OT: Cancer

["Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I posted this message in ASA.  Even though it's
OT, I'll share it here as well in hopes that it
may help someone here.

"...It was prostate surgery which indirectly
saved my life.  I had the "Roto-Rooter" surgery
and afterward the doctor told me to notify him at
once if I had any unusual pains as these might
indicate a blood clot.  A few weeks later I had a
pain deep in the right side of my chest which
lasted more than a day.

Any other time I would have ignored a slight pain
like that but just to be safe I called the doctor.
He said it was unlikely that this was a clot but
advised me to go to the ER (it was a weekend) and
get an X-ray and a CT scan.  The X-ray showed
nothing but the scan revealed a tumor which had
just breached the pleura (causing the pain).  The
tumor had also invaded the blood vessels.

Because of that scan I found out about this cancer
just before it metastasized.  It was literally a
thin layer of cells away from becoming inoperable.
I share in hopes that it will inspire some here to
ask their doctors about doing annual CT scans.
Chest X-rays are *not* enough.  The usually don't
disclose lung cancer until the tumor is so large
that it is beyond hope. A CT scan shows everything
that's going on inside the thorax.  It's like
passing the body through a meat slicer only
without all the blood.  You can see every detail
and, most significantly, you can find and treat
cancer in time to save your life.

I was very lucky.  My doctor says that if I had
not found out and taken immediate action I'd have
been dead in less than a year.  BTW, I don't even
smoke.  I quit almost 30 years ago.   With the
invasion of the blood vessels it's reasonable to
assume that microscopic cancer cells have been
carried throughout my body.  The chemotherapy
was designed to kill those. I won't know for sure
if I'm cured for another five years.  Meanwhile
I'll be going in for quarterly scans and taking
shark cartilage daily (I figure it can't hurt and
I don't like sharks anyway).

If you're a smoker or if you've ever smoked, do
yourself a favor and have your lungs checked out.
Your life may depend on it.  Since this cancer
came upon me nearly 30 years after I quit smoking,
even those who never smoked ought to consider a
little preventive testing.  The procedure is
painless, quick and actually kind of interesting.

This message is posted in hopes that it will
inspire someone else to protect himself.  Since I
usually post on-topic stuff here, I hope the local
net-cops will bear with me this time.  :^)

--

Merry Belated Christmas,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
941-866-1100
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
=============================>


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