Elisa Nusbaum 's blog ::Diagnostic imaging increases among stage IV cancer patients on Medicare
My father passed away in 2003 at seventy-four years of age from lung cancer. He said many times after his diagnosis that he could not believe lung cancer was going to be the reason for his death. He found it incredibly hard to believe. I found it hard to believe myself. Lung cancer had not been diagnosed in anybody else in his extended family. He had smoked, but he had quit nearly thirty years earlier. He had also had a heart attack when he was forty-eight years old, and two open heart surgeries since then. He said many times that we would find him some day slumped over from a heart attack, and that was what myself and my siblings had always braced ourselves for. Any time we called his house and he didn't answer, we always went to check on him with a knot in our stomachs. He passed away rather quickly compared to how long he could have suffered. He was diagnosed and passed away in a little over three months. In retrospect, I have learned to appreciate his quick passing as a blessing. I have witnessed other people who have passed away from lung cancer since that time, and the suffered much more and much longer. Part of the reason that he went so quickly was that he wasn't diagnosed until he was already in stage IV. The disease had already progressed enough at diagnosis that the cancer physician told him pursuing treatment would only prolong his life a couple more months and he wold be sick most of that time. My father decided to forgo any treatment and try to enjoy what little time he had left, which he did. He was able to see my young son in his first baseball game and I have no idea if he would have been able to do that taking chemotherapy or radiation. He also did some other things that I'm not sure he would not have been able to do if he had been undergoing treatment. As the weeks passed and the family took care of him and tried to make him comfortable, I had a question that had really started to nag me that I needed to ask him. I wondered how in the world anybody could have progressed to stage IV lung cancer without noticing at least a few symptoms. I knew I had to ask him, but it was awkward talking about the disease. However, I had to know because I thought one of these days I might be diagnosed with the same condition and would like to know what symptoms I should be looking for. I was left alone with him one day when my mother went to the store and pharmacy to pick up some supplies. I asked him the question, and the answer he gave had never occurred to me. He told me that he had indeed had symptoms prior to seeking a diagnosis. He was becoming very short of breath and was having problems walking any great distance. He told me he was even having problems siting down and bending over to tie his shoelaces. He would have to sit up two or three times to just catch his breath. I asked him why he had he not gone to see a physician sooner. He told me that the shortness of breath and weakness was the same symptoms he had prior to having both of his open heart surgeries, and he just assumed that was again the problem. He didn't seek help because he was scared and did not want to have to go through another open heart surgery. Finally, it made sense to me. What he thought was symptoms of a heart problem had actually been lung cancer symptoms. Anybody who reads this and has these symptoms, or has a parent with these symptoms, please see a medical professional as soon as you can. Don't let fear keep you from seeking medical attention. I know my father had two previous open heart surgeries and didn't want to go through it again, but if he would have pursued medical attention sooner, he might have still been here to enjoy his children and grandchildren. We certainly still wish he was here. |
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