To tell you the truth I don’t really know all of that much about it. I do know the name as I see television commercials about it all the time but I couldn’t tell anything more than it is a cancer. Isn’t that awful? Well if you are like me than please allow me to share with you some of the things I have learned about this particular form of cancer.
I learned that mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer affecting the membrane lining of the lungs and abdomen and that malignant mesothelioma is the most serious of all asbestos-related diseases. I honestly didn’t know that there was as much asbestos exposure now as there was years ago. I can remember the Army checking my dad every year when I was growing up. I also learned that making a correct diagnosis for mesothelioma is difficult because the symptoms can be very similar to other ailments. That has to be tough. You to be sick and the doctor thinking it is one thing when it is another.
When you add into the fact that there is no cure and the only thing for you to is get treatment and surgery then this is one particularly nasty cancer. Not that any is ever a good cancer. There are three major types of mesothelioma: pleural which affects the protective lining in the chest cavity and is about three-quarters of all mesothelioma cases, peritoneal which affects the abdominal cavity, and finally pericardial which affects the cardiac cavity. To me any one of those sound scary!
I recently met Heather Von St. James who is a pleural mesothelioma survivor who was told that she would not live past 15 months if she did not get treatment. At the time she had a three month old daughter. Can you imagine being told that you aren’t going to watch your child grow? A child that you may only get a few months with. I am not sure if I could have been as strong as Heather was. I can tell you know that the testing and such that is done for all of this is the scariest thing ever. A couple of years ago I had a cancer scare and there is nothing worst than waiting to find out if what is wrong with you is the big C. Luckily for me mine wasn’t but I will tell you that it took me days to get past the scare so I can only imagine the shock of finding out you have cancer. Heater’s story is amazing and you can read it here. She is my new hero!
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Interesting. I didn’t know that there was as much asbestos exposure now as there was years ago, either. I though this stuff was regulated now and removed by law from anyplace where you could be exposed.
Very interesting article. I didn’t know anything about mesothelioma until this post. That is such a heart wrenching story. I couldn’t imagine how I would take that kind of news.
I have heard of mesothelioma and know that it is a painful cancer caused by asbestos, but I thought we got rid of all asbestos by now and did not have this cancer. I guess I was wrong. I am sorry for all those affected by this disease.
I’d never even heard of this before, so thanks for making us aware.
A very interesting article about Mesothelioma.
This was a very interesting post, all I knew about mesothelioma was the brief stuff they said in the commercial on tv.
Wow, I know I was familiar with the commercials, but I never realized that it was such an aggressive type of cancer! Thank you for sharing Heather’s story and for your post!
My husband explained the problem to me, but there’s so much more to learn.
Thank you for sharing this information, I really didn’t know that much about it.
Very interesting post..like you Rita I had no clue exactly what it was..thank you for the insight..Cancer sucks!