Heres her story, as told to associate health conditions director, Julia Sullivan.
Ive spent the majority of my life focused on well-being.
My sons are also my world.
Erin Lindberg
Id take them in regularly for check-ups, but I seldom went myself.
Still, I did all the other things youre told to do to be healthy.
Everyone else seemed to recover within a day or two, but not me.
My cough lingered, but it was subtle.
I felt like something was a little offthere was aheaviness in my chestbut I could breathe just fine.
During Christmas 2021, mysymptomstook a turn.
I was lying in bed and felt a sharp pain near my lung.
I was having trouble breathing.
I knew something was wrong, so I made an emergency telehealth appointment.
The nurse practitioner said, Honey, it sounds like stress and anxiety.
You should talk to a therapist.
(I dont know why, but that honey really got to me.)
It felt like a sharp knife stabbing me in my chest.
The next day I went in for an evaluation with that same health care provider.
Despite having never tested positive, she was sure I had COVID orlong COVID.
(She told me at a follow-up appointment that I probably wasnt using it properly.)
After some googling, I thought I might haveacid reflux.
All the while, my cough was getting worseI was having to do it every five or so words.
Its really embarrassing to have to go into patient visits in hospice while coughing.
I continued seeing the same provider, but I was getting pretty desperate.
Id tell my friends, Its like theres a little alien eating me from the inside out.
(Grotesque, but it ended up being sort of true.)
She ordered an X-ray but they didnt see anything wrong.
So, I told myself I was fine and pushed through it.
Id go to martial arts classes and lift weights, still in pain and tiring out really quickly.
During this time, I left my husband and was going on dates with women.
I was in so much pain, but I was also in a reallybeautiful, authentic place in life.
I was an extreme optimist, so I wanted everything to be okay.
Still, the doctors dismissed my symptoms.
Within a month, I ended up back at the ER with extreme vertigo anddizziness.
I was put on antibiotics.
I was on a date with my now girlfriend, Erin, who noticed my cough.
By that point, I could barely wear shoes because my feet were so swollen.
I remember calling her one day, utterly defeated.
She said, Im leaving work right now to drive you to the emergency room.
Im so sick and tired of these people misdiagnosing you.
(I was at an extremely dire point, and could have died, she said.)
That pushed her to give me a CT scan of my chest and a biopsy.
The cancer had spread.
I was in shock and denial, but also in survival mode.
I was also relieved that people were finally taking me seriously and that I wasnt losing my mind.
I advocated so hard for myself, but no one took me seriously.
About six months after being diagnosed, I had gone through four rounds ofchemo.
I also had five rounds of radiation to my spine, alongside immunotherapy.
They continued doing scans of my lungs, but there was still evidence of disease.
There was either live cancer or dead cancer in there, the doctors just couldnt tell.
Thats when I felt like I needed to start looking for someone to remove my lung.
But I wanted this out of me.
I wanted a chance at life.
Things have changed quite a bit with one lung, but its manageable.
Whats harder to manage are the unknowns.
Im not cancer-free and am still going in for radiation.
A huge part of that is awareness.
The dialogue needs to shift.
Yes, smoking is bad, but theres something else going on here.
I am also learning the importance of prioritizing what is best for me.
With cancer, I have to eliminate all the stress I can andfocus on healing.
If I am giving too much to everyone around me and their feelings, my health will suffer.
That includes my doctors too.
