cancer diagnosis, anyone with personal experience please reply
Life is it's usual roller-coaster ride and now I have been told I have lung cancer. My doctor sent me to a Thoracic Surgeon immediately who told me I was very lucky that it is a brand new little nodule with tiny satellite specks not yet adhered to the lining of my lung. His recommendation was to remove 1/3 of my lung. I said I would have no part of chemotherapy or radiation and that I would have a biopsy to determine the type of cancer and asked his guidance on the least likely to harm me procedure because I already suffer fibromyalgia and a few other awful health conditions including PTSD/Panic. He said a fine needle CT contrast guided aspiration biopsy with an oncologist in the room to determine if enough tumour cells have been extracted was his suggestion and there would be a possibility of complication of lung collapse if an air leak occurred. Well, he didn't tell me that this possibility was a 71% one. So, after the procedure, I developed this air leak but my lung has not collapsed, just caused pneumo-thorax (air leaking into the chest cavity with threat of lung collapse). Very painful and difficulty breathing which is already an issue that I live with due to diaphram damage from 2010. So after several chest xrays over 3 days I was geting upset about all of the radiation I was being exposed to and questioned this. I asked what exactly was going on and If I could do or not do something to get rid of this air in my chest caviy. The answer was, "No, there is nothing you can or cannot do to get this air out of your body, you must have a tube inserted through your chest wall and hae the air sucked out." Feeling overwhelmed, I said I did not want to do this right away and agreed to have follow up xrays and family doctor follow up for now. Well, it has been painful, anxiety provoking, and tiring to get through the weeks but so far my lung has not collapsed and I am feeling physically better in the chest/heart area. So, the lung biopsy came back "without results" but a PET Scan and a CT Scan suggest primary lung cancer and the surgeon still wants to remove 1/3 of my lung. I am so disturbed by all of this and have huge trust issues about the whole thing now. Research has not been positive regarding allopathic treatment of cancer and I cannot afford naturopathic treatments. I use some salves and oils of cannabis for the fibromyalgia but have never used a real therapeutic regime for something like cancer but my whole being is telling me to try this first before allowing the surgeon to start cutting 1/3 of my lung off. In the papers I received from the cancer society there is a very disconcerting statement that feels like a threat, "There are consequences if you do not follow the recommended treatment protocol of your doctors." I am truly unsettled about all of this. If anyone can share anything about personal experiences with lung cancer, please share this good or bad experience and results with me. I feel capable of sorting this all out and weighing my further decisions based on many other sources also. Well, I meant to put an update but I typed a reply to myself on this journal entry ... some days are like this when pushing a heavy cart.
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I was very proactive about my situation and insisted another biopsy be done before taking 1/3 of my lung out. Well, standing up for oneself is not easy when a surgeon does not really think you are cooperating with the procedures already decided and declared as valid and necessary to remove the "cancer." Well, I agreed to 4% of my lung removed through scope and camera procedure to determine if this was actually cancer before proceeding to removal of 1/3 of my lung. The "thing" was NOT CANCER. So, they sewed me up and sent me home the next day. It turned out to be a fairly uncommon (but becoming more common) lung disease called non-contagious, non-tuberculosis encapsulated mycobacterium which is extremely difficult to treat and may yet destroy my lung/s. Nice to know what it is but not so great to hear that I have this which is contracted through air, water, or soil. I am busy researching natural ways to fight this nasty fungal/bacterium. I know garlic, oil of oregano, coconut oil, and a few other natural medicines along with a diet full of raw fruits and veggies mostly can help also. Anyone else with knowledge or experience with this NTM nodular lung disease please let me know anything that may help me with this. Thank you.