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Q: Cancer = Death? Am I Going to Die?
asked by: Salty on May 5th, 2005
New User
.. I am scared if I have lung cancer, if the treatment is going to cost a fortune and cripple my family and if that means a sure death, I don't know what I would do, I don't want to make my loveones suffer with me, I can't ..


I am serious in this post, if something sounds a little too extreme, I am not faking it. I've also heard from someone that if you smoke for long time, and you suddenly quit, you will die, which I kind of believe, thinking that body cannot adjust sudden stop of cigarettes and the cells start to become cancer cells.


Hello, I am 25 years old, I have been a heavy smoker for about 10 years. Like many young people when I was in my teenage, I thought I was invincible, and always think "it won't be me", i've used drugs before and they were ones that had to be smoked, I quitted drugs after I turned 18, since then I smoked a lot.


I had my health checked before for immigration purposes, and did a chest x-ray, the doctor said there was something up with the x-ray and kept it for further investigations, later the said it was okay, as in, it satisfied the immigration department, they have no rules that will not let anyone with lung cancer entering or living in the country. This was one year ago.


The aim of the x-ray was to find nasty decease like pneumonia or something that would infect others, when I asked the doctor what was wrong with it, he said it seemed to be abnormal, but they wouldn't give me anymore information, I don't understand, why the doctors always just tell us very limited information =( anyway, I had cought up small amount of blood in the past, for a few weeks, on and off for a month or two, and light-red-colored-saliva in my spit, which I wasn't sure if it was just my gum problem or it was from my chest, I am really scared to get it checked again....


Sometimes I feel sharp pain in my chest, but it's quite complicated, because I have chest bone problem, probably birth defect, so if I lie on my chest for a while or on my arm for awhile I would get this very sharp pain as if someone stab me in the chest with really big knife, and it would last for an hour with the pain slowly decrease. I feel pins and needles sometimes usually in my arms and feets, or close to my biceps. I have been playing a lot of sports, soccer, basketball, running, gym, until I was about 17 or 18, then I quitted sports and started doing martial arts, until late last year because the guys at the club were too big and they had damaged my spine by throwing themselves (85, 95, up to 100 kg) on my back and body.


Would lung cancer definitely means death? Or means that one side of the lungs will have to go? Are the cost of the operation expensive beyond an average guy can afford? I 've heard that there are 3 stages of lung cancer, what are the chances of a person in any stages?


And what would a person become if he / she survived lung cancer successfully from operation in stages of lung cancer.


All of a sudden I have a family, have all these dreams of having my own house, car, and babies, life just suddenly becomes so precious and what a fool I am, suddenly I realise I am no longer invincible, tens of thousands of cigarettes I had in the past are scaring the hell out of me.


What are signs of cancer in each stage? I have had about 7 x-ray done this year, none was anything to do with lung, would getting another x-ray done to check if I have lung cancer do any harm?


Say, I smoke 1 packet a day for 10 years:
------------------------------------------ -------
(356 days) x (20 per packett) = 7120 cigarettes per year
(7120 cigarettes per year) x (10 years) = 71,200 cigarettes in 10 years

with some occasion of extra packetts:
------------------------------------------ --
(say 356 days) / (third of a year) = 118.66 packetts in additions to above
(118.66 packetts) x (20 per packett) = 2,373.20 cigarettes per year
(2,373.20 cigarettes per year) x (10 years) = 23,732 cigarettes in 10 years

total cigarettes smoked in the past 10 years:
------------------------------------------ ------------
(71,200 for 1 packett everyday) (23,732 for extra packetts) = 94,932 cigarettes for the past 10 years of smoking.


I hope I have chances =( it could be less, but wouldn't be much less really, but I am pretty sure it can't be more than the figure above.


All input are greatly appreciated.
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Replies(8)
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spannerpan
replied on May 14th, 2005
New User
Hi there,

it seems to me the best thing you can do is get yourslef off to see a doctor. I don't know about costs of treatment as I live in england and all medical treatment is free here. I do know that when you have cancer the earlier it is treated the better your chances. I really would have thought it would be very unethical for a doctor to spot lung cancer in an x ray and not tell you about it. Sometimes there can be shadows or scars showing up in x rays that are to do with a past infection you had but which are not dangerous now. You day yourslef the blood you coughed up might be a gum problem.

Regarding costs can you not see if there are any hospitals htat give free treatment> surely there must be charities and stuff, but as I said I dont know as I live in england. It seems to me the sooner you get checked out the sooner you can either get treatment or you can be reassured that you do not have cancer.

Hope all goes well

anna
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theman
replied on July 25th, 2005
Experienced User
Indeed, anna is right. You should get yourself off to your doctor straight away and arrange for a cat scan or another x-ray to find out what's up. If it is cancer, you do have a very good fighting chance, but that's not to say that it is. Chest infections can cause sharp pains and sometimes blood, so you can't rule anything out. But in any case, get to your doctor's as soon as possible, and try not to worry yourself. I hope it's all okay!
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Montycanario
replied on August 18th, 2005
New User
There Are Solutions!!!
Hi salty,
cancer is not equal to die. Not today!! Many natural therapies are helping people with that desease, but the problem is always teh same. If I know a product that has demonstrated it´s good, at once a lot of people appears telling that the only thing I want is to sell!!
Really, I don´t know how to fight against this, and as far today I only let people know the solution and they decide whether to believe me or not.
Atleats i´m sure i´m trying to help people. Products cost money?? That´s right but the objective is to improve the health I think.
So, if you want to know a scientific proved product to increase your inmune system, contact with me and i´ll try to help you to find solutions.
God bless you
aristides from canary islands, spain
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wademan
replied on September 15th, 2005
New User
My grandfather past away by a rare form of cancer related to asbest exposure. It is called mesothelioma. I am researching this subject and found an informative website: Care4mesothelioma.Com
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SRA01
replied on October 11th, 2005
New User
I only skimmed your post; I saw two things I wanted to reply to specifically so just sort of jumped ahead to do that! :d

first is: do not give up, do not be concerned about money or the effect fighting will have on your family. Giving up would be 10 x as devastating to them. Not fighting, not trying, would be so much worse. Trust me in this. No matter the odds, fight, fight, fight.

Second is: lung cancer is not a death sentence. It is grim, but it is not fatal. My grandmother was in her 70's when she was diagnosed. Stubborn as she was, she kept smoking even as we yelled at her and refused to buy her cigarettes - she'd get friends to buy them. :roll: :shock: :? She also survived it. It was tough, but she made it. She did of course pass away a few years later, but that was old age, at 80, from other unrelated health issues. So if she can do it even while incredibly smoking! You can! You are younger, healthier, and hopefully not as stubborn and dumb as she was lol.
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hahoangthoa
replied on January 3rd, 2007
New User
Oi
If you want to know more about mesothelioma let's to visit this site :

http://www.Mesothelioma-vn.Co.Nr

one of the best mesothelioma website news in the world !!!
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sydneysmom
replied on July 10th, 2007
New User
My mom was diagnosed last june (2006) and the dr's told her stage iv non-operational small cell..Had spread to lymph nodes all over....Just wanted to do chemo. She found out about a special diet that controls cancer....Called the hallelujah acres diet. To kick start this she went to their clinic at the oasis of hope hospital in mexico for 21 days. This diet is based on 80% of food should be raw fruit/veggies with 20% cooked. She went back for another pet scan when she returned from mexico and there was no sign of cancer in her lungs and only a little remaining in her abdomen. She did opt to have mini-chemo treatments about 4 months later (6 of them) and is now in complete remission.

The diet is pretty amazing and does a lot of juicing (especially carrots). She was juicing about 50 pounds a week when she 1st went on the diet but the results were well worth it. The hallelujah acres clinic visit in mexico didn't cost as much as you'd think either....Not compared to what the same stay would have been in the us.

I highly recommend you try this. They have a website for hallelujah acres clinic and an additional one for oasis of hope hospital.
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meso
replied on July 19th, 2007
New User
First off, take a breath. I would advise you to try to quit smoking immediately. Go to the store and try to buy some nicotine patches and start with them TODAY. This should ease the withdraw symptoms. What is important is that you act NOW. Now, say God forbid you developed lung cancer. No, it does not mean your going to die. Yes, costs for treatments, etc. would be financially straining but it seems to me that here in the U.S. the treatment is good. For now, you need to stop smoking today and make an appointment with a physican immediately to get more info on your current state.
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