My first sign of lung cancer was a pain under my shoulder
I'm Ernst, and my positive, quite active international life for 75 years, including smoking cigarettes for 52 years, was halted by a major health issue in my 76th year.
In Ernst's words
Just prior to Christmas, with only light pains under the left shoulder blade, I had it checked by my family doctor. The X-ray with his vintage machine clearly showed a differently coloured part on the top of my left lung, judged as no emergency but to be closer checked after New Year. At Christmas I had a strange pain under the left shoulder blade and all along my left arm all the way to the finger tips. The symptoms got stronger by the day, requiring more and more painkillers, thus urging me to seek professional help.
An X-ray that could have moved faster
“I wish that the anomalies on the family doctor’s X-ray would immediately have been checked with the available modern scans, CT and CT-PET, in the hospital.”
Luck in misfortune
Tests in January 2023 revealed a sizable tumour on top of the left lung lobe and a small one in the centre of the right lung. In general terms, this sounds like a death sentence! However, the good news was that both tumours were non-aggressive types without metastases and both completely removable by surgery, apparently totally untypical for smokers. I took this serious diagnosis with the outcome of being fully healed, "luck in misfortune", in my usual pragmatic way. But my wife and our daughter and son were quite shaken. Good talks with controlled emotions during a few days smoothed the waves and it was an invaluable family experience.
A dependable driver and a flexible cook
My treatment included surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The side effects were unpleasant but bearable, though it was physical and mental torture draining all energy and positive spirits. After treatment, medical specialists assured me I am completely cancer free. Thanks to my wife's good state of health throughout my entire time as a cancer patient, she was and continues to be tremendous support. A very dependable driver to and from all my frequent medical appointments and a flexible cook due to my strange smell and taste distortion: this is still very much appreciated.
Close family plays a vital role in supporting a cancer patient.
Helping others now
My metabolism has pretty much normalised and I am feeling truly healthy. However, I still experience relatively minor after-effects from chemotherapy like sleeping problems, night sweating, skin rashes, and occasional visual and balance problems. But despite these comparatively minor aches, I am in a very good mental state and staying mentally and physically active as much as possible. Now I'm a member of the patient forum "Living with Lung Cancer" and the peer group in our national Cancer League, supporting other cancer patients.
“Having had “good luck in misfortune”, I am very happy if I can help and support lung cancer patients in any way possible!”
The healthcare professional side
Professor Gregor Kocher is the thoracic surgeon in Bern who treated Ernst. His work begins at the point where a suspicion of lung cancer has to become a diagnosis.
