What symptoms did you or your loved one experience before diagnosis?

 I went to the hospital with a swollen calf, pain and redness.   Clot in left calf and hard time breathing.  Took me right in in ER.  Did chest X-ray, CT scans and biopsy, fluid around heart, stage 4 non small cell lung cancer.  Doing chem and keytruda since September 2018, now only keytruda  every 3 weeks. Last pet scan, everything had shrunk considerably..  can’t wait till another pet scan in April. 

I had Stage IV esophageal cancer. After 33 rounds of radiation and 11 rounds of chemo, I achieved remission. A year into remission I began getting pneumonia a total of 16 times. I had necrotizing pneumonia that put me in the ICU and nearly killed me. I'd never been so sick before or since. The radiation had deteriorated my esophageal tissue to the point that a growth called a zenkers diverticulum developed. It diverted food and liquid to my lungs and prevented food from reaching my stomach, I became severely malnourished only weighed 114 and couldn't even walk without help. They put in a feeding tube. Two months later, I weighed 130 and was ready for a huge operation. They removed the Zenkers in an 8 hour surgery. I was able to eat again and now weigh about 175. Anyway, while getting chest X-rays, I noticed that each time I had one, nodules left behind were growing at a pretty rapid rate. The hospital never notified my oncologist but I did and he did a biopsy. Lung biopsies are no picnic, but sure enough, those pesky nodules left behind from my necrotizing pneumonia. There were four of them, two cancerous. Stage I. So I've been doing chemo again. I'm about halfway thru with it now. C

@cancerdad66 wow what a story. I am so glad you YOU noticed the nodule left behind! Cannot believe they never notified your oncologist. I am sorry to hear you are undegoring chemo again, but glad to hear you noticed them and took your health into your own hands.

Hopefuly you are able to try to maintain your weight better this time also, as this plays a role in our health also.

Cancerdad that is alot to go through. Cancer and all the treatments we go through play its toll on the body.  Stay strong and prayers are with you. I know how hard it is to keep the weight on but it sure makes a difference in a persons health.  

Did anyone experience insomnia before they were diagnosed?

@breathfree I did not I have stage 3a lung cancer found out in May of 2018 stared keytruda treatment in September of 2018 It is doing better than I ever thought I would be. hang in there 

I was having lots of fatigue and I had repeated bouts of bronchitis that was just never ending. I also had lost a lot of weight but I didn't correlate it until after I was diagnosed. Ended up getting imaging done and one thing led to another.

My husband had a persistent cough that just wouldn't go away and he was having some breathlessness carrying things and going up and downstairs and fatigue, but we didn't really think anything about it because at the time we were moving and we just assumed he was out of shape. It was went he started coughing up blood that we knew it was something serious. After we went in to the doctor the diagnosis came pretty quickly.

Hello everyone, 

How are you doing? Have you seen this older discussion? 

If you haven't seen it already, we've just published an article about the first signs of lung cancer. You can read it here: What are the first signs of lung cancer?

And what about you? What type of symptoms did you have before your diagnosis? Were they like what is described in our article? Did you suspect it was lung cancer right away?
@cbholder3‍ @Jena1971‍ @Beleiveinyourself‍ @tinbaa‍ @Rabbits02‍ @coteauil‍ @shortchefpepper‍ @ptamme0922‍ @Yamaris‍ @Skeet1001‍ @JackieO1961‍ @KelRiney‍ @teddywainwright60‍ @kenwood299‍ @Alexander45‍ 

Feel free to share your experiences here!

Take care,
Courtney

Started with a cough that would not go away and fatigue that i had never known. This started 2019. Saw my primary 6 different times. Went to a walk in clinic.  All I ever got was antibiotics. That did nothing. Had a CT scan in January 2020. Nobody thought anything was wrong.  Including a pulmonary physician.  Another one in September 2020. Said there were nodules..not to worry .we would recheck in 3 to 4 months. January 2021.....biopsy performed. Pet scan. I have small cell lung cancer that has metastasized to my liver, lymph nodes and spine. Chemotherapy,  immunotherapy.  Fighting alot of side effects. And in June 2021 diagnosed with Hashimotos.