Tardiness and Lung Cancer

Some conditions have a way of showing signs earlier on and ahead of an official diagnosis. Lung cancer can fall in this instance. However, it can be a bit complicated as a diagnosis may not necessarily call out typical symptoms.

This can be a problem, as when symptoms are rare or do not show up as a typical indicator, there's no true knowing unless another health hiccup brings light to the problem.

Tardiness in lung cancer diagnosis

Some may confuse the word tardy as a good thing, but believe me, it's not! Tardiness means "The quality of being late or slow."

The consensus is that cancer is a guest that pops up when you least expect it and then displays itself for a long stay very late. The earlier, the better for any diagnosis, and this is the case with lung cancer.

Typically, we think of lung cancer symptoms as a cough, chest pain, or coughing blood. The patient then visits a doctor to review what is going on and order further tests to get down to resolving the issue- right? Well, that's not always the case.

In many cases, people are diagnosed very late because they didn't show the expected signs or complained of an issue at all. The playbook is if there's no problem, then we keep it moving, but what happens when there's a health interruption that has not opened up the possibility of lung cancer, which was not originally detected? The outcome can be devastating.

The challenges of early detection in lung cancer

Testing that is used to help decipher if the lung cancer is at an early stage or late stage may include certain scans; the problem is if a patient doesn't fit the script of worry or has no symptoms, then they will not be checked for the dreaded possibilities of lung cancer.

A late diagnosis is not necessarily the best scenario because the earliest testing can be done, and early treatment is the key to survival. Now, why is late-stage diagnosis so worrisome? Well, it may be that some people don't automatically think they need to seek a specialist as they don't show the signs mentioned previously.

If you don't know, how would you automatically think to ask? It does help to have a healthy relationship with a primary care doctor who has followed your care and may be the source to refer a specialist based on the signs. Sometimes, our doctors are the main source of how our experience goes, as well as having a transparent dialogue in picking up key concerns or observations.

Advocating for your health

You know that saying – "If you see something, say something." Well, that is the thought with lung cancer, which may be a little difficult if you're not displaying those typical red flags. Though red flags are the initial steps to move the needle, being honest about how you feel and telling your doctor about anything different may be a start (out-of-the-blue fatigue, change of appetite).

The saying no news is good news, but that glimmer of not feeling well (even faintly) and assuming, oh, it's just this or that, without further checking, can make a difference. Sometimes, these missed opportunities are due to the initial doctors not picking up those faint signs as a bigger or future issue. We know the system is not exactly perfect, but being in tune with knowing your body or just following your gut to get things checked out is a start!

The time to fight is now, with integrity, grace, hope, and a smile...when you feel like it