Cancer survivors, what was the SYMPTOM that CONVINCED you to see the DOCTOR?

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[zucc]

That doctor needs to lose his license permanently and be held criminally liable for what he did

[tmm]

I didn't have a single symptom of breast cancer. Not a single one. No lump, nothing. However, I was asserting care with a new primary care physician as I had moved recently from NYC to a cute university town a few hours upstate. My new doctor was a first year resident who had gone to medical school in Grenada, which means she couldn't get into a single US medical school. I am a diagnostic Psychotherapist so I went to medical school as well, at New York University. That's how I know about overseas med schools. Anyhoo, she was attentive are caring so I was happy to have her as my new PCP. As we were wrapping up our first appointment, she wrote out a series of referrals as I have a few autoimmune diseases and a few rare genetic mutations. She read them out and explained each one and told me about each of these specialist doctors. The last referral was for a mammogram. She said since I had dense, large breasts (36H), she thought it was wise to get baseline imaging for future mammogram tests. That made sense. As my partner and I were discussing the order in which to book these referral appointments, I got this weird almost hostile feeling and said that I needed to do the mammogram appointment first. However, intellectually, I knew it made more sense to schedule an ortho appointment first as I was having a hard time with my hip, knee and foot on my left side. But, I was hel! bent on getting a mammogram first for no reason at all. I would say it was an instinct, but it wasn't, it was just this irritated, hostile feeling from nowhere. I was so perturbed that my partner made my mammogram appointment because I was concerned that I would be unnecessarily curt with the scheduler. I was able to get an appointment 2 days later. My mammogram technician was really concerned with some redness on the side of my right breast. I couldn't see it due to my large breasts, however, I explained that because I have Lupus and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, my skin gets easily red and irritated. I went home feeling good that I had practiced preventative healthcare. I got a call the next day saying that the breast center wanted me to come in again because my breast tissue was dense. I went the next day and the same technician was still wary about the redness on my right breast. After that mammogram, I was scheduled for a sonogram. There was no lump. That said, I was further scheduled for an MRI and a biopsy. By this time, I was feeling like something was wrong. My partner kept saying that this was all about my dense breast tissue. After the biopsy results came back, the oncologist called me on December 23rd 2022 and told me that I had invasive ductal carcinoma. Moreover, I was diagnosed with Stage 3b inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). I already knew that IBC was the most lethal breast cancer as it's rare, virulent and grows VERY fast with a cancer cell turnover rate of 2 to 3 weeks. The oncologist explained during our planning meeting that this would be an uphill battle and a difficult fight, and it had metastasized to my lymph nodes which could mean that it had traveled to a distant organ, bone or become a blood cancer. Luckily, it had only metastasized to my lymph nodes and while Stage 3 cancer is not great, inflammatory breast cancer is usually caught later as it grows so fast and, thus, is diagnosed at Stage 4, or Stage 4 and metastatic. So, I was technically lucky. I was quickly put on a regime of harsh chemotherapy. During this 6 month course of treatment, I made an appointment at the #1 IBC treatment hospital: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. It was the smartest decision I made. The chemotherapy worked wildly well and after a radical double mastectomy, I was deemed cancer free and in remission! I've had 2 cancer recurrence scares since that time: one in this July (lung cancer) and one currently because my tumor markers are really high although there has been no evidence of cancer on my scans. But, my cancer is estrogen positive (meaning that estrogen spurs cancer recurrence and fuels cancer growth) and my estrogen is high as well so I am scheduled for a radical full hysterectomy this month to ensure that my body stops producing estrogen.

All of this is to say that sometimes there are no symptoms of cancer! Please folks get preventative cancer screening and should you be diagnosed with cancer, research your type of cancer, join groups with other people who have the same type of cancer as they often have answers and insight and definitely be your own advocate! I've had to push for extra blood work, scans and different medications, including chemotherapy. Also, cancer isn't a death sentence. I had a 14% chance of surviving my chemotherapy treatment as it is very harsh on your heart. But, I'm still here with no evidence of disease, which is a diagnosis like remission 2 years later. It's not been easy, but it's possible to fight even the most rare and fatal forms of cancer. It's just a full time job, literally. Take care of yourself and your loved ones!

[MikealOM]

When i was about 3½, i started getting pretty bad nose bleeds. The blood was a translucent. My dad knew something was wrong, so he took me to the ER. The first doctor we visited took some tests, told my father it was just anemia. My dad knew that wasn’t right and pressed the doctor to do some different tests. After the tests, it turned out i had Leukemia. I had no idea what was going on, all i knew was id be going in and out of the hospitals in two different states for the next two years.


My dad was an addict, he passed away almost four years ago. I'm thoroughly traumatized, but that is the only good memory i have of him. He wasnt the best dad, but he was my hero that day. I'm 18 now.

[gchicklet]

I have had migraines since I was a kid, but they got a whole lot worse out of the blue. When i tried to make an appointment with my primary, he sent me to the ER thinking the hospital would do scans. They didn't. So when i saw him again, still about the migraines, he ordered them to be done. The next day I got a call from his office telling me I had been scheduled to see a neurologist immediately because my scam wasn't clean. Basically I had a brain tumor. I've gone through surgery to remove it, and have gone through treatments. I will never be cancer free, but I'm forever grateful to my primary for acting so quickly. He bought me a few extra years.

[deannagriffith]

My mom had ovarian cancer. Her dog kept head butting her in her side. She went and got checked and found out she had ovarian cancer. If it was not for her dog instances, she would have passed away

[aethergasm]

My mom kept getting random bruises for five years. I kept telling her to please get checked. I was telling her to get checked every month for five damn years. She's the type of woman that because it's her daughter and not her son or some other more "prestegious" cousin, niece, nephew, etc... she won't listen to me. So one day she's on her way to work. A car runs a red light and hits her car right in the middle. She gets sent to the hospital for whiplash and a bunch of bruises related to the crash. She's rather lucky, but then they do the tests and are like, hey, you have leukemia. She calls me up later and says I was right and laughs it off like it's nothing. Well it caused her to regret not getting to it sooner because her treatments are too late and it's not doing well now. She had to retire early and is upset she may not get to see her granddaughters out of elementary school. Please, If anything seems weird and unusual get checked!

[Febrafryda]

When I was 46 during g my pap smear was seriously painful...and I had a 2 year period..so I saw a gynecologist specialist..and they told me I had uterun cancer stage 1b...and I had to have a total hysterectomy....and now I am 4 years cancer free...and I am glad you are also cancer free.. .😊 thank you for telling women your story so they can get checked. ..

[rage_of_aquarius]

Many people don't know this, but random night sweats with no history or discernible cause is a sign of cancer

[HUZZAH-Life]

My dad was brushing saw dust off of his chest and felt a lump. Turned out he had stage two breast cancer. It is super rare in men and usually doesn’t go diagnosed until stage four. Also had some other markers that makes the cancer faster at spreading and harder to treat. Mens breast tissue is denser though than women’s so it takes a bit longer to spread still compared to women with the same markers.

[BabyLuna]

My mom died from cervical cancer when I was 10. Around my 30's, I had the same symptoms just like her and doctors found out I had stage III uterine cancer. I had a full hysterectomy and I'm now a cancer survior.

[pamthompson]

My aunt had to have a colostomy decades ago. Literally decades. She's 100 years, plus a bit now. One of the most successful cancer survivors ever. Still going strong.

[loqutisborg]

Male here. Peed in the toilet. Looked down. Looked like someone threw in 2 cans of Tomato Soup and a large bottle of Ketchup. I had bladder cancer. 32 radiation treatments and several chemo treatments later, I'm fine.

[prueclark]

After l had our 2 children my Husband noticed my nipples were drawing in, then l noticed l had yellowish nipple discharge whilst in the shower. My family has a history of breast cancer, so l saw my Mother's cancer specialists. I had a biopsy, & 2 weeks later had a radical mastectomy, then a oopherectomy, as it was a hormone receptive cancer. I then had chemo, & radio therapy. 5 years later l had the 2nd mastectomy, but no further treatment.
I used to have mammograms 6 monthly before the 1st mastectomy, but my Dr said l was one of the few who fell through the cracks. Had l had ultrasounds at the same time the cancer would have been detected. Our Daughter now has both tests. I've been cancer free for 25 years.

[kathe.o.]

Reason to always get a second opinion, possibly a third! Life saver!

[TheKjoy]

I have a long history of asthma, so I went years with an unexplained and unresponsive wheeze. It got worse when I used albuterol, and my pulse would race even more than usual. Some doctors thought it was just the asthma or that I was exaggerating my symptoms. An ENT thought it was vocal cord disfunction. I changed primary care providers in January. I went in in February for bronchitis. The new doctor thought my lungs sounded weird and ordered a chest x-ray, the first 1 in years. They found a tumor in my right main stem bronchial tube. The wheezy whistle was from the tumor blocking 90% of that airway. After a CT and bronchoscopy, I was diagnosed with a Carcinoid Cancer, a neuroendocrine tumor with adrenal cells. I was referred to the top cardiothorasic surgeon in my state. He resected my bronchial tube to remove the tumor. I am 9.5 years cancer free.

[TheVerosyv]

Fat friend wasnt taken serious until her arms thin with muscle loss and belly bloated even though she wasnt any less active then she had been for years.

Full checkup found a 12 kg cyst in ovary.

[ashvegas]

My mom has been going to doctors for 4 years for chest and back pain, convinced she was having heart attacks. They’d brush it off as pneumonia or complications from smoking. One doctor finally decided to look deeper and thank god he did because she had multi organ, inoperable, extensive cancer. Had they not found it, she would have died within the month. She’s on her second round of chemo and the doctors think we’ll have 5-7 years with her. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t livid that she’s been living with cancer for 4 years and no doctor cared enough to look into it just a bit more. All it took was one cat scan

[silverserienty]

I had cancer when I was 4.
My mom spotted a bump on my neck one night and assumed it was a spider bite. The next morning I remember sitting on her bed and eating pretzels and turning to grab another one when my mom gasped, grabbed me and called my dad in a hurry.

The bump on my neck had grown and she called my dad to rush me to the er, my family has a history of cancer so I assume thats how my mom knew immediately what the bump was.

[ulari]

okay that’s very concerning as someone who’s been having worse cysts over the past year, i have an internal ultrasound and a surgery consultation scheduled soon at least

[adriennemeyer]

Or the doctor is trying to wait out the statue of limitations on how long she has to sue for malpractice