Just wondering?

[kickincancer]

When my mom was diagnosed, she no symptoms at all. I was just wondering what symptoms others had and how they knew something was not right? do most people have symptoms or not? Just wondering?

[Maryanne]

Hi Kickin,

I would think your mom had some kind os symptom, since she was diagnoised with stage IV. Why was she diagnoised?

Joel, was diagnoised because he hurt his back and went to his primary. While there we made appointsments for blood work for physicals. He asked for a chest X-Ray, just because he smoked. That is how they found his mass. He had no signs at all. He was diagnoised with stage IB, and was able to get an operation right away.

His doctor told him if he would have had a sign, then probably it could have been too late. That is what his Onchologist and Pulmonary doctors told him. I for one do not believe in stastics and know that stage IV is not necessarily too late. Not according to this board anyway.

Anyway, that is how they found Joel's.

I am glad you asked that question, it will be interesing to know how others were diagnoised.

Maryanne

[Don M]

I found out about my cancer by accident. I had a gall bladder scan, and part of my lower lung showed up and they thought it might have a nodule or an artifact. I came back for a chest ct a few months later, and a mass was found in my upper left lung.

Looking back on it, I did have one symptom that could suggest a lung problem. I would several times a day have a spontaneous gasp and my pulmonologist said that was my brain telling my lungs, not enough air. Get more. So I would gasp. I doubt that this is an official symptom though.

Don M

[Snowflake]

No symptoms here, and I was one lymph node away from being Stage IV - just didn't know it at the time.

Mine was caught because my husband and I were sharing a case of viral pneumonia, it hadn't shown up on an x-ray just eight months before.

No symptoms, bad cooties...

[Justakid]

I had no symptoms. I had fallen down the stairs and the doctor was checking for broken ribs. Found more then we were looking for!

[Doughnut]

There was a whole thread on this topic a couple of months back. I can't remember what it was called but it was along the lines of "what made you go to the doctor". There were loads of responses to it. Maybe you could do a search for it.

Dee

[Connie B]

Nope, I didn't have any either. It's NOT

uncommon to not have any major symptoms even being staged a IV!!!! It's kind of why they call it the SILENT KILLER. And that's in most cases why they find it at a very late stage, because the symptoms don't appear until it's really it's too late.

Mine was found in a routeen check up by chest x-ray, and I had that same chest x-ray one year before, and when they found mine in that last x-ray, I was a stage IIIA-B. We did a yearly chest x-ray because of my family history with lung cancer.

Best wishes,

Connie

[Don Wood]

Lucie lost function in her left hand and then developed pain in the arm and hand. (It was from the tumor on her upper spine.) She went through a battery of tests over several months before diagnosis. At that time, she had pain in the hip, rib and spine.

[kiams]

Being a bad snowboarder led to my diagnosis. I injured my shoulder snowboarding. I went to see a sports medicine specialist who X-rayed my shoulder. The X-ray revealed a slight ligament tear in my shoulder. The doctor recommended trying physical therapy. I thought I was good to go. Two weeks later she called me and told me that as a matter of course they send all X-rays to be reviewed by a radiologist. The radiologist saw a spot on the small portion of my lung that showed up on the X-ray. I had a CT scan the next week, and the week after that I had surgery. It was quite the whirlwind.

I never had any symptoms. I was not a smoker and had no history of cancer in my family. I was an amateur bike racer in the thick of preparing for the upcoming criterium season. I was training 10-12 hours a week at high intensity with no shortness of breath or any other symptoms. If I had not hurt my shoulder the cancer probably would not have been caught until it was too late. I thank God every day for making me a lousy snowboarder!

[terriep]

I know that many people don't have symptoms, but I, unfortunately, had several. They included coughing up blood, reaction to SSRI's, continual bronchitis (which would not clear up after repeated antibiotics), my peak flow kept deteriorating, and there were more. No chest x-rays were ordered from either my pcp or allergist, just lots of allergy meds (oral and inhaled) and antibiotics. Finally, I went to a pulmonologist at my hubby's insistance, and after a pulmonary function test that same day was sent for an x-ray - the top half of my right lung was collapsed, and there was a shadow on that side. I believe my pulm. said that 80% of my airway was blocked. My bronchosopy followed within a few days and the rest............

[carolhg]

I had a persistent cough which I never associated with cancer. I coughed up some blood. That made me stop immediately and call for a doctor appointment. Thank God I did, I was staged 3A.

[Ann]

Although my husband had sclc, different from your mom, he had no symptoms at all. He caught a cold from me and went to the doctor (very reluctantly) to grab some antibiotics. The doctor did a chest xray and there it was...in both lungs, liver and spine. Dennis owned his own plumbing business and did physical work from sun up to sun down. He never mentioned any symptoms, so his diagnosis was quite a shock for us! Hope things go well for your mom.

[pammie]

I did not have any symptoms of cancer except fatigue until two weeks before the xray found the fluid in my lung. I was always tired and since I have MS thought that was the reason. Very common to have no symptoms until the cancer is fairly advanced. praying for you all pammie

[Wendy]

No symptoms, I was having acid reflux (too many diet coke's a day) and the doc took a chest xray. Nothing there 18 months before when I had a bad case of bronchitis.

Wendy

[KatieB]

My dad had no symptoms at all.

Got what he thought was the flu and lost his voice. He got "over" the flu and began to feel better but the voice never got better-it remained hoarse but it didn't hurt at all-- he went to the Dr. and BOOM was handed the worse news of our lives (extensive SCLC).

[Kaffie]

No symptoms.

Doctor did an x-ray to check and see how bad my arthritis was and found a spot on the x-ray.

This rotten disease takes many people totally by surprise.

Kathy

[Anais]

My mother had a bad cough... She went to see her Dr, thinking it was bronchitis. He did an X-Ray and found a huge mass in her left lung. Two weeks later, she was dx with stage IV NSCLC with less than a year to live (a few more months with palliative chemotherapy).

[Nushka]

I felt great. Went to my PCP for my regular check up and he insisted on a chest x-ray. I was in a hurry and tried to just come back in a few weeks for the x-ray but he again insisted. I thank God for my PCP every day. I was dx 1A then after surgery and two questionable lymph nodes was pronouced IIA/IIIA. As you can see by my bio I had the works and I am glad I did.

Nina

[MilliBr1]

Mom was short of breath and getting tired easily.

[jang]

No symptoms here either...

[Leslie221]

When I found out I had stage IV lung cancer in January of this year, I was completely shocked.

I had been out walking 3 miles a day with my friend just 6 weeks before diagnosis. Finally I started to have real shortness of breath. I just thought I had a virus! Wasn't even coughing much (which I thought would be the first symptom to show up). Went to my doctor 2 1/2 weeks before going to the ER for the shortness of breath (and diagnosis) - even he thought it was flu. He listened to my lungs and there was no sound of congestion or wheezing!

That's the trouble with this disease - many times, by the time people go to the doctor because they feel like something is wrong, the cancer has already progressed to stage iv.

That's why there are many groups pushing to see that insurance companies will make it standard practice to pay for a CT scan of the lungs for clients who are at risk of developing lung cancer. Standard chest X-rays often miss very early lung cancers.

I wonder if you or your Mom are feeling like I did at first - wondering why I didn't "notice it" sooner and get diagnosed when it was still really early. A real "if only" situation. Then, after I learned a lot about the disease on the internet and from groups like this, I realised there was no reason for me to have gone out of my way for expensive tests months earlier when I felt just totally fine. Guilt has no place in the cancer experience.

[chloesmom]

I had had a clean chest x-ray before my breast cancer surgery in April of 2001. I was back at the breast surgeoon's office for a routine 6 month followup in May of 2003 when he suggested I get a chest x-ray because I was a smoker and it had been two years. That started it all.....

Looking back I had a cough and was spitting up a lot of clear liquid, but I had greatly reduced smoking in the past a couple of times and all that went away, so I thought it was just harmless. I quit smoking before my surgery and all of that went away again, but of course the cancer was still there.

I will be eternally grateful for my breast surgeon--he's the guy who saved my life.

Cindy