This post is dedicated to explaining my X-Ray. I want to share my X-Ray image, and mention why the doctor's couldn't tell me I had a growth in my chest initially.
I took this photo with my cell phone, so do excuse the quality. What you can't see clearly in this picture is how clowdy my lungs look like, and the white lining along the bronchi.
OK, back to business, notice the red circle? (of course! duh) Do you also notice that mango-shaped-thing inside the red circle? For any normal X-Ray, you wouldn't find anything in that region. The doctor initially thought it was my aortic knuckle sticking out from its normal position (it will normally be positioned in the upper right of the lung, just beside the trachea). Normally, the aortic knuckle is barely visible. Since the mango-shaped-thing is in the same position as the aortic knuckle, this caused the doubt from the doctor.
Once CT scan has confirmed it was lymphoma, the doctor then knew that the mango-shaped-thing was actually a growth on my lymph node. Plus, there was another indication missed by the doctor.
Do you also notice that my breathing track is slightly curved to the left? This simple detail was overlooked by 4 doctors! Don't get me wrong for blaming them though. Anyways, this would explain my coughing. The mango-shaped-thing is actually the lump from my cancer. This was pushing my trachea to the side.
Hopefully this info might help anyone out there doing some research on abnormality on chest X-Ray. This little detail could have saved me from lot's of trouble going up and down the hospital, trying to figure out the reason I was having cough for almost a month, non-stop.
Finding out you have cancer is not easy to take in at first. I've only been joking about it my whole life, especially when my feaces was black in colour, only to find out later it was because of Oreo. Common mistake, could have happened to anyone.
The reason I started this blog is so that I can share my cancer experience to everyone out there. I've learnt a lot since my chemotherapy started, and still learning lot's of things along the way. For some issues, I couldn't find the solution online and had to learn the hard way; and for some issues, solution was easily obtainable by a quick search. I would love to share whatever information I have, so that anyone having the same issue could benefit from whatever that I've learnt. I should mention here that I'm a vegetarian. I don't take eggs and fish either.
Let me first tell you how I found out about my lymphoma. I'll try to make this as brief as possible (probably skip on various unnecessary details), though, it was SOME journey!
I was down with fever first. After curing from fever (about a week after), my cough didn't stop. In fact, I was coughing for almost three weeks. It should be noted here that my body temperature during this time was normal. I'm the kind of guy who don't like going to the hospital, unless I know for a fact something is really wrong. Well, three weeks of cough definitely tells you that something is really wrong! In fact, I had a thin lining of blood in my sputum once. Yup, definitely it's time to see the doctor.
I decided to finally pay a visit to the hospital. After asking for various details (cough for the past 3 weeks, night sweats, blood in sputum, chest pains, fever), the doctor suspected that I might have tuberchulosis (TB). So, I was sent for a chest X-Ray. After examining the X-Ray, they found my lungs to be a little clowdy, and there were white linings along the bronchi, so it might be TB after all. The doctor then took a sputum sample from me and asked me to collect my sputum for the next two days. Lab results for TB was negative. I gave a BIG sigh and thought, "Thank God!". I was given cough syrup after that.
My cough didn't stop though. This went on for another week. I knew I had to go to the doctor again. This time, the doctor took a closer look at my X-Ray (the same one I did the last time), and found a round shape of 'something' just beside my trachea. Not really sure what it was, the doctor then referred me to a heart specialist to get my heart checked, suspecting I might have some problems with my heart. "So, it's heart related now?!!!", I thought. After going for a CT scan, the specialist then confirmed it was lymphoma. I had an abnormal growth on my lymph node at my chest.
In a nutshell, the coughing was a sign that I already had lymphoma. The doctors think that my persistent cough was because of the lump touching my breathing track. It took me about two months from the point I started coughing, to my CT scan to finally conclude that I have lymphoma.
aortic knuckle,chest,lymphoma,x-ray
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aortic knuckle,chest,lymphoma,x-ray
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