If you have ever browsed Instagram, you will have come across posts of lithe young women in yoga poses on a far-flung beach, branded water bottle carefully placed beside them, telling you to live life as if it were your last day. If you are diagnosed with mesothelioma, quotes like that suddenly taken on a new significance.
There is no cure for the disease, and survival rates are not high. According to the American Cancer Society (ACA), you have a 10% chance of living for another five years, or 20% if doctors catch your cancer while still localized.
If you are diagnosed with mesothelioma, it is essential to know what treatment options are available. It could help you eke out a few more years of your life. What can be done depends on where your cancer is and the extent of it. Treatment options available include:
- Surgery: Cutting out the cancerous part.
- Palliative Procedures: To ease the pain and problems caused by the disease.
- Radiation Therapy: Targeted radiation to try to kill cancerous cells.
- Chemotherapy: A drugs-based therapy that tries to kill cells or shrink them.
- Immunotherapy: To stimulate your body to defend itself against new cells trying to grow.
- Targeted Therapy: A different set of drugs which may work if chemotherapy does not.
If diagnosed with mesothelioma, it is crucial to seek legal help. Very often, the disease is caused by exposure to asbestos in your workplace. Industries have been aware of the dangers of asbestos for a long time, and some chose to ignore it or cover it up. It is not right that you suffer so that a company could increase their profit margins.