My lung cancer journey began back in February 2021, by happenstance. I didn’t have any of the classic symptoms, other than I didn’t feel well and I was unusually tired. I reluctantly caved to a trip to the local emergency room for what appeared to be an abdominal hernia or aneurysm.
The physician ordered an angio CT scan that revealed a lung mass in the upper lobe of my right lung, which lucky for me was not accompanied by a suspected aortic aneurysm. After many consultations and further testing, it was agreed that the first phase of my cancer treatment plan was to remove the upper right lobe using robotic-assisted surgery.
In determining staging, it is now customary to send the tumor specimen for additional testing of genetic mutations, as lung cancer can be managed for many patients with targeted therapy or immunotherapy, in addition to traditional chemotherapy and radiation. If you happen to come up positive as I did, it was said that this finding was like winning the lottery…although I must admit that I didn’t quite feel the sort of exuberance one might expect. However, I did feel that a bit of my Irish luck had come back my way, in the sense that I would be given yet another weapon in my arsenal.
In reading and re-reading the pathology reports through a broad range of emotions, I came to better understand my diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer, subtype adenocarcinoma with a positive EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) exon deletion 19 mutation. Patients, in particular females with this type of lung cancer, tend to have minimal or no smoking history and currently represent about 10-15% of lung cancers in the United States (although interesting this subtype is significantly more prevalent in the Asian populations).
Since my cancer had spread to a lymph node and invaded the visceral pleura, my second phase of treatment was chemotherapy, followed by the third phase of targeted therapy with medication, a tablet taken daily for up to 3 years. I dove head first into reading and understanding all that I could get my hands on about my disease, which included all published works on many other genetic mutations and respective treatments related to lung cancer.
What I learned, more importantly, is that lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both men and women in the United States, causing more deaths each year than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. Yet awareness of this fact is low, and lung cancer does not have nearly the resources, support, and public empathy that many other diseases have. This is likely due in large part to the strong, pervasive stigma associated with lung cancer.
Given all of my efforts in retracing time, place, behaviors, and events, I now know that I will never come to understand precisely whether my cancer was the result of one cause or a combination of factors, including the genetic mutation. With that conclusion, I chose not to waste precious time beating myself up over my past personal choices or environmental circumstances that were beyond my control. In keeping with self-care, I chose to focus my energies on the big business of living in peace and gratitude with the finest human being I’ve ever known…my extraordinary husband Bruno, along with my strong faith in God, who mercifully guides my every step.
This is an excerpt from Joanne’s full article.