It is often relieving to share experiences that deeply affected us.
\nLife is not a straight line. There are bumps in the road, ups and downs but also bridges to help you move on.<\/p>\n
Life has everything in it.<\/span> The tumor was removed in 2014, leaving only a small part behind. I would like to thank my oncologist Eleni Galani, who stood by me every step of the way. And we made it. I would also like to express my gratitude to my doctor Georgios Tsakalos and to Mr. Tryfonas Bilidas.<\/p>\n P.S. One last thing: Do not smoke after lung cancer diagnosis.<\/strong> It is often relieving to share experiences that deeply affected us. Life is not a straight line. There are bumps in the road, ups and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-stories","category-95","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlife-app.catalyticademo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMy adventure with cancer began in 2012<\/strong>, when I started to feel severe back pain, which went away at times but regularly came back. Painkillers just offered a momentary relief.
\nLooking for answers, I visited various doctors, who failed to recognize exactly what was wrong with me. The pain persisted. Blood tests and a CT scan still didn\u2019t show anything abnormal. Meanwhile, I continued to suffer.
\nOne and a half years had already passed.
\nLucky for me, a doctor recommended a bone scan, where the cause of my pain was finally revealed. A lung tumor that didn\u2019t show up on any previous examination.<\/p>\n
\n18 chemotherapy treatments and 10 radiation therapies followed the operation. The pain stopped. The small remaining part lies next to the esophagus and causes some difficulty in swallowing. It remains, however, stable, thanks to immunotherapy.
\nSince 2016, I have been receiving 110 immunotherapy treatments.
\nI feel fine. I live my life and enjoy it to the fullest!
\nThe word “cancer” does not scare me. To me, it\u2019s a chronic flu.
\nI think positive and see the best even when I have to go for maintenance therapy, every two weeks. I\u2019m always well groomed and people express some disbelief when I ask for priority in various occasions. This is my one complaint!
\nSure, I\u2019ve been luckier than other patients but the power of positive thinking is enormous.
\nThis is my message: Stay optimistic! Turn any negative into a positive! Even when everything falls apart\u2026<\/p>\n
\n(a word of advice from a woman who enjoyed smoking a lot)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"