Waiting for the Call: Is it Cancer?

I sit in front of the computer…mind oscillating between being seemingly numb to running a million thoughts a minute.  The office is unusually quiet today, none of the usual whispered gossip, expressions of frustration, jovial camaraderie at lunchtime.  We are waiting for a call from the doctor, who will tell us if our office manager, Merilou, has terminal stage IV cancer.    Merilou also happens to be my mom.  My dad, the founding attorney at our law firm, Clapper Patti Schweizer & Mason, is all too familiar with advanced cancer and the prognosis it carries.  We all are.  My sister and niece work here at the office, the family loyalty strong.  The other partners in the firm are solemn.  Everyone is.  Even Buddy and Barnum – the small dogs who somehow have become a part of the office staff – are unusually lethargic.

Our firm specializes in mesothelioma lawsuits.  Mesothelioma is a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos that is almost always diagnosed in very advanced stages, with short survival times, often less than a year.  We are all too familiar with incurable cancer, and the devastation and loss that come with it.  We have mourned the loss of many clients and done all we could to support bereaved family members after the loved one has passed.  We have researched every possible clinical trial, specialist, hospital, and alternative treatment that might keep our clients living longer with better quality of life.

Now, everyone in the office is acutely reminded of the impact of terminal cancer.  We wait.  We try to occupy our minds with work.  We try to eat, but there is no real appetite.  We move through the motions.  And wait.

I decide that since I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the latest asbestos headline news, that I will write this. I think of how many thousands of others are out there in the world, also waiting for that call from the doctor.  I pray, not just for my mom, but for all our clients, for their families, and for all the others in the world who are in the same situation.

Lawyers get a bad rep.  Lots of bad jokes about chasing ambulances and the like.  But, at least at our law firm, the attorneys really want to help, and see justice.  Unlike with my mom, who is possibly facing Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), our clients cancer could have been avoided if manufacturers of asbestos had just given warnings, trainings and protections when they first found out that asbestos caused serious illnesses.    My mom’s diagnosis, IBC, accounts for only 1-5% of all breast cancers, yet is the most aggressive and lethal.  Like IBC, mesothelioma is rare, affecting about 3000 people in the United States each year.

There are other similarities between IBC and mesothelioma.  For instance, the symptoms, which often are similar to other common ailments, are often not accurately diagnosed until the cancer has reached stage IV and then there is little that can be done, even with the most advanced treatments.  Neither is curable.  When I look on-line and at the information sent on IBC from MD Anderson, one of the leading cancer treatment facilities in the U.S., there is no mention that a simple red rash that is completely painless with no lumps or any other noticeable changes on the breast could be a symptom of cancer.

Likewise, symptoms of mesothelioma are very similar to pneumonia, the flu, a severe cold, digestive problem, etc.  Because of this, by the time an accurate diagnosis is made, there are few options for treatment and no chance of a cure.

When I asked why they don’t put out more information about IBC, the response is that they don’t want every woman who has a spider bite or slight rash to be rushing to the doctor seeking expensive tests to see if it’s cancer.  I can understand this.  We get lots of emails every day from people who have coughs or hard time breathing and want to know if they have mesothelioma and what should they do.

So here are some basic facts about mesothelioma:

It is primarily caused by exposure to asbestos.  You can read our website to see what products most likely contained asbestos, what occupations are most at risk, and most common ways to be exposed outside of work.   If you have known prior exposure to asbestos, you will need to tell your doctor and be more aware of symptoms.Long latency period of anywhere from 10 to 50 years.  This means that if you think you were exposed in the last year or two and are experiencing symptoms, it most likely is not due to mesothelioma or your exposure since it takes decades for the disease to develop.Mesothelioma diagnosis is usually done by an oncologist who takes a pathological review of tissue taken from a tumor.Symptoms can mimic many less serious ailments.  They include but are not limited to:

Shortness of breathChronic coughChest and back painLoss of appetiteDifficulty sleepingWeight lossAbdominal painFeeling of fullness or nausea

You can see by how common the symptoms are how easy it would be for one of two things to happen:  either the symptoms are misdiagnosed as something else OR people who have these symptoms incorrectly think they have mesothelioma when in fact they have something quite treatable.   This is the challenge with mesothelioma.  Many of our clients are in their late fifties to eighties, become ill, see their doctor or enter the hospital, and in short time, are diagnosed with stage IV mesothelioma.

If you think you might be at risk, just as you think you might be at risk of breast cancer, it’s best to educate yourself as much as possible about the disease as well as have the proper screenings to try to detect it early.  Early diagnosis of any cancer leads to the best possible survival.

My mom has no prior history of breast cancer in her family.  She has had regular checkups and is in good health.  She did not have typical symptoms of breast cancer.  This came as a complete surprise, as it does to many of our clients who are diagnosed with mesothelioma.

So why do I share all this with you, as the writer of our law firm?  It’s so you know that if you or a loved one in your life has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or asbestosis, we truly understand what you are going through.  We are dedicated to helping you in any way we can.  You are not just a case to us.  As with a family member, we will do all we can to support you, help guide you, and fight for justice.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 10:44 am and is filed under Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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