Discussion

By the time I experienced my first symptoms in 1998, it was likely that I’d had a tumor for 5-7 years prior. I’d had a normal routine chest X ray for a job around 1992-1993. Sometime between 1993 and 1998 I developed a malignant tumor in my left lung. It went undetected for seven years, despite 3 years of symptoms and a year-long search for the cause of my symptoms.

In the three years between my first “cold” and when I was diagnosed I never suspected lung cancer. I never associated any of my symptoms with lung cancer. I believed, as I think most people do, that if you did not smoke, had no family history of lung cancer, were not exposed to second hand smoke or asbestos, you did not have to worry about lung cancer. My doctor never suspected lung cancer since I had no known risk factors and I didn’t fit the accepted profile. I was a young, non-smoker in no apparent distress, complaining of a cold X 2 years.

I pulled a few lessons out of my story:

• If you have a persistent cold, whether you smoked or not, GET A CHEST X RAY.
• If you get a chest X ray, OBTAIN A COPY OF THE RADIOLOGIST’S REPORT. My initial report cited several possible reasons for my symptoms; pneumonia was one, but so was “neoplasm”. Neoplasm means “new growth” another word for tumor. Had I not returned so quickly, even more time would have passed before I was diagnosed.
• If you find yourself eating cough drops like candy, as if you’ve suddenly developed a liking for the taste of menthol, GET A CHEST X RAY.
• If you’re the kind of person who has the same bottle of cough medicine for years, and then suddenly you noticed that you’ve just gone through your second bottle in a week, GET A CHEST X RAY.
• If you lived in the coal regions in this country, you are at risk. I was born in Shamokin Pennsylvania in 1962. In the 1990s they renamed the town, “Coal Township.” Emissions from coal burning plants is linked to lung cancer.

I’ve often read that our health care system requires people to stay on top of their own health, to be savvy consumers of health care services, to ask for things. I believed myself to be knowledgeable and not intimidated by the system, however, I did not know how important a simple chest X ray could be. I avoided chest X rays because I was concerned about being exposed to radiation. My doctor never argued or denied me any test I requested. However, few tests were ever offered to me. It seemed as if it were my responsibility to know which tests to ask for.