As a social smoker for over 35 years, I always assumed quitting was something I could do any time I wanted.
I knew I could quit for weeks at a time while traveling, and while I was pregnant I quit for 2 years, however I always ended up being drawn back to smoking.
Barbara and Martin met five years ago as most people do these days – online. One coffee date and the two knew it was a match.
Darcy Murdoch has played many roles in his life as an entertainer. An average encounter finds him effortlessly riffling between two of his alter egos, crooner Bobby Bacchus, and the King himself, Elvis Presley. But no role has challenged him more than that of patient.
Six years ago I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had most of my left lung and lymph nodes removed in my first surgery and tumours removed from my right lung in a second surgery three months later. I’ve never smoked.
Finding out I had lung cancer was a huge shock for me. Like many people, I thought only people who smoked got lung cancer. But that’s not the case.
March 6, 2015: The last month has been the hardest so far. The cancer progressed despite the new treatment, and that led to a fracture of my spine with back pain that kept me in bed for weeks. I had surgery to stabilize the back two weeks ago and finally feel that I am starting to get some strength and mobility back. And I will be starting a new chemotherapy today.
As a 21 year old woman attending college in Toronto, it was very difficult for me to imagine that an illness could possibly hit me at this stage in my life, but it did.
Dr. Bernard Thébaud still remembers the time when he told a mother that her premature baby was dying from a lung disease and she asked: “Isn’t there anything you can do for my baby now?”
‘Tis the season to be jolly…but if you have a long-term breathing disease like asthma or COPD, ‘tis the season to be on guard, too.
I haven’t written a blog since the summer. I am not sure why – I think it is because I wasn’t sure what else I could say that would be helpful or interesting.
I finished the previous blog two weeks ago, after having radiotherapy to the lesions in my brain, and feeling pretty positive again. And while trying to ignore the swelling in my left leg.
