Please be Serious answering these question. I have a health project and if you have Lung Cancer you would really help. Its like a interview.
1. How old were you when you found out you had Lung Cancer?
2. How did you get it?
3. Do you take any medication to help you go through it?
4.How does this change your outlook on life?
5. Do you ever thick that there will be a cure?
6. Can Lung Cancer be spread?
7.Does this affect your personal life?
8. How did you tell your family?
9. Do they treat you different with having cancer? Hello there,
My mother has just gone through surgery for lung cancer (her second in 3 years) and I'd be happy to answer your questions on her behalf:
1. She was 57 when she found out.
2. Don't know. She hasn't smoked since her 20s.
3. She's on quite a bit of medication right now.
4. She realized that there's a chance she may not be here much longer.
5. Maybe with adequate funding. It's probably the most underfunded cancer. (Too many politicians fail to realize you can get it without being a chain-smoker.)
Also, with stem-cell research, ANYTHING'S possible. (Let's hope that it happens.)
6. Yes, it can spread through the body.
7. She's about to start kemo, so that's a definite yes.
8. Through a mass-email from my father. (I was abroad at the time.)
9. We've never been closer to her.
Please accept my best wishes as you continue your research. Also, please sign any petition you find to increase research for lung cancer so that those less-fortunate than my mother get the second-chance they deserve.
Ciao. i'll do the best i can here. i don't have it but i've lost my mom and sis to it. my dad lost a chunk of lung and my bro an entire lung.
1. mom 63,dad 70?, sis 52, bro 54
2.smoking for all,asbestos for dad, nam chemicals and body shop work for bro. but those are all just theory.
3.all took pain meds. mom and sis more so. bro is still on lots, still lots of pain
4. can only speak from dads pt of view now - he has become much closer with our family, he lives more for the moment.
5.he doesn't think there will be a cure in his lifetime but is hopeful for the future.
6. he believes that if you have sugery for it, it will spread from contact with the air and it can spread through the body without surgery. not spread person to person. but hereditary.
7.it didn't affect his personal life in any ways other than mentioned in q #4
8.he told us very matter of factly.he knew it would be hard after losing our mom and made no big deal about it.
if you mean did we as a family treated him different, then no outside of caring for him after sugery, he was treated the same. by us and those around him. he's the kind of guy who does not want attention or to be fused over.
i know this is wordy but i hoped it helped some. good luck on your project. 1) Was diagnosed with a bone tumor in late 2004 (age 19), with metastasis to the lungs.
2) See #1. The cancer I had is very rare, so doctors have not found any correlation to genetic or environmental factors (i.e. smoking, etc.).
3) Underwent 8 months of chemotherapy: Cisplatin, Adriamycin, Ifosfamide, & Methotrexate. Treatment ended June '05.
4) It was quite a shock. I think it's jaded me somewhat...I don't really mind small inconveniences much, and I have a very real understanding of how important each moment is.
I've had days where I've been too nauseous to eat, where the chemicals burned the lining of my mouth and throat such that it was agony to swallow, and yet forced myself to do it anyway so I could keep my strength up. When I felt better, I realized what a gift it is to eat, to do without pain something that people do every day without thinking twice. I was released from treatment in '05, and I've picked up my old routine again, but I still have moments when I realize what I've been through. I'll be walking down Ocean Avenue, and the sun will be out, and the ocean breeze will sigh through those gnarled trees that overlook PCH and the Santa Monica Pier, and I realize that I could just have easily been sitting in a stuffy chemo office, hooked to an IV pole, watching poison drip into me. It's quite a feeling.
5) I have immense faith in science to find a cure for Cancer, especially considering the human genome breakthroughs made recently. I think biotechnology is about to really come into it's own.
6) Yes.
7) Cancer is very disruptive because it hijacks your plans...it seems like every part of your life is put on hold while you fight the disease, from work to social. As far as personal relations go, my friends stood by me, and lent all the support they could. For a long time, though, even after treatment was done, I felt pretty emotionally numb. I had a hard time feeling anything at all.
8) My family's been with me through every step of the way. They knew about the diagnosis about the same time I did, and they've never left my side.
9) I've always been really close to my family, but we're even tighter now than ever before.
I've actually just found out that after two years of being completely cancer free, a routine CT scan showed some problems in the lungs, which turned out to be a cancer recurrence. I'm restarting chemo this coming Monday, and will be on the same schedule and drugs as I was the first time around.
It's gonna be every bit as rough as before, but I've fought this once, and I'm still standing. Just gonna have to do it again. With any luck it won't be coming back this time.
Anyway, I hope this helps you with your project. If I could offer a word of un-asked for advice: If you have your health, if the people you love are healthy, then not much else matters. So enjoy the sun, the wind, the rain, all of it...if you're not hooked to an IV pole, it's a good day. If you can eat, it's a good day. If you can walk without crutches, it's a good day. If there's a relationship that needs fixing, do it, and fast. Because tomorrow might not be so good, and none of us can afford to waste time.
Take care... |
