Message from Carlos : listen to your body

Mensagem do Carlos: escutar o seu corpo (see below for english)

Devemos escutar o nosso corpo sempre. Nao cometer o erro que cometi de nao consultar um medico no momento em que estava sentindo dor. Fiquei meses com dor nas costas, e nenhum outro sintoma. Temos que ter sempre em mente que dor nao eh normal, qualquer uma que for, precisamos tentar descobrir a causa. Logico que os medicos nao esperam que um jovem saudavel sem historico de doenca possa ter cancer. Eu sequer cogitava essa possillidade, eu sempre associava minha dor a pratica do esporte, e por isso consultava erroneamente ortopedistas, quando o correto teria sido ver um medico geral para fazer bateria de exames. Somente descobri num estagio avancado, quando tinha metastase ja no pulmao, que se manifestou pela tosse com sangue.

Se eu tivesse mais informacao, se soubesse quais os tipos de sintomas, eu teria evitado muito do que passei. Logico que nao devemos virar hipocondriacos e ir ao medico a cada momento que tivermos algum sintoma, como meu oncologista diz, temos que ter um bom senso. Se tiver uma dor atipica, persistente por varias semanas, entao eh o caso de consultar um medico.

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We should always listen to our bodies. Don't make the mistake I made to nao see a doctor when I was feeling pain. I had a back pain for months. That was my only symptom. We should always keep in mind that pain is not normal. We need to find out where does it come from. Of course, doctors don't expect a young and healthy guy with no disease record to have cancer. And I didn't even thought this was a possibility, I thought this back pain was due to practice of sports, so I consulted orthopedists, when the correct thing to do was consult a General Practitioner who would have done many exams. I only discovered the disease at an advanced stage, when there was metastasis in the lungs, when I coughed up blood.

If I had more information at that time, if I knew what are the symptoms, I would have avoided a lot that I have been through. Of course we don't have to become hypochondriac and see a doctor each time we feel one symptom, but like my oncologist says, we need to have common sense. If you feel an atypical pain for many weeks, you should see your doctor.