This meant that they could stay in their hometown and earn a decent living. Before mining had started, lots of ambitious youngsters had left for big cities in search of greener pastures. Even John had, at one time, contemplated leaving but it was during that time that the mining industry was gaining a stronghold and future prospects looked good.
The industry gave good returns to its employees. John had been successful in getting employment and was happy that he did not have to leave his hometown. He had worked as miner for almost thirty-five years when things started to go horribly wrong. John had been feeling unwell for some time now.
He was easily tired out and had a persistent cough that was accompanied by shortness of breath. He had been ignoring these symptoms for a while and had initially thought it was because he had caught a chill while getting caught in the rain last winter. But now he was starting to think it might be something else because a chill had never lasted this long before.
He went to his local surgery and his doctor thought he might have pneumonia as he also had accompanying fever. He was prescribed an extensive course of antibiotics. Initially they seemed to work but once he finished treatment his symptoms came back. This time he noticed he had also lost a lot of weight and now was also having left sided chest pain. His fever had also returned and he was feeling tired and listless.
He consulted his doctor again after which it was decided that he would have to go for a full evaluation in a big hospital. After eliciting a detailed history, his consultant decided to put him through a series of preliminary tests including a chest X-Ray.
John was apprehensive about what the results might show since his consultant had expressed the view that the possibility of cancer could not be ruled out because of his history of asbestos exposure. Much to his dismay, when his X-Ray came out it showed an irregular thickening of the pleura on the left side of his chest wall and the doctor decided he would need a biopsy and a CT scan to confirm the diagnosis and to see how much the cancer had spread.
The results came back positive for mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the pleura that is the lining of the lungs. His physician explained that it causes pressure on the lungs as it grows that is why he had been experiencing chest pain and difficulty in breathing. The consultant also explained that the tumor is staged according to its extent of spread according to the TNM system and can be divided into four stages. Fortunately for him his tumor was in stage one and had been caught early.
This meant that it was only confined to the pleura and had not spread to adjacent structures. It was decided that after surgical resection of the tumor he would be put on radiotherapy to completely eradicate the tumor.
As he left the doctor’s office, his mind was still in denial of the fact that he had cancer. Of all the people, why him? Then a variety of other emotions bombarded him. Why had he been the only one affected? There were also a lot of other miners in the same field.
He was only 55 and did not want to die early. Understandably he also felt anger towards the bodies that governed the mining industry for not highlighting the dangers associated with mining asbestos. He was also frightened at the prospect of having surgery. John had never suffered from any major illness all his life except for the occasional cold. And suddenly having been told he had cancer and would need surgery, which was just too much to take in.
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