth a lousy pack of cigarettes? You have to remember too, the minute you quit, your body starts to repair itself. What a wondrous machine we all are! I smoked and had asthma. How stupid is that?? I just wish no one else has to find out they need to quit the way I did.
So thank you my friends for your advice thus far, and I would love to have you along for my journey after today. I'll be checking in again after Wednesday. Wish me luck!
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dustbunny
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All the best. One of my neighbours had lung cancer, it was caught early like yours and she is absolutely fine now. Keep us updated with how things are going. Hugs Judith
Thank you 6161! I appreciate every ounce of good luck I can get! I'll let you know as soon as I know, good or bad, but pretty sure it should be good. Have a great day, 6161
I am very pleased you insisted on the doctor giving you another chest x-ray! Well done for that. Lung cancer, if caught early like yours has a very good survival rate so fingers crossed you will be fine. After reading so much on here and not having had an x-ray for 7 years and due to a friends hubby getting lung cancer, I insisted on another x-ray over my doctors objections. Fortunately there was no sign of it but it has relieved my worries a lot. I will wish you luck but am sure you won't need it. Take care xx
Yes, and an x-ray is such an inexpensive procedure too, I don't know why doctors don't want to do them. Doing it for peace of mind is just as important as looking for something, because stress can eventually make you sick or worse too! I hope the doctor learned something by this happening too, I think my GP was just as surprised as I was, so maybe he'll be quicker to take the pictures next time. Haha, I'll take any luck given, coughalot1, and you take care also!
What a lovely, upbeat post! To have sat back and done nothing would have been so costly. Very well done for fighting your corner and getting them to listen to you. I hope all goes well. xx
I don't know if it was intuition or what, but I wasn't happy until they took another picture, and so glad I did. Thanks for the good luck wishes, I'll let you know what happens!
I wish you the very best of luck, with much love TAD xxx
Hello tigershay1! A little story...I have a friend that sent me a card a day after I found out about the cancer. I told her that it was excellent timing, because I got such bad news, and she told me that the timing is what it should be, and everything happens at it's time, so going with that, we decided that if the timing is right for good news, like her card, then I should get good news (by way of karma), and Lo and Behold I did! So, I will take all your good vibes and use them wisely, and send some your way
My bowel cancer was diagnosed very early,due to liver problems which meant it could be cut out.I had a few complications but that is not a problem now.Catching it early is so important.I too have found this site invaluable Dustbunny!All the very best of luck and keep us informed of your progress to better health,take good care of yourself.D.
I'm so glad to hear you are doing well, it makes me feel like I have more of a chance when I hear things like this. And, wow, you got that right, I learned so much from this site, things my doctors never told me, and I also got some awesome support (you can see that from all the comments right here!!) I happened on this site just by surfing around one day, so it must have been meant to be, because it's done wonders! Best of luck and well wishes to you FarmerD. Be well!
Good luck, my cousin had the same experience as yourself, he had a tumour as big as a melon, they only took the tumour out and he recovered very well, He's back at work and feeling better.
I'm so pleased you caught it early cancer is not the word people want to hear I really don't know what I would do you are a very strong person, I wish you all the very best for a speedy recovery
Thank you onamission, it was and still is scary, and it's very hard to be positive, but someone I know told me that cancer feeds on bad feelings. I am working hard on making myself strong with foods that are good for me, lots of praying, and I do things that make me happy, like playing games, cuddling with my kitty cats, whatever it takes. I will not let it make me feel bad and take over my body, I'm making my body strong to fight! Thank you for your kind words
Only good thoughts here (trying anyway). I know I learned quite a bit in a short time...about what smoking does to you, about persistence, and about human nature. I take much from this, and I hope others will too. Thank you Claudine
I missed this post of yours Dustbunny because I was away sailing where the air was fresh & clean.
This is a lesson. I've been avoiding X-rays thinking they were useless when a CT scan shows everything. I won't be avoiding them in future! Thank you for that.
Also, well done you for quitting the fags (what we over here call cigarettes)!
There's still a place where air is fresh and clean?
Well, after all the stuff I've had for tests lately, both are important, and I recently found out that a CT Scan with contrast is the way to go. I was told if they would have done the CT Scan back in Dec. with contrast (meaning they inject a dye into you which makes things show up much better) they would have seen the cancer way back then already. The one they took was without, and therefore even though they thought it was just remnants of pneumonia, if they would have had the contrast, they would have seen it was not. Can't blame the doc's though, they had no reason to think it would be any more than pneumonia anyway, so it's all hindsight, but if you have a choice in the matter, peeg, do the CT Scan with contrast. Thanks for the compliment. I never thought I could actually go and quit smoking, and I did it, and it's been well over a month! I've never made it past a few days before. I have a lot of reason to quit now, but I still get the darned cravings...kind of makes me sick, but I am still winning so far.
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