Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Question for Medical Professionals out there
My diagnosis took a long time and a lot of my symptoms seemed unrelated - back pain, cheekbone pain, distended stomach. I wonder however, do doctors not consider cancer to be as probable in young people as compared to older adults? For instance if you had a 30 year old with certain symptoms, like mine, and a 60 year old with the same symptoms, would the approach toward diagnosis be different? I wonder if this is the case and perhaps something that needs to be addressed. Perhaps because sarcoma is typically difficult to diagnose it falls into a different category, but what about more common cancers? Does it take longer to diagnose younger cancer patients?
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I would think the opposite, truthfully. When a younger patient comes in with vague constitutional symptoms, it is more alarming than a 60yo who probably has a history of a little arthritis, maybe thyroid problems, etc, etc. When an otherwise healthy young person comes in with weird symptoms, they are more suspicious for a cancer diagnosis. That being said, a recently pregnant woman with back pain would NEVER, in a million years, raise my suspicion of a sarcoma (maybe until now, which is the important point). . The incidence is simply too low and the probable, more common alternatives are much more likely. And this is in America, where we CT more people than anywhere else in the world! Hmm...just thoughts...Also, your symptoms are NOT the symptoms you learn to associate with cancers. Fevers/chills, weight loss, fatigue, swollen, contender lymph nodes, unexplained anemia or strange results on bloodwork...those are the things we learn about. Back pain and a distended stomach after giving birth a few months ago? I don't know a doc who would have put cancer high on the differential. The incidence of this type of tumor in a woman your age is literally 1 in a million. That being said, you are living proof and an example of persistence and listening to your body!!!! The amount of health PROMOTION coming from this journey is the most powerful thing ive ever seen. Awareness is KEY....for providers and patients....
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