My father was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in August 2007. It all started in April 2007, he was coughing up blood and went to his physician who ordered antibiotics without even seeing him. Then in July 2007 he was complaining of mid sternal chest pain (he was an avid golfer and thought maybe he pulled a muscle). Finally a CT scan was ordered which showed a mass in his chest; a lung biopsy confirmed he had non-small cell lung cancer.
When we had our first visit with the oncologist he stated my dad was already at stage 4. The oncology team was wonderful, so was his doctor.
I'm a registered nurse and work on a step down unit. When we got the diagnosis my first question was, "my dad has had chest X rays in the last 2 years, why didn't this show up?" and the oncology nurse said lung cancer doesn't show up on an X-ray.
My dad had a mass on his sternum and ribs. (my dad was a smoker and had asbestos exposure he was a painter). After a long 13 month battle my dad passed away on September 9,2008. I was so glad to hear that they were implementing screenings for patients at risk for lung cancer.
My only wish is they had screenings sooner when my dad was diagnosed.
