Editor’s Note:
According to the latest cancer statistics for 2019, 3.93 million new cases of malignant tumors occur each year in China, and behind every cancer patient is a unique life of their own.
In the 26th National Cancer Prevention and Treatment Awareness Week, Tencent Medical Dictionary planned the column “Light of Life” to record the real stories under cancer, share the scientific knowledge of cancer prevention and treatment, and convey the power of “Light of Life”.
Middle-aged with cancer is a word that sticks in the mind.
People are especially prone to anxiety in middle age: fear of getting sick, fear of losing a job, fear of running out of money ……
However, more than the anxiety of losing a job, the greatest fear of middle age is that a happy life has just made a start, only to have cancer suddenly press the end button.
Today, we’re telling the stories of three middle-aged lung cancer patients during the epidemic. Some of them were fortunate to have their lung cancer detected early and treated regularly because of the epidemic; others had their treatment delayed by the epidemic and died as their condition worsened; and others had their treatment affected by the epidemic, but fortunately their treatment was not interrupted and their lives continued ……
She was hospitalized with her husband with stomach cancer, and she was “caught” with early lung cancer as a result of the new pneumonia screening
.
The past six months have been particularly stressful for Zhengzhou-based Liu Fang (a pseudonym), whose husband was diagnosed with gastric cancer six months ago and who had to undergo chemotherapy after surgery, and whose health is not as good as it used to be.
In addition, with four elderly people in their eighties, children about to take their college entrance exams, and a dismal snack bar to run, all the burdens of the family are on her thin body.
However, the sudden outbreak of the new pneumonia epidemic forced Liu Fang’s snack bar to close, cutting off the family’s source of income. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
After the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rat, it was time for her husband to go back to the hospital for a review, and on March 11, Liu Fang accompanied him to the Henan Cancer Hospital for a review of his hospitalization.
The company’s first visit was to the hospital on March 11, when it was announced that all patients and their accompanying family members would have to have their blood drawn and chest CTs done to rule out new coronary pneumonia before they could be admitted.
Liu Fang thought it would be good to have a CT, just as a physical checkup. The two men had their blood checked and chest CT taken that morning, and the results came back in the afternoon, and the husband was fine and could be hospitalized, but Liu Fang’s test results were a little worse.
(Liu Fang’s chest CT reveals a lung cancer lesion. (Image source: Henan Cancer Hospital)
The report card showed a ground glass nodule in the lower lobe of the left lung, which was considered a possible lung cancer.
Liu Fang took the report card and her strength, which had been disguised for many days, was instantly washed away by tears: “How can God be so blind? We both have cancer, how can we live with it?”
But she didn’t have time to think about it, and Liu Xianben, deputy chief of thoracic surgery, recommended that she must have surgery as soon as possible. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. And we are using minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery, which is very traumatic and can be discharged soon after surgery, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
The roles of the husband and Liu Fang switched at once, and the husband dragged his sick body to the hospital to prepare for her surgery. on March 20, Dr. Liu removed the lung cancer lesion under thoracoscopy, and the surgery turned out to be even better than expected: the tumor was 2 cm by 2.5 cm in size, did not involve the pleura, did not grow across the lobe, and was early-stage lung cancer.
Having heard the doctor’s post-operative advice, Liu Fang and her husband’s hearts were slightly relieved. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
Wang Qiming, deputy director of the Department of Medical Oncology at Henan Cancer Hospital, said that lung cancer is actually caused by many factors, and although smoking is the “number one killer” of lung cancer, some secondary causes should not be ignored. The company’s main goal is to provide a comprehensive range of products and services to the public.
After hearing the doctor’s explanation, Liu Fang planned to stop her snack business for years and wait for her children’s college entrance exams before thinking about making money. The company’s main goal is to provide a better solution to the problem. After all, life goes on.
He said he would go back to work in two days, but his colleagues waited for the news of his death
.
Li Junfeng, 48, a grassroots cadre at the Binhu Street Office in Pingdingshan City, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last year. The new crown pneumonia epidemic came at a turning point in his treatment after having brain gamma knife surgery for brain metastases from lung cancer ……
Before the New Crown Pneumonia epidemic, Li Junfeng’s treatment was more regular. He was diagnosed with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer last July at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, where he was hospitalized for a month for chemotherapy, and his doctor also gave him the targeted drug crizotinib based on the results of genetic testing. After that, until December, he went to Beijing regularly for 7 days a month for treatment, went home for one day of rest, and then went back to his busy daily work. He also gave up his weekends to just make up for the time he missed at work.
He dragged his sick body, often visiting villages, from morning to night, and never seemed tired. He was so energetic, he didn’t even look like a lung cancer patient.
But lung cancer is always trying to bring down this workaholic. The cancer pain kept him from eating, dizziness and vomiting tormented him, and the vision in his left eye was rapidly declining. During a review last October, the worst thing that could happen to a lung cancer patient happened: a meningeal tumor was found in his brain. Before the Spring Festival, Li Junfeng went to the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University to undergo brain gamma knife surgery, the operation was relatively successful, his dizziness, vomiting symptoms have been reduced, and his appetite has improved some. This gives the family a great encouragement, Li Junfeng also think when the body is well, can return to work, do some work that can be done.
Who knew that a sudden outbreak of Newcastle pneumonia would strike during the Spring Festival?
In the midst of this “epidemic”, ordinary people “do not go out and stay at home” to contribute to society, but as a patient with advanced lung cancer and a grassroots cadre, Li Junfeng was faced with the dilemma of fighting the epidemic and fighting cancer. The company’s main goal is to provide a comprehensive range of products and services to the public.
In order to be the first to handle the epidemic prevention and control work, Li Junfeng ate and lived in the office, ate some halal instant noodles when he was hungry, and curled up on a one-meter-long sofa when he was sleepy. Although cancer pain, vomiting, dizziness and other symptoms torment him from time to time, Li Junfeng insisted on checking each village and street sentinel every day, urging everyone to do a good job of epidemic control, he also raised disinfection supplies around, organized everyone to do a good job of epidemic prevention and propaganda, and pacified the masses ……
On the night of New Year’s Eve, at 11 p.m., Li Junfeng, who was on duty in the office, received a call from the public reporting a vehicle with an “E A” license plate in Dongwa Village. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
(Junfeng Li and his wife. (Photo courtesy of Li Junfeng’s family)
Regrettably, starting in mid-February, Li Junfeng developed constipation and intestinal obstruction. As the epidemic situation was severe and hospitalization was inconvenient, he went to the hospital to simply receive symptomatic treatment such as enemas and infusions, and his symptoms not only did not ease, but worsened. Symptoms such as violent vomiting, dizziness, inability to eat, and blindness struck this strong man, and he was sent to the hospital again, but the local doctors could do nothing more. At this point, trying to go to Beijing to see a doctor again was too far to quench his thirst.
In early March, after the epidemic slowed down, the reluctant family turned to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University for treatment. The doctor shook his head and said there was no longer a chance of treatment, only symptomatic treatment to alleviate some of the pain.
After hearing the news that Li Junfeng was seriously ill and hospitalized in Zhengzhou, many colleagues have asked to visit him in the hospital, considering that the epidemic prevention and control is not yet over and the hospital does not allow multiple visitors, everyone wrote down what they wanted to say to him in a book and forwarded it to Li Junfeng’s wife, Wang Lina.
During his hospitalization, Li Junfeng was sometimes awake and sometimes confused, and when he was conscious, his wife took out the book and read it to him one sentence at a time in the hospital room.
The company’s main goal is to provide a platform for the development of a new generation of companies that will be able to meet the needs of their customers.
On March 15 at 8 p.m., Li Junfeng, who was awake again, sent a voice message to his colleague Guo Xiaobing, director of the family planning office in Binhu Street: “The doctor said I…will be discharged soon, and now the epidemic can’t be loosened, you all keep a close eye on it, I’ll be able to go back in two days…. …go to work.”
Regrettably, on March 30, due to advanced lung cancer combined with brain metastases, the treatment finally failed and Li Junfeng, accompanied by his family, finished his last journey in life.
“We were all looking forward to the happy news of Director Li’s return, but we didn’t expect to hear the sad news of his death.” Guo Xiaobing, a colleague, said with tears in his eyes.
At 38, he had been smoking for 20 years, and his insight at midlife with cancer: Is it too late to quit?
The man who has been smoking for 20 years, and who is now in the middle of his cancer, has a feeling that it is too late to quit.
Su Lei (a pseudonym) is a young lung cancer patient, only 38 years old at the time of diagnosis. But he is an old smoker, having learned to smoke since high school, two packs a day, and now 20 years of smoking.
(Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. (Image credit: Station Cool Helo)
During the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Su Lei had already finished his lung cancer surgery and was recuperating in his hometown in the countryside, escaping the storm of the epidemic. But another serious problem plagued him: with the village road closed, what about the last course of chemotherapy?
The traffic closure forced the suspension of his previous plans to travel to Shanghai for chemotherapy on a regular basis.
The last course of chemotherapy was delayed for more than two to three weeks, and the effect was somewhat compromised.
In Henan, it is customary to go to the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, for major illnesses, but under the strict quarantine requirements during the epidemic, traveling more than 200 kilometers to Zhengzhou to see a doctor, which used to take only two hours, has become impossible.
Anxiously, Su Lei called around, but the county hospital was no longer accepting inpatients. Besides, immunity will be much lower after chemotherapy for lung cancer, and it is easy to get infected, so doctors don’t dare to take the risk. Some friends reassured him: the epidemic will soon be over, you will be at most two or three weeks late, it will certainly not be a problem. But Su Lei didn’t dare to gamble, he didn’t want to give up any more chances.
After a few tosses and turns, he found the phone number of the department at the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital on the Internet and was able to contact the doctor who was treating him with chemotherapy through the department’s phone. He anxiously asked the doctor, “What can I do if I can’t go to Shanghai for chemotherapy because I’m isolated in my hometown?” The doctor came up with a compromise: he sent the chemotherapy plan and a copy of his medical records to Su Lei via WeChat, instructing him to continue his treatment at a local hospital where he could, and to make sure to do a good job of personal protection to prevent infection, and to tell the doctor in time if he had any discomfort.
Su Lei, who didn’t want the village to know he had cancer, had to go to the village head to explain the situation, and the village head called the town leader again, this time giving him a certificate that he could leave the village to go to the hospital. Fortunately, in the local city hospital, after all the twists and turns Su Lei eventually picked up inpatient chemotherapy.
Since his body is weak after chemotherapy, Su Lei tries to stay home as much as possible. He occasionally plays tai chi, helps his wife with household chores, and patiently accompanies his daughter to draw and do crafts. The company’s main goal is to provide a better service to its customers.
Now that the four months of chemotherapy are over, Su Lei has lost weight and his appetite is much better. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. He plans to go back to Shanghai at the end of May for a review and ask his doctor to see how to follow up on the treatment.
Once in a while, when he sees a picture of himself on his phone, he wonders if it’s too late to quit smoking.
I hope it’s not too late, the world gives him too much to hold on to.