Hello bOObs Bloggettes:
For those of you who have recently joined us, wanted to let you know briefly what topics I blog on: Breast cancer screening and its assorted pros/cons; alternative cancer therapies (which is what my next film investigates); and cancer as a chronic disease in general. If you’re interested in a certain topic, please let me know (see below contact) and I’ll do the best to research it and report back.
Today I wanted to blog on something that came to my attention first via a friend’s personal experience; then it was repeated when interviewing several people for my films. I had no idea this was going on so I thought that perhaps other folks didn’t know either, so here goes: Fungal infections, as well as other diseases, are sometimes misdiagnosed as cancer –– sometimes even Stage IV cancers.
A dear friend of mine who had a history of colon cancer dating back to when he was 30 years old was, almost 30 years later, experiencing lethargy and abdominal pain. He of course feared the worse. He went to his HMO doctor where they did a CT or PET scan and informed him he was Stage IV, and the cancer was all through his bones. Luckily, he had a relative who was a physician at St. Luke’s in Houston, so we went rushing down there for a second opinion. Long story short, he was instead diagnosed with mononucleosis.
When I interviewed Dr. Otis Brawley at the American Cancer Society in 2016, I conveyed this horrific story and he confirmed this happens fairly frequently. (Yikes.) He also said there were other diseases, etc., that can masquerade as cancer as well. That got my attention and made me a firm believer in getting a second opinion if ever diagnosed; Dr. Brawley agreed with this notion. NOTE: Remember that even pathology can be inaccurate so take your biopsy slides to another pathologist as well (see my blog on this).
I also had the honor of interviewing Suzanne Somers on my documentary journey. If all goes as planned, she will make an appearance in my next film, “A New Standard of Care: Alternative Cancer Therapies.” The reason I’m bringing up Suzanne is because she too had been misdiagnosed as having Stage IV cancer and was almost given chemo before they caught their mistake. Luckily, at the insistence of her daughter, she got a biopsy first (which is indeed the Standard of Care) and the pathology showed it was something other than cancer (see my film for what the mystery disease was and/or the foreword of her wonderful book “Knockout” which chronicles the ordeal).
I came across this article about fungus and cancer the other day and it reminded me to blog about this important topic few people know about:
https://irispublishers.com/abeb/fulltext/fungus-or-cancer-is-it-or-is-it-not.ID.000509.php
A few highlights of the article:
“In 2013, researchers reported that some fungal infections closely resembled malignant masses in several areas of the body. Results of a retrospective study in which the CT scans of 27 patients were examined, and the indications were that of a solid nodule or mass, and in some cases, patients were thought to have both a nodule and a mass. The chief, non-specific complaints of the patients included cough, chest pain, weakness, and some patients had hemoptysis, dyspnea, and fever. The initial diagnosis given to the patients in the study was that of cancer. The initial diagnosis, for some patients, included that of malignancies of the breast, liver, lung, esophagus, and thyroid gland. Also, lymphoma, leukemia, melanoma, and colorectal carcinoma diagnoses were given based on initial CT findings.
“Histopathological analysis was performed on the patients in the study and the results were indicative of fungal infections. Approximately 50% of the patients in the study who were initially diagnosed with a malignancy, based on CT scan examination, had a final diagnosis of a fungal infection. Consequently, all patients with fungal infections were treated with antifungal medication and the follow-up CT scans indicated improvement or resolution of the infection.”
I’ve also heard horror stories about flat-out misdiagnoses (you can find these with a quick Google search) where women have mastectomies only to find out after the surgery that they didn’t have cancer after all. Sometimes after chemo as well. Awful. One radiologist I interviewed said he saw this a fair amount as he frequently went into surgery with surgeons and their “breast cancer” patients, and found out there was no cancer following another biopsy/pathology report post-surgery. I was absolutely astounded hearing this and thought: How could a woman make it through a mammogram, an ultrasound, probably other diagnostic tests as well like a second mammogram, confirmed via a biopsy, diagnosed with breast cancer — and then found later to not have cancer?
So if you’re ever, God forbid, diagnosed with cancer, get another opinion — even a third one — to make sure you really have cancer prior to treatment.
Blog at you soon, thanks for reading and helping to spread the word! (Please see the “share” links below.) And we’d love to hear comments from you! (see below as well)
Stay healthy,
Megan
Megan Smith, M.S.
Director, bOObs: The War on Women’s Breasts
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