I felt anxious, afraid or overwhelmed when I was first diagnosed.
I wonder how I can cope during the days ahead.
My life had been disrupted and altered by my illness.
After facing the reality of my illness, I tried to maintain as much hope and optimism as possible.
I met with more than one oncologist which is an opportunity
for me to talk to a specialist about my symptoms.
Then I chose the one who suits me and feel comfortable with.
It is lucky to meet the right doctor who get me back on track and safe me.
The data of lung cancer patients’ survival rates on the website of American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/lung-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html), accessed in March 2024.
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology – Small Cell Lung Cancer (https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/guidelines-detail?category=1&id=1462), accessed in March, 2024.
Small-cell lung cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up：(https://www.esmo.org/guidelines/guidelines-by-topic/esmo-clinical-practice-guidelines-lung-and-chest-tumours/small-cell-lung-cancer), accessed in March, 2024.
The most important thing in cancer prevention
is not to avoid seeking treatment and miss the golden opportunity of treatment.
Early detection and early treatment can increase the survival rate.
Looking back, if I had faced the problem early,
I would not have overlooked the early signs of nasopharyngeal cancer,
which led to the advanced stage of the disease when I was diagnosed.
首先找耳鼻喉科醫生作檢查、評估及抽取活組織化驗，
來確定病症。
First of all, seeing an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist for an examination,
evaluation and biopsy to determine the condition.
A nasopharyngoscopy is a routine diagnostic test
to help investigate symptoms that are affecting the nose and throat.
Private doctors will spray anesthetics to reduce discomfort,
but anesthesia is not provided in public hospitals.
It may cause a feeling like I am going to sneeze.
2015年夏天，
睡覺時出現鼻塞，
誤以為是鼻敏感出現發炎反應，
因此不以為意。
2015 summer,
I had a stuffy nose when I slept.
I thought it was due to inflammation of my allergic rhinitis,
so I didn’t care about it.
I had a headache in some areas and thought that it was caused by the pressure of life.
It turned out that headache was caused by the nose and sinuses,
as well as a tumor in the brain that pressed on the nerves.
With the fear of getting medical treatment,
I used a lot of popular methods to relieve my stuffy nose,
such as applying hot water to the nose and peppermint ointment. But I could not get rid of my stuffy nose.
I kept taking painkillers to relieve my headache.
I was not considering the problem and addressing the cause of the problem.
I should find out the source of the disease and treat it at that time,
and it would have been too late to regret it.
In 2016, I was at a noodle restaurant. After the waiter served me a bowl of noodle,
I suddenly had a massive nosebleed that fell into the bowl.
I was at a loss what to do, It took me half an hour to stop the bleeding.
