Know anyone with Cancer, what was their first hint of a problem?

Question

I am always looking at the death notices in the paper and see quite a few people who died of cancer in their 40s and 50s. I always wondered how suddenly they died and what caused them to go to the doctor in the first place to check their condition out.

Any cancer stories that started with a simple pain somewhere?

Answer 1

My mom is a cancer doctor.  I asked her about this a long time ago.  In short most people keep going to the doctor because they are sick and it just never goes away, it's one sickness after another.  

Answer 2

I think you will find that a lot of cancers are asymptomatic and by the time someone experiences pain or any other form of debilitating symptoms, the cancer is pretty far progressed. Although, it may seem that some people die pretty suddenly after being diagnosed, the fact is that they have probably had the cancer for quite some time before it was discovered.

In my case all I had was a bit of a dry cough, almost resembling a bit of an allergy to something or a touch of asthma. This lasted for almost 6 months before I went to the doctor, only to find that I had an 8ctumorur in my chest (thymic carcinoma). Although an extremely rare form of cancer, it was successfully treated and removed.  

Answer 3

I had leukemia when I was a baby. My mom took me to the Dr. because I had a bad cough. She later found out that my double chin was because of swollen lymph nodes,my big belly was because of my swollen liver & spleen. My head sweat a lot overnight. I was very pale.

Answer 4

my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer in december '05. her first symptom was throwing up blood while sitting in a chair reading. by the way, she is still undergoing chemo and doing ok at 81 years.

Answer 5

my mother in law had lung cancer, she was 54. She got a nasty cough, and one day she said she felt like something popped in her chest while coughing and it hurt. She was diagnosed a week later, and gone 2 months after that :(

Answer 6

Cancer is deceptive. It is a progressive disease which means it starts out as a microscopic cell and begins to grow. While the cancer is small it can remain unnoticed in the body, the body will treat the growing malignancy just like any other body part because it is made up of your own DNA. Cancer can co-exist inside the body and will remain hidden until it begins to intefere with normal systems or bodily functions. In general, there are no symptoms at all that someone has cancer until it becomes large enough to be noticed and by than the cancer can be advanced. Often the only warning sign that anyone has cancer is the appearance of an unexplained painless, hard lump or bump located anywhere on the body . . especially one that seems to be growing.

It isn't just 40 or 50 year olds who die from cancer. Children, adolescents, and young adults also die from cancer. In the young, cancer is the second most common reason for death. While progress against cancer has been steady for children and older adults the same type of progress has not been kept for adolescents and young adults and they are dying more frequently from their disease.

My teenage son recently passed away from a highly aggressive abdominal sarcoma that presents as multiple tumors within the abdominal cavity. There is no organ of origin and there are few treatment options. He underwent experimental surgery and chemoperfusion which helped extend his life for three years. His disease predominately strikes young males. It is a high grade, aggressive disease which can multiply in as little as 28 days, there are survivors, but very few.

We had no warning that my son had cancer. He was playing high school basketball, had just been cleared for sports with a well physical (doctor declared him healthy) in late December. In January he told us he could not keep up with the other boys on the court. He went to the doctor and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. He continued school, basketball, and a part time job on weekends. The first of March went to the hospital for testing, was admitted, and diagnosed with stage IV abdominal cancer . .he had five tumors in the abdominal cavity with the largest being the size of a volley ball (over 21cm). All of it undetected and unsuspected until that time.  How any of his doctors could miss five large tumors in the abdominal cavity and extensive peritoneal seeding . . is not explainable. Cancer is a deceptive and rotten disease.

It is because cancer is asymptomatic until it is advanced that it is among the most feared and most life threatening of the  diseases.  It spares no one of any race, country, s*x, economic group, or age . . anyone can get cancer.

Answer 7

It depends on where in the body the cancer is located.  My Dad had brain cancer and his first symptoms were that he couldn't walk in a straight line.   My uncle had stomach cancer and the first thing he noticed was burping after meals.  My aunt had uterine cancer and sensed something was wrong.  After an exam, she insisted that her doctor do more tests, otherwise it would not have been found and treated.  

Answer 8

My husband had back pain for what seemed like forever. 2 weeks ago that pain spread to his chest. Last week he went to the ER and found out the pain was a swollen lymph node pressing on the nerves in his spine. He was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma.

No history in his family and no Epstein Barr, which is a common factor with people who have Hodgkin's.

Answer 9

you are weird...reading death notices. Stop worrying or you wil lbe a hypocondriac.(if you are not already) Maybe you are just morbid.

Answer 10

I had colon cancer, and that shows no symptoms until it is advanced.

So I had started getting really painful stomach cramps, which is what made me go to the doctor. I was told I have a holiday bug, then piles, and then when it didn't stop I was sent for more tests which showed its colon cancer.

Answer 11

I had a black birthmark looking growth on neck. I saw a dermantologist three weeks later but it grew so fast and deep into my lower levels of the skin, the melanoma is still life threatening.

Answer 12

My uncle, who was 60 last year, died almost a year ago now of cancer sadly.

His was quite a rare tumour that developed initially in his chest before spreading.

He was healthy and fit with no unhealthy habits (he was a healthy weight, had no previous issues, a non smoker and only light drinker).

His first sign of trouble was occasional, mild chest pain on the right hand side of his chest. As it was only mild, away from his heart and occasional, he didn't think much of it...after a while, two small lumps appeared - and in conjunction with the pain, he got help.

When he spoke to his doctor, they were unsure - so did some blood tests and scans and confirmed it was a tumour.

He had chemotherapy - which helped a bit at first, but after time, it's effect dropped off significantly, until he gave up on it.

I last saw him in February last year and he was coping (he lived overseas in New Zealand) - but the signs of weakness were growing - he'd get breathless fast, and found it tiring to do much. He worked as an electronics engineer and found his thinking and cognitive processes gradually decaying as the cancer spread to his brain and through his lungs...when I saw him, he (appeared) well, but when I talked to him, I could see the changes - he would get confused and have to stop and really think sometimes...and he was unable to walk far.

He kept up quite well, but as for many people, his downfall was very rapid...when I saw him in February, he (and we) believed he had at least possibly a few years left...by July, we knew though he wouldn't make Christmas and by August, Mum went over to NZ to help care for him as in his last weeks, he went downhill fast. He couldn't walk for more than literally two or three minutes and he would hallucinate. He was very pale and had lost a lot of weight - and his cognitive ability had truly gone to waste (which was hard for him - he and I were particularly close through our shared passion for anything technical).

He and I were close and as time passed, he frequently mentioned he felt so bad for being progressively less capable, both physically and mentally.

The pain first started for him in November, 2006 - and he died last year on August 25.

I know it's a morbid and graphic story...but I wanted to share it, to urge anyone who does find an unusual lump or pain to check it out straight away...and also, for people to understand the gradual process of loss a cancer patient experiences - and to help people understand that and better care for a loved one.