I have gone through a number of scenarios on how this could have been avoided. Yes Rush loved to enjoy life, some aspects of which put him in a higher risk category. But even with that since he belonged to a certain age bracket, all he needed to do was go for annual cancer screenings. That's it. It's why cancer screenings exist - to catch cancer in its earliest stages. And they are especially useful for lung cancers which are easier to spot in their early stages. A low powered CT scan would have detected suspicious lesions. Knowing that he was a long term smoker doc would have recommended a biopsy. Biopsy would have shown precancerous cells, or cancer in its very early stages (stage I). Lesions would have been surgically removed with the doc's strong advice to quit smoking at that point. And that would have been the end of it. After that he would have continued to follow up with the doc once every 6 months to a year. What happened did not have to be. So many what-if's. But Rush had an aversion of going to the doctor. He hated it.
It’s still very surreal. When I hear the music it seems like everything is normal, but then Rush isn’t there. Ever again. Truly grieving.
I just wanted to say that it’s difficult sometimes to understand how cancer works. There is always could have, would have, should have. Maybe there would have been early detection if Rush had had CT’s earlier, but maybe not. There is always a risk with CT radiation to actually increase the chances of cancer.
I’m not saying it’s victim blaming, but most people do the best they can and when the worst happens, all you can do is support them. In this case, the memories of Rush and all he accomplished is enough. God bless him, and his family and all who knew him as we continue to walk through this tremendous loss.
One of the first things I ever heard from him was "my formerly nicotine stained fingers"
So he hadn't smoked cigarettes in over thirty years. Can non inhaled cigar smoke still bring on lung cancer?