5 years may be a short time for some people, but for Mrs. Guo, it involves a life-death struggle. In 2013, Mrs. Guo often suffered from insomnia at night and her voice became hoarse. Later she coughed blood streaks in the morning with dull pain in right lower abdomen. However, she was too busy to see a doctor at that time. Until one day, she had acute cough in the morning and smelt blood in her mouth. Then she immediately went to a hospital for checkup which showed advanced lung cancer in her case.
Insomnia and medication stop bring severe health risks
“Since you’re suffering from severe insomnia for a long time and right chest pain, why not go to the hospital for checkup earlier?” a doctor asked. Mrs. Guo regretted having missed such a good timing of treatment and shed tears when she knew that Fuda Cancer Hospital (Fuda) could keep early staged lung cancer under control. In 2015, Mrs. Guo arrived at Fuda and received treatments, successfully keeping her cancer under control. In the next three years, she thought she was well enough and no need to take medicine every day so she stopped medication.
In October 2018, Mrs. Guo coughed much blood streaks and then she realized that her cancer recurred. For further treatment, she arrived at Fuda again with the help of medical staff here.
Two cryosurgeries made the tumor shrunk
After a CT scan, Mrs. Guo was diagnosed with stage IV moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma T4NxM1 in right lung with multiple metastases in bilateral lungs. Dr. Zhou said, “Now she had multiple metastases in bilateral lungs. We could see cancer covered her lungs, which was more serious than before. The biggest tumor is 7.5cm. If all treatments are given at a time, it will cause massive bleeding, so we plan to make it twice.” On November 30, she underwent a cryosurgery on left lung tumor, after which she took a rest for half a month. Then on December 20, she underwent another cryosurgery on right lung tumor. After the second surgery, the biggest tumor decreased to half of its size and at the same time, her cough and hemoptysis all disappeared and her appetite had been improved. Her husband said, “Medical staff here is considerate. When my wife coughed blood, nurses would come and check. If the amount of blood increased, the nurses would tell the doctor immediately. Then the doctor will come and give styptic medicine to my wife. In Fuda, medical staff can provide patients with something they really need in time. Compared with other hospitals, only Fuda provides the most caring services for us.”
"I was very satisfied with these two treatments. After the surgery, I felt that the chest distress relieved a lot. I’m really appreciated what Dr. Zhou Liang said-- the doctor's excellent skills are the best weapon to fight against cancer and also the crusher of patients' negative emotions." Before discharge, Mrs. Guo expressed her gratitude to Dr. Wang Feng and Dr. Zhou Liang because of their kind help and comfort. "In order to comfort my family, I pretend to be positive. In fact, I’m really nervous. I worry a lot before surgery. Fortunately, Dr. Wang Feng noticed my nervousness and comforted me, and answered questions patiently. Then I felt relaxed and went into the operating room.”
In terms of a 5-year struggle with cancer, Mrs. Guo would like to thank her family and Fuda for their support and care. From her experience, she wanted to give advice to everyone, “No matter how busy you are, your health is the top priority.” She was also grateful to find Fuda and she said, “Cancer indeed tortures us but we have to be brave enough to fight against it. The key is to find a professional hospital and receive proper treatments there to earn ourselves more time to survive. Besides, don’t neglect some symptoms caused by cancer. You see the earlier treatment we receive, the longer time we can survive. More importantly, you have to pay attention to each stage of treatment. Only when you are healthy, you can enjoy a better life.”
The best way to treat lung cancer is early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to physical examination for screening. Nowadays, the key target of lung cancer screening test is high-risk areas and high-risk groups of lung cancer. It is best to have a low-dose spiral CT at the age of 45. If there is something wrong, regular follow-up visit is recommended. If lung nodules grow too fast during follow-up, interventions should be taken. Long-term smokers need to receive a screening test early because smokers are still at high risk for lung cancer.
Early symptoms of lung cancer are as follows:
1. Lung cancer patients may develop hemoptysis as the cancer grows and spreads.
2. Lung cancer patients may suffer from chronic cough easily, which cannot be relieved by cough medicine, and longer duration of coughing.
3. Lung cancer patients may have hoarseness when the cancer further grows and compresses the same side of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, resulting in left vocal cord paralysis. If you have hoarseness with unknown reasons, please take it seriously.
4. Lung cancer patients may suffer from chest pain and most of them may think it is caused by overwork, and it may be relieved after a break. In fact, the pain is mainly caused by the metastatic bleeding on pleura or chest wall.
