@denis76 My own father was exposed to asbestos continuously throughout his career in construction and shipbuilding.
Every time he had a chest Xray, the doctor would shake his head and ask my father to blow into a balloon; he usually blew until it exploded. Never, ever had symptoms of disease…
Fast forward to a double knee replacement done with a spinal ONLY since his lungs were deemed too ‘risky’ for general anesthesia. Can you even imagine this??! He also required 4 units of hospital blood, even though he had autodonated 4 of his own.
Weeks into his recovery he developed what his surgeon (the orthopedist for the NY Jets and Yankees) called a ‘kennel cough’. Well that progressed into full blown coughing fits and shortness of breath. Biopsy confirmed presence of extensive mesothelioma. He was dead, his spinal cord severed by the cancer, in 6 months…
Don’t tell me that this deadly cancer just suddenly grew; it was lying there dormant for years, viewable on Xray. His body fought or contained it somehow but that horrible operation - that incredible trauma and units of donor blood messed up his immune system entirely.
That cancer ‘knew’ it was time to party and those cells did in 6 months what they couldn’t do in a lifetime.
Wish I could know the exact mechanisms involved but that will remain a mystery. I do know, however, that in our lives health and disease are in a precarious balance and it can tip either way, at any time. Best,
Phil