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Originally Posted by Elphaba
Pan, I think Bear just provided you with very positive news. Something very similar happened to my hubby last week, and he is scheduled for lung cancer surgery on Monday. We are hopeful he will be cancer free, like Bear.
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I will send healing light to you and your hubby when I do my healing meditations, and I pray for the very best.
It was way cool of Bear to add that info and to be such a good friend.
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Yeah, the horse is out of the barn, but we are both quitting the cigs. How about we start of TFP smoking cessation support group? Every previous attempt I've made to go cold turkey has produced a psychotic mad woman, so I'm going to try the patch with lots of celery and carrot sticks. Are you game?
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That is a wonderful idea and yes, I would be interested. I was on the patch in the hospital and while I wouldn't have cravings the pyschological urge to hold the cigarette, feel the smoke and such was very strong. (I would sneak out, take the patch off and have a ciggie, every so often.) Perhaps, carrot sticks will help with that. I know Tootsie Roll pops didn't.
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The pulmonologist is the expert that you should be listening to, and please follow his recommendations. You might run up a debt, but your good health is worth it imo. Checking your VA benefits was another good idea by Bear.
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Absolutely, the pulmonologist is an expert in the field, I got lucky in that aspect.
Sarcoidosis is so rare and even moreso rarely diagnosed that not much is truly known about it. Plus, since it is one of those diseases where the symptoms (IF there are any) can be diagnosed as something else the true effects of the disease are just now being studied. I may never have known I had it, had I not had an ER doctor want chest x-rays to see what the smoking was doing to my lungs. Thank God for a doctor who didn't give a damn if I had insurance or not. They are rare, especially at the hospital I was at, as they are very strict about a patient having insurance in order to get more than just the very bare minimum treatment. (They tend to send people to Detox who don't have insurance whether they need detoxed or not.)
As for VA benefits because of my gambling I was discharged (HONORABLY) exactly one week shy of 2 years which means I have absolutely no benefits, although I can petition my US Rep./ Senator/ and/or the Navy to find a way to get that week. (I.E. work in the recruiting office for a week etc.) I have thought of doing this because of school and my GI Bill.
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If you are anything like the control freak that I am, jump on google and learn everything you can about sarcoidosis and TB treatments. Have a list of questions ready for the specialist so that you don't feel like a deer in the headlights. It worked for me last week, so I hope it will also work for you.
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I had the TB test, it's negative. No, the doctor is pretty sure it is Sarcoidosis, which as Bear pointed out is pretty much harmless. However, it can take it's toll on organs, and if it moves to other areas can cause numerous problems. It can be anywhere from totally harmless to deadly. And considering that it is a very rare disease and even that much rarer for a white male to get...... I have to be careful and make sure I follow every detail to my treatments and make sure I get checked every so often to keep an eye on the recurrences and what it is doing.
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Hang in there Pan. Like Bear said, we have your back.
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Thanks, Elph.
You are a great lady.