Shownotes Transcript
In July 2014, a mother in her 30s stood in her kitchen staring at a pot of boiling water while her kids played nearby. She was exhausted, far beyond typical fatigue. For months, in fact, she'd felt drained, struggling just to get out of bed each day. Her doctors hadn't found anything wrong, so she had pushed through.
But just then, she felt a tickle in her throat, and it turned into this violent coughing fit. She struggled to breathe, and when it finally stopped, she wiped her mouth with a dish towel. And the moment she pulled the towel away, she froze, because it was covered in blood. From Ballin Studios and Wondery, I'm Mr. Ballin, and this is Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, where every week we will explore a new baffling mystery originating from the one place we all can't escape, our own bodies. ♪
So if you liked today's story, please sneak into the Follow Buttons house during the holidays and replace all their presents under the tree with boxes full of old computer parts. Then call in a bomb threat on their house on Christmas morning. This episode is called Running on Empty. In early 2014, Sarah Weber walked through the front door of her home in Massachusetts after a long day at the sports supply company she started with her husband, Paul. They were both avid runners and they had turned their passion into a business, selling water belts and other sports products online.
But owning their company meant the workday was never really done, and so sometimes Sarah's life felt like a three-ring circus. As Sarah took off her jacket, her three kids, ages 3, 5, and 7, came running up to her to give her a hug. Sarah liked to get down on her knees and greet all three of them at their level, but tonight, the effort made her wince. She'd been feeling so tired lately that she hadn't run in a while, and now, just bending down, she could feel all this strain in her muscles.
But she tried not to show her discomfort in front of the kids as she stood back up. And then she made her way into the living room where Paul was watching TV. Sarah gave Paul a kiss, then sank down on the couch next to him. She told him she'd spent the whole day in the warehouse, dealing mostly with administrative tasks. But now that she was sitting down, Sarah realized just how exhausted she actually was. But it made no sense to her. Taking care of orders and inventory could be tiring, but Sarah had never felt this weak after a day's work.
She was only 39 years old, but her body felt like lead and her brain felt foggy. She also felt the sense of gloominess that she couldn't quite place. Sarah just felt off in a way that did not seem normal. And these feelings had been going on for a couple of weeks now. Sarah and Paul agreed that whatever was going on with her had to be more than just simple fatigue. So the next morning, Sarah scheduled a doctor's appointment just to be safe. A few days later, Sarah sat on an exam table in her doctor's office.
Her muscles still ached and her head was throbbing. Sarah told the doctor that basically she had always been healthy, aside from some mild asthma, which didn't even require medication. She and her husband enjoyed being physically active. Sarah told the doctor that she had never smoked, didn't take drugs or drink to excess. She admitted that her life was busy, but she loved her business and had fun keeping up with her kids. She couldn't understand why she suddenly felt so tired.
Her doctor just smiled at her and said that running a business while raising three kids was enough to wear anybody out. Also, he told her that her blood test showed she was slightly anemic, which meant her red blood cells weren't getting enough oxygen to fuel her body's tissues. He said it was very common among young women and it could cause feelings of fatigue and weakness. And so he prescribed her some iron supplements and said that they should quickly help her with her energy levels and overall mood. And so Sarah left the office feeling relieved that she would start feeling better soon.
But two months later, Sarah was back in her doctor's office. Although she had been taking the iron supplements, she still felt weak. On top of that, she had begun to feel this overwhelming sense of dread, like something terrible was about to happen. She'd spent the night before lying in bed and staring at the right side of her abdomen, which felt very strange, almost as if it was too full.
After listening to Sarah's symptoms, the doctor reviewed her blood work and said that the medication appeared to have taken care of her anemia. He'd also taken a look at her abdomen and nothing seemed wrong. However, her mounting anxiety and fatigue were very concerning and so he wanted to screen her for depression. Sarah felt confused. She was tired and feeling down, but she didn't think she was depressed. However, she still agreed to take the screening. If anything, the screening would give her some peace of mind that she was not depressed.
However, to her surprise, the screening did the opposite. It showed that she might actually be experiencing depression. Sarah knew the diagnosis wasn't meant to be a judgment on her as a person, but she still sort of felt like she'd flunked a test. And so she wondered if this meant her physical symptoms were actually just in her head. A month later, in May of 2014, Sarah's husband, Paul, watched Sarah drag herself into the house after another day's work. She looked weak and thin. It scared Paul to see her this way.
Paul knew she had been carefully taking the antidepressant medication for weeks now, but it didn't seem to be helping at all. She had also begun walking for exercise and doing yoga, but her energy was still very low. Sarah was doing everything the doctor recommended, but her health just wasn't improving. In fact, she had lost an alarming amount of weight. And most days, Paul would wake up in the morning to find Sarah lying beside him, completely exhausted.
She told him she basically wasn't sleeping. And when she was sleeping, she'd wake up suddenly drenched in sweat. Paul watched as Sarah moved around the house like a ghost. Their five and seven year olds were trying to show her the arts and crafts project they'd made at school that day. But Paul could tell Sarah was struggling just to stay focused on them. And so Paul decided he would call a friend who was a doctor. At this point, they just needed more opinions about what was going on here. However, Paul didn't want to alarm Sarah, so he excused himself.
He found a quiet spot out in the yard and placed the call. He described Sarah's symptoms to his friend. After a moment, the friend said it sounded like what she was dealing with could be a hormonal issue. He wondered if maybe Sarah had something going on with her thyroid, a gland found in the neck. He explained that thyroid disorders can cause weight loss, sweating, and muscle soreness. And so Paul's friend suggested that Sarah make an appointment with an endocrinologist, a doctor who specializes in hormone disorders.
A week later, Paul and Sarah sat together on a park bench, watching their kids climb all over some playground equipment. Sarah had come to meet Paul and the kids after her appointment with the endocrinologist. Paul tried to read his wife's expression, but she just sat there in silence. Finally, after a couple of minutes, she sighed and told him what the endocrinologist had said. The results of her blood tests were normal, and the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her hormone levels.
And so the endocrinologist had told Sarah to try to reduce the stress in her life and maybe take a vacation. And then to Paul's surprise, Sarah just burst out laughing. And then he started laughing along with her. The doctor thought a vacation would help Sarah feel better. It was so absurd, it was funny. But after their laughter died down, a serious expression came over Sarah's face. She told Paul she just didn't understand.
She had listened to the doctors and taken her iron supplements and antidepressants, but nothing helped. She was as tired as ever, and her symptoms, that were both physical and mental, were only getting more intense. And it pained Sarah to admit that as a result of that, she was no longer available for her kids. Physically, she was still with them, but mentally, she felt totally checked out. So, after talking it over with Paul, she decided it was time to try a different route. At this point, she was willing to try anything to feel better.
A week later, Sarah sat on a comfortable couch inside of a dimly lit room. She could feel a wave of nausea coming over her as the smell of scented candles filled the air. She tried her best to ignore her queasy stomach and focus on her breathing as an alternative medicine practitioner asked her question after question about her lifestyle. And after talking with her for about 30 minutes, the practitioner told Sarah that what she was experiencing was something called "adrenal fatigue."
Though it's not an officially recognized medical diagnosis, it includes symptoms like tiredness, anxiety, and trouble sleeping, which were all issues Sarah was facing. And so the alternative medicine practitioner recommended that Sarah use some special serums, clean up her diet, and of course, try to reduce stress. This didn't sound very scientific to Sarah, but again, at this point, she was willing to try anything. So she agreed to give the new lifestyle regimen a try.
Several weeks later, in early July of 2014, Sarah stood in front of the stove boiling some pasta. She leaned against the counter to support herself. She had followed the alternative medical practitioner's advice as best as she could, but that hadn't helped either. She'd lost even more weight and felt weaker than ever. Her head ached and she had this cold that she couldn't shake. But Sarah was not about to let her illness or whatever it was stop her from living her life.
So, she was powering through her daily chores, even though she would have much preferred to lie down. Sarah turned the burner down to a simmer, and as she did, she was suddenly seized by this deep cough. She instinctively covered her mouth with a towel, and when she pulled it away, she saw she had coughed up quite a bit of blood. This was new and frightening. Sarah's overwhelming sense of dread immediately returned. Something was wrong with her, and there was no way it was just stress.
it was time to go back to her medical doctor and tell him to take her symptoms more seriously.
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A few days later, Sarah and Paul sat inside of an exam room, reviewing an x-ray of Sarah's chest with their doctor. The doctor pointed to a hazy white patch in the lower area of Sarah's right lung. The doctor said the x-ray showed Sarah had pneumonia, a lung infection that can cause chest pain, cough, and fatigue. He explained that most cases of pneumonia resolve in a matter of weeks, but left untreated, the infection can go on and on.
He told Sarah that because most cases of pneumonia are caused by bacteria, he was prescribing her some antibiotics that should knock out the infection. Sarah looked over at her husband, and he looked relieved. In all things considered, Sarah felt relieved too. She'd known plenty of people who had gotten pneumonia and recovered just fine after taking antibiotics. So Sarah got up and thanked her doctor. But as she followed Paul to the car, she couldn't help but wonder. It had been months since she first felt sick.
If this was as simple as pneumonia, then why had it taken so long for someone to finally figure it out? A month later, Paul sat with Sarah and the kids in the den playing a board game. Paul was getting more and more worried about his wife. Sarah said she felt a little better after finishing her antibiotics, but she still wasn't her old self, not even close. She was only able to work a few days a week, and she rarely left the house unless it was to go to their office.
Just then, Sarah started coughing, and she excused herself to go to the bathroom. A moment later, Paul heard a gagging sound. He rushed to the bathroom, where he found his wife bent over the toilet, and there was red liquid in the bowl. She had coughed up blood again. Paul sprang into action. He called their neighbors and asked if they could watch the kids for a few hours. He needed to get his wife to the emergency room right away.
A few days later, a pulmonologist named Dr. Corbin Moss reviewed the results of a chest CT scan with his new patient, a young mother named Sarah Weber. A pulmonologist is a physician who specializes in the respiratory system. Sarah had been suffering from a cough, fatigue, and weight loss for several months. A chest x-ray had revealed a lesion on her right lung, which her family physician had diagnosed as pneumonia.
She had coughed up blood at least twice, and the second time, her husband Paul had rushed her to the emergency room and she'd been referred to Dr. Moss. Today, Sarah sat quietly inside of his office, looking lethargic and very thin. Meanwhile, her husband Paul paced anxiously around the room. Dr. Moss told Sarah and Paul that he had seen many cases of recurrent pneumonia.
And while it was certainly possible that that's what Sarah was dealing with, he still wanted to conduct a bronchoscopy to learn more about the suspicious area on her right lung. During this procedure, the doctor would insert a scope down her throat to inspect her airway and lungs, and also collect tiny samples of her tissue to be analyzed in a laboratory. The procedure sounded unpleasant, but Sarah immediately agreed to do it. Dr. Moss nodded and said he'd get it scheduled as soon as possible.
Following the bronchoscopy, Sarah and Paul met again with Dr. Moss to review the results. Dr. Moss took a deep breath and pulled the results up on his computer. He told Sarah and Paul that he wished he was misreading the data, but there was no denying it. Sarah's results were definitive. She had lung cancer. Sarah just stared at him. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She was only 39 and had never smoked a cigarette in her whole life. How could she possibly have lung cancer?
Sarah barely noticed when Paul put his arms around her. And then somewhere in the distance, she could barely hear Dr. Moss's voice. But Sarah made herself tune back in just in time to hear the doctor say the words, non-small cell adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. But the doctor then also said that at least they had caught this early. But Sarah thought back to her months and months of symptoms, and she wondered how early this really was.
The next morning, Sarah rummaged around her closet, trying to decide on an outfit for their son's preschool orientation. It was hard for her to concentrate. As usual, she hadn't slept at all. Her diagnosis was constantly looming over her. It didn't feel real. Nothing did. And yet, here she was, standing in the closet, getting dressed. Because even when you got the worst news, life still went on.
They were running very late to the orientation. Sarah could hear Paul down the hall trying to get their son ready. She needed to hurry, but her body could only move so fast. Finally, Sarah just grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. But as she pulled on her jeans, her sight suddenly went blurry. Sarah closed her eyes for a moment, hoping that when she opened them, her vision would return to normal. But when she opened her eyes, she was still seeing double. A moment later, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
She didn't even notice her husband walk into the closet until she saw him kneeling right beside her. Somehow, she'd ended up curled up on the floor. Sarah told him she couldn't breathe and she could barely see. Plus, she thought she might be having a panic attack. She looked at Paul and she could barely make out his features, but she could hear him shouting for an ambulance into his phone.
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I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. So I think listeners can expect me to be chatting with folks, both recognizable and unrecognizable names, about the way that people have navigated roads to triumph.
My hope is that people will finish an episode of Reclaiming and feel like they filled their tank up. They connected with the people that I'm talking to and leave with maybe some nuggets that help them feel a little more hopeful. Follow Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Reclaiming early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Three days later, Sarah lay in a hospital bed trying to read a magazine. It was hard to believe that just three days ago she had collapsed like that. She was lucky Paul had been there and called an ambulance. Because it turned out she was not just having a panic attack. She was having a stroke. If she had not gotten emergency help when she did, she could have died. Sarah looked over at the chair beside her hospital bed. Paul had been sitting and sleeping there for the last 72 hours while their kids stayed with relatives.
Now, Paul was down the hall, meeting with their doctors about her prognosis and treatment plan. Sarah had insisted that they discuss everything without her. She just didn't want to be there. She didn't want to know how long she had left to live or how advanced the cancer was. She knew it was bad. She didn't need to hear anything else, just the treatment plan. They agreed that Paul would tell her once they were alone. Sarah carefully reached over to her bedside table, where she had a framed photo of their kids that Paul had brought from home.
The kids knew she was sick, but she and Paul had not told them all the details. Sarah wanted to tell them everything, but they were too young for that kind of heartache. While Sarah waited inside her room, Paul spoke to the doctor in his office.
The physician said that although Sarah had only just been diagnosed with lung cancer, the cancer had been growing in her body for quite a while. In fact, Sarah's cancer was already at stage four, which is the most advanced stage. It meant that the disease had spread from her right lung to other parts of her body, specifically her left lung, liver, spine, and hip bones. It also had invaded her brain, which had caused the stroke.
The doctor told Paul he wanted to run a few more tests, but Sarah needed to start chemotherapy right away. Her condition was dire, and without treatment, she would only have a very short amount of time to live. Paul felt like the earth was falling out from under him. He fought back tears, but after a few moments, he steadied himself, knowing he would have to face his wife with strength as he shared this news. She would have to start treatment right away.
Three weeks later, Paul climbed the stairs of his house with a glass of water for Sarah. She was back home after undergoing her third chemo treatment. Paul knew the treatment had left his wife with very little hair and she was now more frail than ever, so he was trying to do everything he could to help her through it. However, when Paul entered the bedroom, he nearly dropped the glass. Sarah was lying on the floor, barely moving. Paul rushed over to her, asking if she needed to go to the hospital.
But Sarah just shook her head and said she couldn't take it anymore. Her body was giving up. Paul sat beside her, holding her close. He ran his fingers through the thin remnants of her hair and kissed the top of her head. He could understand why Sarah was ready to give up after all the suffering of the past year, but he simply couldn't let her. He and the kids needed her too much. Paul urged his wife to think of her treatment like a long race. She just needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
He saw that Sarah's eyes were wet with tears, but she still managed to smile and promised she would keep on fighting. Seeing just a little light in his wife's eyes gave Paul hope, but he knew that she needed more than the care she had gotten up to now. So Paul gave his wife another kiss and helped her to her feet, then he told her he'd be right back. There were calls he wanted to make.
That afternoon, Paul tracked down a team of thoracic oncologists, doctors who specialize in the treatment of cancers in the chest area. Paul's doctor friend had told him they were the best of the best, working on cases exactly like Sarah's. 90% of lung cancer victims are current or former smokers, but these doctors focused on the remaining 10% who had never smoked a single cigarette. After Paul presented the facts, the team agreed to take Sarah's case.
Several weeks later, Sarah and Paul met with the team of thoracic oncologists. With what they discovered, they were actually very hopeful that Sarah's condition could be managed. It would turn out they could pinpoint exactly what had caused her lung cancer. It wasn't smoking or some kind of toxic exposure or any external agent. It was caused by something inside her body. Specifically, the doctor said that Sarah had a flaw in her genes known as the ROS1 mutation.
ROS1 is a gene that can drive cancer growth by sending abnormal signals to cells, telling them to divide uncontrollably and form tumors. The doctor said this mutation was quite rare. It typically presented in just 1-2% of patients with lung cancer. Usually, these were younger people who were light smokers or, like Sarah, had never smoked at all.
Now, at first, this was very disheartening for Sarah. But the doctors told her, in a way, she was actually lucky to have this mutation, because ROS1-positive cancers are much more treatable than other forms of lung cancer. Sarah began targeted therapy right away. Her doctors prescribed drugs to specifically block the signals coming from the ROS1 mutation, aiming to slow or stop the cancer's progression.
And now, according to her website, Sarah has been cancer-free for at least three years. She's returned to running her business with Paul and has also started her own meditation practice. She also offers courses for cancer patients and survivors, teaching them how to find peace and strength throughout the unique challenge of cancer. And that even when things get dark, they are never alone.
Hey, Prime members, you can listen to new episodes of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. And also, Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries ad-free. Join Wondery Plus today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at listenersurvey.com. From Ballin Studios and Wondery, this is Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, hosted by me, Mr. Ballin.
A quick note about our stories. They're all inspired by true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved. And some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. And a reminder, the content in this episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This episode was written by Aaron Lan. Our editor is Heather Dundas. Sound design is by Matthew Cilelli.
Our senior managing producer is Callum Plews, and our coordinating producer is Sarah Mathis. Our senior producer is Alex Benidon. Our associate producers and researchers are Sarah Vytak and Tasia Palaconda. Fact-checking was done by Sheila Patterson.
For Ballin Studios, our head of production is Zach Levitt. Script editing by Scott Allen and Evan Allen. Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins. Production support by Avery Siegel. Executive producers are myself, Mr. Ballin, and Nick Witters. For Wondery, our head of sound is Marcelino Villapando. Senior producers are Laura Donna Pallavoda and Dave Schilling. Senior managing producer is Ryan Lohr. And our executive producers are Aaron O'Flaherty and Marshall Louis. One.
What if your mind could trick your body into feeling sick? Or even worse? In Hysterical, I investigate the bizarre medical mystery that unfolds in a high school in upstate New York. It starts with one girl developing strange, violent symptoms, and then another, and then another. Rumors begin to swirl. Is it something in the water, inside the school, or is it all in their heads?
Hysterical is my search for answers. And along the way, I uncover surprising connections to unexplained incidents around the world. Events that challenge everything we think we know about our bodies and our minds. Named Podcast of the Year at the Amby's, Hysterical is a mind-bending, unforgettable ride. Binge all episodes right now exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Start your free trial of Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.