How was YOURS discovered?/POLL

[ursol]

Although I had symptoms for awhile, shoulder pain, Bronchitus annually, bad coughs I and my doctor assumed the coughing and bronchitus was due to my smoking and the shoulder pain was due to lack of exercise as the pain would get better when I participated in Aquaerobics.

By accident after my third child was born, my pulmonologist sent me to a CT Scan much to my resistance as it took them about three months to actually get me to go. I do not believe he meant to send me to a CT Scan as he normally does not send without a chest x-ray. In my case, Chest X-rays would not have shown my cancer. I went for the CT Scan in the morning, within a few hours my pulmonologist called me. That is the worst phone call that I ever received in my entire life. It absolutely ruined my life.

Lilly

[Snowflake]

I had been tired and having respiratory issues for over a month. My son started the same symptoms so I took both of us to the doctor and sent my husband to his (newly married and didn't share insurance nor GP's). I had a lot of congestion and a cough - after three weeks of the cough, I coughed up some blood. My doctor decided to check for TB, a standard of that is a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed I had pneumonia, the doctor did not want to x-ray my son if she didn't have to, so we were all treated for pneumonia (Mark had an x-ray and positive for it, as well).

After second courses of antibiotics, we were feeling better and the grown-ups had follow-up x-rays. Mark's was clear, mine had a shadow in the lower right lobe. Compared to a chest x-ray I had less than a year prior - nothing showed. Fog on x-ray led to a chest CT, chest CT showed a definite mass leading to a biopsy and diagnosis - discovered to be stage IIIa during surgery.

Odd thing about chest x-rays - my oncologist said my tumor was 3-5 years old when removed, but it hadn't shown up on that earlier x-ray. I was diagnosed by sheer dumb luck! As a young non-smoker, there was never any reason to even think LC and chest x-rays were not part of a "normal" physical for me.

So I know I'll never win a big jackpot in the lottery, my luck is all used up and tied up for the next 60 or so years.

[carolhg]

I spit up just a tiny bit of blood. That scared me because I had been coughing a lot for a long period of time. I immediately thought back to when I was in the fourth grade and the teacher taught us the seven warning signs of cancer. I knew that spitting up blood was one of them. I called for an appointment, had a chest xray which showed pneumonia. Followed up with another xray, pneumonia gone, but a nodule was present. Biopsy showed adenocarcinoma. Pet scan staged me as 2A. My surgeon later staged me 3A.

Carol

[Wendy]

Slight acid reflux symptoms. Doc thought that was all it was, but did an ekg and chest xray. Both came back great. Doc sent me home with reflux meds.

One day later Doc calls back and the radiologist compared my scan to one done 2 years ago and found a spot on my lung......

Wendy

[chloesmom]

At my 2 year follow-up for breast cancer surgery, my surgeon suggested I get a chest x-ray as I was a smoker and had not had an x-ray since my breast cancer pre-surgery chest x-ray.

Showed a 'round opacity that cannot be ruled out as a malignancy.' Had CT, then appt with surgeon, and on and on and on.

Dr. said later, he had no idea why he ordered a chest x-ray for me that day. It was not anything he routinely did, smoker or not.

I had been having symptoms, cough, phlem, etc, but all that went away when I cut back significantly on the cigs. And, of course I wasn't telling anyone about all that.

But, he's the guy who saved my life and I'm forever grateful to him.

Cindy

[TracyD]

Looking back, my symptoms started in spring of 2005. I had a sharp pain in my right shoulder whenever I sneezed or coughed really hard. My pcp sent me to physical therapy. I went for a few months and got no relief, so I quit going and decided to live with it. A few months later I noticed I was completely exhausted all the time. It was so bad that one night during my sons karate lesson I actually waited in the car and put my head down on the steering wheel because I couldn't keep my head up. I went back to my pcp who suggested it was just due to having three children. This didn't seem right as I had never been this tired before. She actually suggested that I was suffering from anxiety and/or depression and offered to put me on meds for it. I not so politely declined. In December of 2005 the cough started. I spent two plus months on various antibiotics that didn't seem to do anything.

Finally, my doc ordered an x-ray which showed a shadow which she believed to be a partially collapsed lung. I was then sent for a CT scan. The results were to come in on a firiday and I spent the entire day trying to get my doctor to call me back and give me the results. By this time I had a really bad feeling. Finally, just minutes before five on a friday afternoon I get a call from the doc covering mine, as she was away for the day, asking me if I had a good support system because it looked like I had lung cancer.

I sat ont he floor and cried. I was diagnosed at stage IIIB/IV, and I often wonder what might have been if my doctor had ordered scans the year before when I was complaining of shoulder pain.

Fortunately, I live near Boston and I ended up at Massachusette General Hospital, where I met my wonderful oncologist. If it weren't for him I don't know that I'd still be here.

Tracy

[Ellen in PA]

Spring 2007 I noticed I was getting SOB when walking my speedy little dog. In early July I mentioned it to my cardiologist (routine visit since heart attack in 2001) and he sent me for a stress test. I aced it and figured I was just showing my age. Got more and more SOB while walking the doggie, would stop and sit on a stoop, and would feel better and continue. On Thanksgiving night, there was no stoop on the block I was on -- and I passed out. Gashed my forehead and so went to ER -- they insisted on admitting me to see WHY I'd passed out. Kept me for 3 days, did all sorts of tests, and came up with 'pulmonary hypertension' and told me to go back to my cardiologist.

A week later I passed out again and made an appt with a new cardiologist, closer to home, for Dec 26. She heard my tale and sent me for an immediate chest CT-scan. The radiologist looked at it and called her while I was getting dressed, telling her I had a bunch of PEs and what looked like lung cancer. The cardio told him to have me wheeled to Admissions and she'd meet me there. They admitted me and put me on Heparin etc. I was in the hospital for two weeks, during which time they ascertained that I had adenocarcinoma of the lung with mets to the lymph glands in the chest and to the pelvis, thus Stage 4. Btw, the first hospital did a chest x-ray and (as I learned a month later) the radiologist wrote 'possible pneumonia' -- but nobody noticed the PEs or the cancer and nobody followed up on the 'possible pneumonia'. That was Jefferson in Philadelphia, if anybody's interested. The second hospital, where I was basically diagnosed in under a half hour, was HUP and the remarkably astute cardiologist there was Dr. Susan Wiegers.

[Dave]

Having re-read this thread I have noticed a common denominator in most of them....are these Dr.really that uniformed about LC? ....they cant all be stupid....although I can tell you a few that are.......or are they just to busy to sit and talk with their patients. Many of you would be were I am.....or bruce....if the Drs. had enough hair on their butts to actually do some doctoring instead of trying to see 6 people at the same time. And thats just flippin wrong..you go do the dr cause you can feel something is wrong and what do you get?.......antibiotics and a bill..GGGRRRR....something wrong here.

[Larry's Wife]

Yeah, in Larry's case, it was actually a PA who ordered the x-ray.

Lynn

[Dave]

My onc is a PA..and let me tell you...she is sharp as a tack......almost rather see a PA..they are a lot more eager to learn..and most times have more personality.My surgeon is one of the best in the state but has all the personality of a partially filled bedpan.Dont care much for the medical profession sometimes can you tell?

[Larry's Wife]

I love our onc doc, primary care physician (which we changed since the x-ray-used to go to a walk-in clinic), and our hospice doc, but have little respect for many other docs. Just took Larry in to an ENT for his ear issues. Maybe the guy is competent. But his office was a pigsty. The dirtiest floors I have seen in a long time. Yuck, Ick, Patooie. We have an appointment for a hearing test in two weeks. I really don't want to go back there.

Lynn

[lc46]

My Mom had 0 symptoms and actually did a stress test about 3 weeks before DX with a broken foot and only stopped the test because her foot hurt!

Then out of nowhere she got SOB - went to her Dr and he sent her to a Cardiologist who said she was in A-Fib-she requested a chest xray which showed a 9cm mass wrapped around her aorta-that was the cause of the A-fib.

Since my Mom was DX I have gotten a chest x-ray each year on my B-day-this year my Dr said - "you know we don't do this just to "check"-I said I will be back again next year for another one and if you don't give me my script I will find a new Dr. Are you kidding me?? I smoked from 15-30 years old until I got pregnant with my first child-my Mom died of it and you are not willing to write 2 lines on a piece of paper?

I think I am going to get a CT Scan soon and just pay out of my pocket-

It is really freaking me out lately

[CLB]

I had a light, but persistent cough & a slight "rattle" sound in my chest when I laid downl- both diagnosed by my GP as allergies since my lungs sounded clear.

I noticed being SOB several times, but attributed that to being very out of shape and overweight. Looking back, I see now that I wasn't eating well and lost a lot of weight, was very moody, and VERY tired (to the point where I would sleep in my car at lunch time so I could make through the day at work).

Next, I started to see a persistent "spot" in my vision on my right eye. Opthamologist sent me for MRI for a swollen optice nerve. MRI showed brain tumor. Brain tumor removed and diagnosed as metastatic NSCLC.

whew - thank goodness for my eye doctor!!!!

[Maryanne]

Joel's was found by accident. He hurt his back to a point that he had to go to the doctor. His primary ordered x-rays and Joel told him to put a chest Xray on there too as he was a smoker.

That is when they found the mass. If he did not hurt his back he would not have known as he was feeling good with no symptoms yet. Amd we all know how bad it is when you start having symptoms. He was very lucky.

Maryanne

[Bette64]

Mine was discovered by a routine chest xray ordered by a neurologist. I have myasthenia gravis, a neuro-muscular disease which is treated by a neurologist. The irony of it is my MG was stable and my husband and I hated to drive the 123 miles to Dallas to see the neurologist there, only for refills of meds and tell me to come back in 6 months. I asked for a referral to a doctor closer to home and he sent me to my guardian angel - my life saver neurologist in another town. She wanted to do a chest xray because I mentioned being short of breath. This is also a symptom of MG but since I wasn't experiencing any other muscle weakness at the time, she was suspicious of something else. From there it was a referral to a pulmonary specialist, then a CTscan, PETscan, surgery, chemo, etc.

I thank God for guiding me to this new doctor.

Bette

[marthamarie2]

I had to leave an exercise class the last week of December 2004 because I couldn't breathe, just kept coughing. At the end of January 2005 I was in a two day seminar with about about 40 coworkers who have known me forever. They gave me a hard time about bringing something contagious to the seminar as manifested by my seal like barking cough. At the end of the second day two of my friends became concerned that I couldn't walk two blocks and talk at the same time. They drove me to the ER where I was Xrayed, diagnosed with pneumonia, given antibiotics and sent home. Followup visit to my PCP resulted in another round of antibiotics. In March I got myself to the ER. Xray was too cloudy to reveal my tumor or even a broken rib (from the coughing), I had a collapsed lung and very low O2 sat. I was admitted this time and a bronchoscopy resulted in my diagnosis: Stage 4 non resectable nsclc adenocarcinoma. I went in the hospital with a cough and came out lugging an O2 tank but I'm still here 3 years later.

[snappy]

My husband found out when he went to the Heart Dr 9/7/07 for heart symptoms, SOB, pains. X-ray was questionable. 9/14/07 had CTscan. Heart Dr referred to Pulmonary Dr re:'RLL mass with hemoptysis, weight loss, etc. RLL neoplasm by CT-need biopsy bronchoscope."

It still was not until 1/10/2008 by needle biopsy that cancer could be confirmed for sure and it was staged 3B. Broncoscope couldn't get enough for biopsy and altho cancer was not ruled out, Pulmonary Dr was thinking it was something else, such as Valley Fever.

10/31/07 was told as result of Broncoscope that it was Rare Pulmonary Infection: ACTINOMYCOSIS.

Would not have known except by chance and it was already 3B. No obvious symptoms of cancer.

[Caren]

My dad just started coughing uncontrollably (no prior symptoms) and coughed up some blood. Then the journey into this 'new normal' began......

[LynneH]

New Year's Eve, 2004, Jim started having excruciating pain in his left lower abdomen. Went to the ER. Suspected bad turkey sandwich, kidney stone, etc. Before the night was over, scans detected tumors in the lung and adrenal. Upstairs to the Cancer Floor and things were never the same again.

In retrospect, other symptoms were present but thought to be related to other issues: weight loss, shoulder pain that my massages didn't seem to touch, fatigue.....

Lynne