The diagnosis of asymptomatic pleural mesothelioma is fairly uncommon, in my case it was a series of lucky coincidences.
In early 2014 I was laid off from my job as an Engineering Designer of refineries and chemical plants. Like many others in the business I was self employed, so the layoff was without notice, compensation or employment insurance. It was a technically skilled and well paid career but this type of engineering was systematically being outsourced to Asia, it was also the start of the oil price collapse. These 2 conditions combined to cause the recession which continues to this day.
Over the next 2 years I was laid off 3 more times from temporary jobs that were not as technically challenging nor as well paid, at this time I was a smoker and had been for most of my adult life.
The combination of reduced income and rising cigarette taxes encouraged me to try vaping. This was before the current media hysteria. The least known or understood advantage of vaping is that you can choose the level of nicotine in the vaporising fluid, this enables you to gradually reduce the level to zero.
Over the next 6 months this is exactly what I did, once I reached zero I found I had kicked the nicotine addiction. So as I no longer had the desire to smoke or vape I just gave it up. I had quit smoking without ever really intending to!
Although the diagnosis of asymptomatic pleural mesothelioma is fairly uncommon I had no associated health issues, no cough, no shortness of breath from either smoking or meso, I was generally fit and healthy for my age ,despite many years of stupidly smoking. In other words I was completely asymptomatic.
So in late 2015 I saw an invitation to apply to join a long term study of the health of ex-smokers. It was being conducted by my local University hospital and I applied. I heard nothing until July 2016 when I received notification of my acceptance into the study. I was informed that the first step would be a CT scan to establish my baseline lung condition for the purposes of future study, the appointment was made and I had the scan in August.
Two weeks later I received a message to say that there was “an anomaly” on my scan that the specialist heading the study would like to discuss with me. At the appointment I was told that there was a small “shadow” on my left lung and what appeared to be a build up of fluid.
It was probably benign but they wanted to drain the fluid to test before deciding whether a full biopsy was required. The fluid was drained, painlessly, and I awaited the result with trepidation but hoping for the best.
At the next appointment I was first given a lung capacity test, basically taking a very deep breath and blowing for as long as possible through a flow meter. The nurse conducting the test remarked “Well there’s nothing wrong with your lungs”.
So I was completely unprepared for the specialist’s announcement 10 minutes later “I’m afraid the fluid biopsy indicates you have Pleural Mesothelioma, it’s an incurable cancer that can be fatal but can sometimes be treated. Have you ever had exposure to asbestos? Because that is the only known cause of this disease”
Meso-what? I’d never heard of it, all I heard was incurable and fatal. This devastating diagnosis had just changed my life in an instant. I drove home in a daze, all I could think of was how long have I got, will I see my grandchildren turn 5, how will my wife and family cope and do I have time to decorate the front room and finish clearing out the garage?
They become your only and constant thoughts. Within days my wife and I were both on sleeping tablets.
My youngest daughter had recently given birth to our second grandchild so rather than spoil her happiness we decided not to tell her or our other daughter until we had found out more about my future mesothelioma prognosis. I mistakenly started internet searches and what I read was not good.
There are hundreds of mesothelioma web sites out there, nearly all of them start with the frightening and depressing cloned myths that surround this disease. You already know these “facts” and that they don’t necessarily apply to you, why would you need to constantly remind yourself of them when you are trying to build hope for a positive outcome?
DON’T DO IT!
Remember trust your oncologist, know only what you need to know, don’t seek out meaningless and negative statistics.
The University hospital specialist referred me to a treating oncologist attached to the cancer center of our main hospital and I had an appointment with him less than 2 weeks after my diagnosis.
This was where the hope started. I immediately got on well with my oncologist, he was very straight while being empathetic, he explained that, yes mesothelioma is still incurable, but given the fact that I had an early diagnosis while asymptomatic (no symptoms) and that there had been tremendous treatment advances over the past ten years there was every reason to believe that this disease could continue to be –
“A TREATABLE CHRONIC CONDITION”
Those words and his attitude since have given me hope and confidence especially in those moments of doubt and worry. I believe now that it is incredibly important to have that trusting relationship with your oncologist.
As I have said, the diagnosis of asymptomatic pleural mesothelioma is fairly uncommon. Like many cancers mesothelioma is insidiously asymptomatic and often only becomes symptomatic when it has reached a critical stage. So early detection and treatment of any cancer including mesothelioma can make a crucial difference.
The moral of my story is if you suspect that you have ever had even a minimal exposure to asbestos, GET TESTED. Remember mesothelioma can have a latency of over 50 years, so test every year to be sure.
I was lucky………………………be proactive!
Chemotherapy was scheduled to start in early September 2016.