Nunca fumé pero tengo cáncer pulmonar de etapa 4

She was 43 years old, a teacher who became a housewife, with three children and a fantastic physical condition. I always took great care of my health. I was on time for all routine tests, including Pap smears and mammograms, and I felt in harmony with my body.

So, when I had a cough that just wouldn’t go away, I took a quick bite and went to see my primary care provider (PCP measures). He diagnosed me with a post-viral cough. He prescribed steroids, which eliminated the cough completely. But once I finished taking them, the cough came back worse than before.

My health care provider was not available, so I had a consultation with another medical provider. He suspected I had exercise-induced asthma and told me I should see an allergist. I scheduled a consultation, but the first available slot was for after six months.

As I waited for that consultation, I knew something was very wrong. Not only did I have a terrible cough, but I also felt a feeling of pressure in my chest similar to what I felt when I had pneumonia a few years ago. So I asked my primary healthcare provider to take some x-rays of my chest. He initially rejected my request, saying it would be a waste of time because my lungs were too clear.

But I persisted and finally my primary healthcare provider (who said snide things like, “I’m the doctor”) scheduled them. After reviewing my x-rays, he called me to say I had pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics. I took them as prescribed, but it didn’t make any difference. Once I was done taking them, they gave me stronger antibiotics. But when I finished taking them, there was no improvement in my symptoms.

I was then diagnosed with antibiotic-resistant pneumonia and spent four days in the hospital, where I had a consultation with a pulmonologist. He performed a procedure called bronchoscopy to examine my lungs to try to detect any abnormalities such as a mass, which would be biopsied for further analysis.

The pulmonologist told me that everything looked fine and that the aftereffects of pneumonia could take time to heal. He told me to follow up with my primary care provider in a week and with him, the pulmonologist, in two weeks.

A week later, I was still in a horrible situation with the same continuous painful cough and pressure in my chest. I called my primary healthcare provider and he said he was not available to have a consultation with me. So what did I do? I went in person and refused to leave until eventually a registered nurse came out to see me.

I think the registered nurse came out more to assess my mental health than to examine my physical health, but once she saw and heard me, she referred me for a CT scan that same day.

That night, they called me to tell me that the CT scan showed something concerning and that I should go to the emergency room. I went immediately.

An emergency room doctor walked into the room we were in and showed me his computer. On the screen was my CT scan.

“Have you seen this?” asked. I told him no.

“Read this line,” he said.

The line read, “lytic lesions at T6 and L3; high concern for metastatic cancer.”

I was shocked. I knew the meaning of the word “metastatic.” It meant cancer. And it meant it had spread.

My mother and husband were with me while I was hospitalized. I was hyperventilating and crying. All I could think about was my children and the real possibility of them growing up without their mother.

Once I was hospitalized, they put me through a thoracentesisa procedure to remove fluid or air from the lungs or surrounding regions. It was not successful. I ended up having an emergency chest drain to remove fluid from my lungs. The fluid was tested and it was cancerous. A bone biopsy revealed he had stage 4 non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).

I was very shocked and surprised. Stage 4 lung cancer? Being a young woman with no history of smoking and who grew up in a house where no one smoked? Everything was wrong. And it was all very unfair.

I had to have biomarker tests done to determine if a mutation had caused this. Biomarker testing revealed yes: EGFR exon 19 deletion [receptor del factor de crecimiento epidérmico]one of the most common mutations causing NSCLC in people diagnosed with lung cancer before age 50.

I had another bronchoscopy. The pulmonologist who performed it saw a mass immediately and highlighted the carelessness of the pulmonologist who did the first bronchoscopy, saying that the mass had been there for at least a few months, possibly even a year.

The first pulmonologist made a huge mistake. The tests were done identically, but somehow the first pulmonologist missed it. Who knows what that mistake cost me in terms of my life expectations.

Once the mutation was detected, I was put on targeted therapy instead of chemotherapy. That started on December 30, about four months after the coughs started.

A few weeks after starting my treatment, I already felt better. The cough disappeared and my bone metastasis healed completely.

But things weren’t looking good for me. My thoracic oncologist told me I had two years to live.

Again, all I could think about was my kids.

Fortunately, I had a good reaction to the targeted therapy, which shrank 70% of my primary tumor. I underwent eight sessions of radiation to shrink the primary tumor even further. My body reacted favorably and after that radiation, I was told I might have another five years to live.

And here we are. Five years later.

Leah and her family, 2024 (photo/Jennifer Edlin Photography)

Over these last five years, he made connections with many people who have lung cancer even though they never smoked.

Last year, Lindi, another EGFR-related NSCLC patient who never smoked, and I met to think about how we could help other people. We have so many messages from society and medical professionals about how smoking increases your risk of lung cancer and the importance of quitting smoking, which is great information for people who smoke, but it doesn’t take many people into account. . of us.

Up to 1 in 5 people diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked, and most of them are women under 50 years old.

In March 2024, three of us founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called the Young Lung Cancer Initiative (YLCI). That’s going extremely well. We took off in ways we couldn’t imagine on social media and have been discovered by people around the world, many of whom experienced the same frustrating obstacles with incompetent or lackadaisical doctors.

Through my work with YLCI, he established connections with brilliant doctors, including a surgeon who, to my pleasant surprise, allowed me to undergo a median lobectomy and removal of the primary tumor, things that could not be done for me. I had surgery six weeks ago and I’m still recovering, but I’m fine.

The most recent pictures of my chest indicate that my lungs look good! But that doesn’t mean I can stop my targeted treatment. I will always need it, along with frequent imaging to detect metastases.

It looks like I have five to 10 more years to live, but possibly much longer, as science continues to advance. I certainly don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

I am optimistic and have no regrets. I know that I have done everything possible to ensure my well-being. Maybe the only thing I would change, in retrospect, is that I should look for a primary care provider as soon as I felt the previous one was not treating me with respect.

But there’s nothing I can do about it now. What I can and do do dois to focus on helping other people who know this terrible struggle all too well. I also put an emphasis on taking care of my mental health (I happily take antidepressants) and maintaining a sense of humor in everything I do.

We are all in this together. And together, we can make a difference, not just in our lives, but in how we view and understand lung cancer.