It does not matter what you are seeing a doctor about, it could be your Mesothelioma or maybe something else, there are some things you can do to obtain the most information and benefit from your visit.
When you go to visit a doctor, always have your part of the medical information ready. This would include a list of all medications you take, a history list of your medical problems, and identify the surgeries you may have had. Always bring your copies of your health records including lab tests, x-ray films or scans if you have them; bring it all. Sometimes, your visit to the doctor could become a meeting with many doctors, so with your help and records they can have more to know.
Tell your doctor if you know you have been exposed to Asbestos!
Before your appointment, prepare a list of questions for the doctor. As these occur to you, write them down. Do not be fearful of asking the Doctor these questions. Bring a family member or close friend to the meeting with you if it will help you feel more at ease when asking questions. Having another pair of ears to hear the Doctor’s reply to each question can also help you remember what was said.
When you are not certain about explanations, ask for more information or where you can get additional details. Many times there are brochures provided freely with detailed simple explanations to help with understanding. Some medical facilities also have educators that can help you.
Do not be afraid to ask your doctor for a recommendation to get a second opinion, particularly when you have a good relationship with them. Sometimes an internist or family doctor knows a practitioner who sees patients with Mesothelioma when there is Mesothelioma Care Center near by.
When your doctor cannot assist you in finding a second opinion, you can find one when you ask Dr. Gill the oncologist here at the Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America. Dr. Gill will help you find the closest doctors who are experts in this field. Another option is to check local medical schools to discover if they treat Mesothelioma. You can use our web page to find additional references and links to government cancer websites.
Finally, you are welcome to post comments, ask questions and share your insights here which allows other individuals to respond and share information.
The Next Attack on Neighbors who were near the World Trade Center on 9/11
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All the first responders to the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 as well as the entire population of lower Manhattan and surrounding boroughs who inhaled the dust created by the collapse of those two buildings are at high risk of attack by getting an insidious disease!
Ground Zero: the Twin Towers burn after the attack of 9/11/2001 before the Statue of Liberty
What disease is most associated with extreme exposure to and inhalation of asbestos dust? Mesothelioma Cancer!
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The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 caused much devastation and loss of life. Only now is it being revealed that there is a pending second attack to come upon many people with a long-term, painful consequence and continuous devastation.
Mesothelioma is an insidious lung cancer which is frequently found in people who have been exposed to asbestos particle dust. The risk of getting mesothelioma has significantly increased for the many people who were first responders to the World Trade Center attack of 9/11, as well as the immediate human population occupying lower Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs because they inhaled the asbestos dust particles created by the collapse of those great, two buildings.
Asbestos is an organic fibrous mineral that has been commonly used for years in construction projects for its fireproofing qualities and as thermal insulation as well as other applications. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were built in 1966 through 1971 when asbestos usage and sales where at their highest. There is now a growing body of evidence with estimates that the World Trade Center construction project called for the use of 5,000 tons of asbestos fireproofing-materials. Fortunately, the contractors for building the Twin Towers project discontinued use of asbestos-containing insulation when they came to know about the hazards and health risks of asbestos. The understanding about asbestos and how it causes mesothelioma was just beginning. As this realization occurred, the contractors had completed only 64 of the 110-stories in the two towers. While a portion of the asbestos material scheduled to be put into the buildings was stopped, current estimates are that 2,000 tons of asbestos remained within the buildings that became a giant particle dust cloud covering the neighborhood at the time of the 9/11 attack.
When destroyed or disturbed, asbestos becomes a problem in that its fibers become airborne where they are easily inhaled or ingested. The microscopic asbestos fibers are sharp and needle-like which penetrate the body’s soft tissues. The pleural cavity with the lungs is especially vulnerable with its special membrane called the mesothelium. The mesothelium protects the lungs, heart and abdominal area. But the carcinogenic characteristic of asbestos frequently leads to malignant mesothelioma and other diseases.
All eye witness accounts seen on television and by everyone who was near the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed knows, there were giant, thick clouds of pollution and debris covering the lower end of Manhattan. The location where the two towers stood is now called Ground Zero and was covered by particle dust and debris. There are estimates set at 600,000 as the number of people exposed to the cloud of asbestos contaminants. In addition to the asbestos contaminants, there was heavy metal in the dust like mercury, zinc, lead and barium. These dust particles remained in the air and on surfaces for weeks after this tragic event for everyone to inhale and be exposed to. It was discovered that a shirt worn by a response worker at Ground Zero had 93,000 times more asbestos stuck in it than found in the average air concentration of major cities.
The people who escaped the collapsing buildings and the first responders who rushed toward the fallen buildings in a valiant attempt to help others have received a high level of exposure to asbestos. Some of the first responders who were summoned to the scene were equipped with respirators and protective clothing, such as the many firefighters.
This fireman sucks in a lot of dangerous dust in his effort to lead more help.
However, the majority of people near this event did not have any protection from asbestos inhalation. This includes onlookers, police, health-care providers, volunteers, employees for the many companies who occupied the World Trade Center and of course all the people in businesses near the attack site who attempted to escape the catastrophe. Imagine running and breathing in that contaminated dust with every effort made to escape with your life!
Repeated exposure or high levels of exposure to asbestos has been proven to be directly associated with mesothelioma cancer. Mesothelioma has a delayed latency period before it reveals itself and therefore afflicted people do not exhibit mesothelioma symptoms for years, sometimes decades after their exposure to asbestos. This is very troublesome for everyone near the Twin Towers at the time of the attack that got exposed to the dust cloud.
People can live with mesothelioma cancer and have no clue until a diagnosis is eventually made which could be 40 or more years after inhaling the asbestos fibers. There is no way at this time to know exactly how many of the responders, rescue personnel and bystanders contracted mesothelioma because the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11 is so recent.
Many first responders and people living in the neighborhood of Ground Zero will eventually have Mesothelioma like this image.
Many of the symptoms for mesothelioma are difficult to distinguish from other, more common lung ailments. These include difficult breathing, wheezing or coughing, and chest pain only to mention a few key symptoms. Therefore, the estimated number of 9/11 victims suffering with mesothelioma can only be speculative at this time. There are recent statistics concerning the health problems of those who were near or at Ground Zero during the terrorist attacks.
For example, in 2008 the New York State Department of Health estimated that 200 people died from exposure to the pollutants at Ground Zero. At least 55 of those cases were victims of lung cancer. As many as 62 percent of the people exposed to the contaminant filled dust cloud have reported experiencing respiratory problems created from the 9/11 attacks.
People diagnosed with mesothelioma have a few options for treatment, including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and palliative care. The sooner mesothelioma is diagnosed, better are the chances for treatment to effectively stop the disease. If you or someone you know was at the Twin Towers scene during the attacks or within weeks thereafter, please encourage them to become mesothelioma aware and have a doctor immediately screen them for this insidious, deadly cancer.
You will find much more information regarding mesothelioma, the history of asbestos, and a list of existing therapies as well as new clinical trials for new treatments at our central web site: Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America – www.mesorfa.org
Dr. Parkash S. Gill, MD, Oncologist
Our clinical oncologist and lead research director will freely answer your questions, too.
Ask Dr. Gill about mesothelioma and his upcoming Phase III clinical trial of Veglin, a non-chemotherapy treatment. Just click on his Ask Dr. Gill link to send your question, now!
The doctor who began your evaluation for cancer will generally be the one responsible to provide the diagnosis. This could be your primary care provider. Those persons who were referred to an oncologist will probably receive their diagnosis from that specialist. The doctor that delivers the diagnosis message should inform you about the certainty of the pathologist regarding your biopsy. Ask for all the information that is available. The best doctors will share any doubts.
There is a latent period between when a person comes in contact with asbestos and the onset of mesothelioma cancer. After a latency period of 15 to 40 or more years after initial exposure to asbestos, a patient will typically demonstrates symptoms mesothelioma. So mesothelioma can take decades to develop with the symptoms not arising until after the cancer has set in. Because mesothelioma has symptoms that resemble many less serious illnesses a lot of patients go unaware to how sever the disease is in their body.
One gets mesothelioma from being exposed to asbestos. So prevention for getting the disease is choosing to avoid exposure to asbestos and eliminating sources of asbestos to be exposed to. Asbestos is not gone from the environment or workplace even after the many limitations that have been placed on its use. Asbestos has not been banned in the United States even though there has been a growing body of medical research, cancer cases, and well documented dangers at it.
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ruling on July 12, 1989 to ban nearly all products containing asbestos.
US Court of Appeals says the EPA can not ban all asbestos products
But in 1991 this rule was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and consequently only the following six specific asbestos-containing product categories remain banned; many other products containing asbestos continue to be sold and manufactured today in the U.S.:
A single fiber of asbestos can cause malignant Mesothelioma 15 – 50 years after exposure
Asbestos exposure is almost always the primary cause of mesothelioma cancer. Mesothelioma might also be caused by a few other factors, but this opinion is a continuing area of research.
While today, the average asbestos levels in buildings seem to be very low, an estimated three (3) million employees in construction and general manufacturing industries still face significant asbestos exposure on the job. These people will become victims of asbestos exposure. The greatest exposures to asbestos are still in the construction trades. The primary exposure to the dangers of asbestos are during the removal of products made with asbestos during renovation or demolition of buildings. And of course, everyone exposed to breathing the dust particles created by the terrorist attack on the Twin Tower Trade buildings on September 11, 2001 are at high risk of developing Mesothelioma. The risk of developing Mesothelioma increases over time, from 15 to 30 years, after the exposure to asbestos has stopped.
Everybody who has been exposed to asbestos may develop mesothelioma. An estimated 3 million employees in construction and general industry face significant asbestos exposure on the job, even though the average asbestos levels in buildings today seem to be very low.
Asbestos was used as a fire retardant
The more exposure one has one has to asbestos, the greater the risk of having mesothelioma cancer. Work environments are the primary source where people get exposed to asbestos and later in life develop the disease.
The greatest exposures to workers are in construction trades. Asbestos was used in building insulation, cement, automobile brakes, roofing shingles, flooring, piping and this is a small sample. So many workers were exposed during the manufacturing of asbestos products. Asbestos-related illness is also occurring in shipyard workers, school custodians, miners, railroad workers and even movie set workers.
Mesothelioma cancer generally affects the mesothelial tissue lining of the body’s main three largest cavities: 1) the lung cavity (the pleura), 2) the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum) , and 3) the heart sac (pericardium). So, the type of malignant mesothelioma is named after the section of the mesothelium that it affects.
This year, MesoRFA produced a resolution for the nation and officially launched a campaign to raise national public awareness about mesothelioma cancer and the need of more financial support to fund the research for a cure. There is so much more research to be completed and comparatively little support from the Government specifically for treatments and a cure to mesothelioma. There just is not enough public awareness to get the Government’s focus on this issue.
Join with us to help make your city government aware of Mesothelioma with its declaration in support of this special day. You can facilitate this movement and make September 26, 2011 the greatest awareness day. Here’s how: MesoRFA Resolution for Mesothelioma Awareness Day
