Lung cancer sign missed
It took Diane Codd 18 months to connect her crippling shoulder pain to lung cancer.
But by then, it was too late. Now, the Manawatu¯ mother is urging others to listen to their body and push medical experts if they feel a diagnosis is wrong or their condition hasn’t improved.
Codd, 45, from Ashhurst, will this week start a new treatment as she fights for more time with her husband Adam and her son Ethan, an aspiring basketballer who represents Manawatu¯ .
She requires advanced medication at $11,000 a month, which is not Government-funded. There is no guarantee the therapy will work and no estimate for how long it may prolong her life.
A beauty lecturer at UCOL, Codd said there was no history of cancer in her family and she had never touched a cigarette.
Few people knew shoulder pain was one of the telltale signs of lung cancer or that it was often the first symptom.
So when simple chores, such as mowing the lawns or vacuuming the house, began to cause discomfort in mid-2017, it wasn’t a radiographer she was referred to, but a physiotherapist.
When it grew worse, medical experts were baffled and Codd feared she had become a hypochondriac and a burden.
It came to a head in December, when, one evening, the pain intensified and spread to her core. She went to an acute clinic and was referred for an ultrasound.
Doctors found stage four lung cancer, the most advanced form of the disease.
The cancer had spread beyond the lungs into other distant lymph nodes and organs, such as her hips and brain.
‘‘You’ve got to push for an X-ray,’’ Codd urged others with similar symptoms.
‘‘If they had seen a spot on the lung a year earlier they could have cut it out at stage one. You feel like you’re making a mountain out of a molehill... and it was frustrating.
‘‘You’ve got to trust yourself. You’ve got to trust your body.’’
Adam had joined his wife during a march to Parliament in May to protest the state’s funding of lifesaving medicines.
‘‘We have learned more than we would have ever wanted to about the disease, the cures, treatments,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a huge shock.
‘‘It was your whole world turned upside down in one sentence.’’
Codd said the pain could be triggered by a tumour in the lung, which spreads to the bones around the shoulder or spine.
If a tumour is large, it can press on other nearby structures.
Other shoulder pain occurs when the tumour puts pressure on a nerve in the lungs, creating referred pain.
The brain interprets it as coming from the shoulder even though the nerve is in the lungs.
It is more likely to be lung cancer if the pain occurs at night or isn’t linked to any strenuous activity.
Codd has created a Givealittle page to help fund her new treatment.
It is more likely to be lung cancer if the pain occurs at night or isn’t linked to any strenuous activity.