So What Is the Deal With My Lungs?
Many people ask me what is the deal with my lungs? What is wrong with them? Won’t they heal? Well, this is a bit of a tricky question. Let’s begin with what happened to them.
When I had cancer there was a tumor a little larger than a softball located between my heart and breast bone, right in the middle of my chest. The first treatment I took was chemo which is the part that makes you sick and bald, but that part had no effect on my breathing.
The second phase of treatment was radiation. I really didn’t want to take it because my cancer was basically gone by the end of the six months of chemo. However, taking radiation doubled my chances of a five-year survival rate for my specific cancer. So, I wasted no time scheduling my treatments. Actually, the treatments were not bad. The process was simple. I went in to get set up and they drew a square on my chest that determined the radiation field with a bright blue sharpie marker. Then for 20 days I went back and as quick as a chest x-ray, click-click, I was done. I was on the upswing physically from chemo and was feeling so much better that I really did not notice any side effects during radiation. My skin was a little red and leathery, but overall not a bad experience.
About a month after my last radiation I noticed that I could not walk and talk on the phone at the same time. I could not finish a sentence without taking a quick breath. Then I noticed that if I was carrying a load, I was really winded and it was a drastic change, so my radiology oncologist sent me to a pulmonologist, or lung doctor. They told me that unfortunately my lungs were damaged from the radiation. The radiation burned my lungs and there was substantial scar tissue. Hoping it would heal or go away, I took 60 mg of prednisone (yes 60!) - which is a crazy high dose - for a YEAR. By the end of the year I weighed 270 pounds and could not breathe any better than when I started. My neck was thicker than my head, I was a pile of mush and I felt as bad about myself as I looked. So, I CHANGED DOCTORS! I found one that would work with me and help me get better by working, not medicating! By the next fall I had dropped the weight and walked the 3-day 60-mile cancer walk!
While working hard has helped me breath more normally without steroids, my lungs still only move about 50-60% of what a normal set of lungs would move. So, that just means I have to work a little harder when doing anything cardio. And, for some reason about once every couple of years, they sort of decide to shut down and we don’t know why. But, once they get to a certain low stage they send me to the hospital for a quick round of IV steroids and I am on my way and back on my feet in about a week.
So, that is the deal with my lungs. Some days it stinks, but it’s not a bad trade off any day for my cancer free life.
Oh, and if you want to know what this feels like, just put a clothes pin on your nose and grab a McDonalds straw, put it in your mouth and only breathe through the straw…that is what it feels like. No problem sitting and reading this you say? Go walk a few flights of stairs and let’s talk.
Many people ask me what is the deal with my lungs? What is wrong with them? Won’t they heal? Well, this is a bit of a tricky question. Let’s begin with what happened to them.
When I had cancer there was a tumor a little larger than a softball located between my heart and breast bone, right in the middle of my chest. The first treatment I took was chemo which is the part that makes you sick and bald, but that part had no effect on my breathing.
The second phase of treatment was radiation. I really didn’t want to take it because my cancer was basically gone by the end of the six months of chemo. However, taking radiation doubled my chances of a five-year survival rate for my specific cancer. So, I wasted no time scheduling my treatments. Actually, the treatments were not bad. The process was simple. I went in to get set up and they drew a square on my chest that determined the radiation field with a bright blue sharpie marker. Then for 20 days I went back and as quick as a chest x-ray, click-click, I was done. I was on the upswing physically from chemo and was feeling so much better that I really did not notice any side effects during radiation. My skin was a little red and leathery, but overall not a bad experience.
About a month after my last radiation I noticed that I could not walk and talk on the phone at the same time. I could not finish a sentence without taking a quick breath. Then I noticed that if I was carrying a load, I was really winded and it was a drastic change, so my radiology oncologist sent me to a pulmonologist, or lung doctor. They told me that unfortunately my lungs were damaged from the radiation. The radiation burned my lungs and there was substantial scar tissue. Hoping it would heal or go away, I took 60 mg of prednisone (yes 60!) - which is a crazy high dose - for a YEAR. By the end of the year I weighed 270 pounds and could not breathe any better than when I started. My neck was thicker than my head, I was a pile of mush and I felt as bad about myself as I looked. So, I CHANGED DOCTORS! I found one that would work with me and help me get better by working, not medicating! By the next fall I had dropped the weight and walked the 3-day 60-mile cancer walk!
While working hard has helped me breath more normally without steroids, my lungs still only move about 50-60% of what a normal set of lungs would move. So, that just means I have to work a little harder when doing anything cardio. And, for some reason about once every couple of years, they sort of decide to shut down and we don’t know why. But, once they get to a certain low stage they send me to the hospital for a quick round of IV steroids and I am on my way and back on my feet in about a week.
So, that is the deal with my lungs. Some days it stinks, but it’s not a bad trade off any day for my cancer free life.
Oh, and if you want to know what this feels like, just put a clothes pin on your nose and grab a McDonalds straw, put it in your mouth and only breathe through the straw…that is what it feels like. No problem sitting and reading this you say? Go walk a few flights of stairs and let’s talk.
RSS Feed