At least according to the internet, the misinformation highway, that’s what I have. Lung cancer.
I’ve been sick on and off for at least 6 weeks now. I was off work for 3 weeks at the beginning of fall because I had such a bad cough. And wheezing. I felt so bad that for 10 days of that time I didn’t watch TV or read. I just slept if I could, my cough kept me awake most of the time.
My friends knew it was serious if I wasn’t watching TV. My doctor wanted me to get a chest x-ray, but I don’t have health insurance because TN didn’t accept Medicaid for the poor under the Affordable Care Act and chest x-rays cost a lot of money. A LOT!
I took 2 rounds of antibiotics and a round of steroids and it finally went away enough for me to go back to work. Two weeks of work and my cough was back. And the wheezing.
I started to remember the women at Gilda’s Club who had lung cancer. A few of them had it 10 years after they had been treated for breast cancer. That’s when I got on the internet to google “lung cancer”.
I had already checked for “walking pneumonia” and “bronchitis” but the symptoms didn’t match. My doctor thought it was sinuses even though there was no nasal stuff involved. (To me sinus = runny nose.)
So now I looked up lung cancer and sure enough a persistent cough and wheezing were right on the list. So were headaches and come to think of it, I had had some headaches. Right behind my eye kind of headaches.
First thing in the morning I called my oncologist. I had an appointment the first week of January for my regular quarterly check up, but I didn’t want to wait. I wanted my blood work done now. I didn’t need to see the doc I just wanted to pop in for some quick blood work.
They told me a nurse would call me and sure enough a few minutes later she did. I described my symptoms and my concern that this may be lung cancer. It said so on the internet. She told me to stay off the internet and go get a chest x-ray; I probably had pneumonia or bronchitis.
I knew I didn’t have either of those but I was glad to hear that my symptoms were not those of lung cancer. I also remembered that these migraine type “behind the eye” headaches were something I got when my sinuses were bothering me.
In the meantime my regular doctor had found a place where I could get a CT scan of my lungs to allay my fears of cancer. The test is $99 and I think a cheaper way to solve my worrying problem would be to take a Xanax. Even though she and another friend offered to pay the $99 for me to take the test.
I see my doctor next week to get to the bottom of this cough and once again I am on an antibiotic. I see my oncologist at my regularly scheduled appointment in January.
In my defense he has told me to call him anytime I am worried about symptoms. So far I think I’ve been pretty good. I waited until a regular appointment to tell him that my teeth were very sensitive and painful and I thought it was cancer. Turns out there is no such thing as cancer of the teeth.
When I thought I had cancer of the butt, I waited for my regular appointment to bring it up. There is cancer of the butt, though my problem was a pulled muscle in my gluteus maximus.
My oncologist is a nice guy and very patient with me. He knows that cancer patients go to cancer as the first cause for anything wrong and thinks it’s pretty normal.
Have you had any false alarms? Do you bring them to your oncologist? What reaction do you get?
The Monday Night Cancer Club
Monday Night Cancer Club is a Daily Kos group focused on dealing with cancer, primarily for cancer survivors and caregivers, though clinicians, researchers, and others with a special interest are also welcome. Volunteer diarists post Monday evenings between 7-8 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to include physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.