A year ago I came back to JWD. The 2 years before that. when covid stated, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was one of the last surgeries done before they closed the surgery departments down due to covid.
In 2021, I went into the hospital alone. No one was allowed to enter the hospital to visit me. I went through the surgery and had a few problems and they kept me for a week before sending me home.
In 2022, they found a small tumor in my upper-right lung. I was terrified. In the days of covid, the last thing I need was just a cold. I certainly did not need covid messing up my lungs. I went into surgery and had my upper right lung and a bit of the middle right removed. Again I had to do this alone. No visitors.
A couple of weeks after I got home I was having problems breathing and rushed to the ER. They did a CT scan to make sure I didn't have a blood clot. No clot. The next morning a doctor asked me what they were going to do about the tumor in my lower left lung.
Say what? Another one. No one knew. Although it had shown up on a previous scan the pathologist failed to put it in the report. So my oncologist, who relied on the report had no idea there was a second tumor. She recommended talking to a surgeon (to have another lobe removed. And talk to an radiation oncologist. So I spoke with both and opted for the radiation. Having another lobe removed would have seriously hampered my breathing.
So back to the hospital for 5 treatments - alone. At least this was out-patient.
I recently got the news that after one year of testing I officially am NED (No Evidence of Disease)!!!
I have been terrified of getting covid. Several people in my building have had it. I have been pretty much in seclusion from my diagnosis throughout all of the last three years. Two weeks after the radiation I wound up with pneumonia. Hadn't thought about the danger of that one.
My breathing may never get back to what it was. But I can go up and down a couple of flights of stairs without too much trouble.
We take so much for granted. I had NO SYMPTOMS for any of this. NONE. They found it through a FIT test. And then a colonoscopy conformed it.
The age of people getting colon cancer is dropping. it isn't just an old person's disease anymore. People in their 40s and even younger are getting colon cancer.
Get tested. If I had not been tested the cancer may not have been found until it was too late to help me.