Hi, My mother has symptoms that make me very scared she has lung cancer. She has persistant cough, coughing up blood, pain in shoulder,chest and back,hoarseness,she has had wheezing too. This is her 3rd or 4th course of antibiotics this year, basically one after another. The doc today is sending away a sputum sample and she is getting an xray next week after she finishes this course of antibiotics. I have read up some things and it scares me as a lot points to lung cancer. Does anyone have any idea what else can cause these symptoms? Thankyou Saltire

I am so sorry to hear of your mom's health issues...I honestly think if they can do a CT of her lung it might be the fastest way of truly finding out what is wrong. Based on what you wrote her symptoms are it does not sound good at all, but you never know. I do hope your mother will be okay and all of this is something very simple.
Kim

Where do you live? In some places there are certain illnesses that can cause lung problems an example here in parts of California and Arizonia there is Cocci ( Valley fever) . Someone posted about having it, having traveled to Arizonia.

One of our pulmonary doctors gave an inservice about an elderly woman that they first thought had pneumonia and when she did not get better they did a CT and saw a large mass. They were all thinking lung cancer but a biopsey showed it to be cocci and she was treated and it resolved.

Alot of bugs are becoming resistant to antibiotics too from our over use of them all these years so she could have something like a staph. pneumonia that is resistant to the drugs, Or TB. Her doctor needs to perhaps do more tests like a CT. I will add her to my prayers and pray that it is not cancer. Hang in there. JanMarie

Hi Saltire -

Jan Marie is right on the mark. I'm the one that posted on this board about Valley Fever (or aka: cocci; aka: coccidioidomycosis) I can acutally spell it now without looking it up. I WAS a smoker for 38 years until a month ago when my doctor told me after my annual physical & x-ray that I had a spot on my lung. My life became a roller coaster after that it seems like months have gone by.

This all started at the end of 2005 after we visited Scottsdale for a week in November. My wife and I were both extremely ill starting over the holidays with extreme flu like symtoms. We had two courses of antibiotics that did't have the least impact. The fever, cough, aches and pains went on throughout all of February and into March, improving slightly day by day.

After my x-ray in mid MArch, I went for a CT Scan, two nodules were found in my lungs. Then I went to a pulmonologist for a pulmonary function test. She picked up on my travel history and tested me for cocci. In the meantime, I had a needle biopsy that was inconclusive and then a PET scan. I even talked to 2 thoracic surgeons. My cocci test came back positive and the PEt scan was cold. (No unusual cell activity) The docs now think the nodules are cocci. I'd like to know for certain, but all the indications are that it's not cancerous.

There is another fungal spore that can do what Valley fever does, to some extent. It's called Histoplasmosis and occurs in the Midwest.

I hope this helps. Not all Lung Nodules, even in smokers, are malignant.

Please keep us posted

Tom

Hi, Thankyou all for your replies, my parents live in Scotland UK, they are not travellers either so not sure if they could still get those infections over there, I believe the doctor is testing her for MRSA just incase. My mum has a heart condition and is in a wheelchair so she doesn't get around much. She is also to get testing done for Diabetes as her sugar levels are high. Does anyone know if that can cause infections to take longer getting better, we are thinking of sooo many things, suppose we just have to wait on the results to see what they say, thanks again i appreciate your replies and i will let you know the results.
Saltire

Hi my mum got resuts of her sputum test and there is no bacterial infection,no growth of infection. Does anyone know if Lung Cancer would show up in that test? She is waiting on the results of her chest xray.She has a doc appointment Fri.
Saltire

Hi-
I am not sure if in a sputum test they can determine if she has cancer. You mentioned your mom will be having an x-ray...is there anyway to have her request for a CT scan. X-rays are not always accurate and cannot find nodules hiding behind ribs or the heart or wherever else those darn nodules like to hide. I wish your mom the best. Hang in there...
Kim

From what my pulmonolgist told me, sputum tests are not very reliable unless there is a massive amount of infection. I understand they can detect cancer cells in sputum, but again, there has to be a large quantity, suggesting a large nodule or mass. And of course,they would have had to specifically test for cancer cells, which they might not have done.

I agree totally with Kim that the only way to really see what's going on is to do a CT scan. And that will only tell you if there are nodules or a mass. It WON"T tell you if they are malignant. In fact, most lung nodules are not malignant. Smokers obviously have a much higher risk of malignancy with lung nodules, but still, they are not all malignant.

The only sure way to determine malignancy is to do a biopsy, so if your mother has nodules, don't automatically jump to the conclusion they're malignant until they do a biopsy.

I pray it all goes the best for your mom.

Tom

Thankyou for your replies,My mum lives in Scotland and the doctors there are not as aggressive as here. She is seeing the doc again Friday so i will definately tell her to ask for one. My sister and i have also been talking about a terrible mold they have in their house, so we are going to see about getting it tested incase it is whats making her sick. I will keep in touch , thanks again Saltire

You ssai they have a "Terrible mold" in their house. I would bet this is the root of the problem. I have done a fair amount of research on molds and fungi and they can cause a host of respiratory issues. I think you are now on to something, but I wouldn't let up on searching for other sources as well.

God bless,
Tom

Hi,
Mum got the results of her xray and all looks ok. She has narrowing of her airways so she has to use her inhaler 4 times a day this week. The doc wants to wait and see how she is over the next few weeks. I am not happy about this(the waiting) but her doc is like that. We are going to look into the mold issue, we really feel that might be the cause. We are going to get it tested and go to whoever can help us with this. The mold they have is really bad (even their clothes get it on them if they close their closet door, and my mum spends most of her time in her bed as she doesn;t keep well anyway). The more i read about mold the more i think it's that, i will let you know what we find out and thankyou for your replies, it is nice to have people to talk to about this.
Saltire

Hello, I just wanted to tell you your parents and you are in my prayers. I hope the mold problem can be corrected and your Mom gets much better. Please keep us posted on how she is doing. Love from Ky.