Hi all! I am an army wife and our ER here isn't the greatest! I went in yesterday with severe left side chest/lung pain and difficulty breathing. I have had a collapse lunge before on the right side and this felt the same. I thought my left lung collapsed, but instead they did a chest xray and ct scan with the dye. They found inflammation of the entire lung, pleurosy with some fluid build up and 2 nodules in my left lung. YES I AM A SMOKER:( Working on quitting as we speak! I was just wondering if I should be a little more proactive in my treatment because of the combonation of symptoms. I was sent home with pain meads and an anti-inflammatory. Thats it! My father died at 49 of cancer and I am at risk obviously. The ER doc said to mave another CT scan in 3 months but everything on the web said to have the followup CT as early as 6 weeks for followup. My husband is away ALOT with his job in the ARMY and both my children have a lot of medical problems so I CAN'T be sick! My family needs too much from me. Are the combonation of lung problems a bad sign and should I get more aggressive treatment to rule out cancer? Or should I sit back and not worry and hope for the best. If it was just one of the problems I would be so concerned. A nodule...ok, could be nothing, pleurosy...ok get rest and stop smoking...inflammation....ah no big deal! But all three and 2 nodules instead of just one is worrying me a bit! Any suggestions would be helpful....I have to push the Army docs sometimes to be a little more aggressive in there treatment. I just need to play it safe for my family! Thanks to all....

Hi jessandjeff123!
well I have2 of those three things....I just skipped the pleurisy part. And I'm a smoker too, who is having a real hard time quitting!
All of your symptoms may all be due to the inflammation. The nodule can be anything, and usually nothing...just some incidental finding when you have a ct scan. Of course they could be cancerous, but not necessarily. That's why they reccomend another scan in 3 months, which is pretty normal for small nodules (just to see if they grow in the 3 months). Did they indicate the size of the nodules? Mine is 5mm..too small to biopsy, so it's a wait & see kind of thing. My first ct scan just showed the nodule. The 2nd scan also showed inflammation, which wasn't there the first time.
I'm now due for a 3rd scan, which will be at 4 months. I think this goes on for 2 years. All the rads I'm getting can't be good and I worry about that too!
Sounds like you are really busy, and may need to slow down and take care of yourself. Find someone to give you a hand. You need to get better, and I know pluerisy is painful, so you need some rest to get better.
All this stress of not knowing what's happening in your lungs doesn't make quitting smoking easier. Worry, worry, worry! But think we need to try harder, and for the sake of your kids, its really important.
Hope this helps a little. Take care and get some rest, if you can.
Hellas

Thanks so much for your response. I really appreciate you taking the time...You have made me feel a little better. They did say the nodules are 5mm but our radiology docs are ding dongs. They did a ct on my daughter a couple months agao and found a tumor in her femur but in the report they said it was in her tibia! My radiology report initially said nothing about nodules and just mentioned the pluersy, inflammation and "blebs". Then they added an addenda to the report and mentioned the 5mm nodule. But the ER doc said in his report there were 2 nodules! Military wives are labeled as "wacka-doos" sometimes, but people don't realize our surroundings that are making us "wacka-doos". It is rather frustrating.

They have my followup CT scheduled in 6 weeks and I am on some stuff to help me quit smoking. Yes it is hard, but we can do it.....right? I guess I have this followup to look forward to for a couple years. We were hoping to to have another baby so I hope this doesn't stop that completely. Tehy already told us to hold off until the hext CT is done.

Thanks again and please keep me posted on your progress. Again I really appreciate your response. It has made me feel a little better.

hi all.. I had pleurisy back in sept.2005 they did and x-ray of lungs and found 3 nodules ..biggest is 5mm.. then went back and they found 2 more on right lung from an x-ray been to emerency room cause the pain and being short of breath was real bad I had thought the pleurisy was back ...but the emergency doctor did a ct scan and ask me arent you in alot of pain I said yes thats why I am here .so he told me to see a Pulmonoligist and I did but he dont see any concern cause they didnt grow.... but they spread .I have to go back for x-ray in august or sept. to see whats up...but this is scaring me with the pain and repeated broncitis I keep getting and the cough everyday..and weight loss..ect.. just wondering what to do next..If anyone has any info Id love to hear your input..thanks Kealight:confused:

hi all.. can someone reply to my message kinda scared here ..thanks so much
kealight

hi all.. I had pleurisy back in sept.2005 they did and x-ray of lungs and found 3 nodules ..biggest is 5mm.. then went back and they found 2 more on right lung from an x-ray been to emerency room cause the pain and being short of breath was real bad I had thought the pleurisy was back ...but the emergency doctor did a ct scan and ask me arent you in alot of pain I said yes thats why I am here .so he told me to see a Pulmonoligist and I did but he dont see any concern cause they didnt grow.... but they spread .I have to go back for x-ray in august or sept. to see whats up...but this is scaring me with the pain and repeated broncitis I keep getting and the cough everyday..and weight loss..ect.. just wondering what to do next..If anyone has any info Id love to hear your input..thanks Kealight:confused:

kea,
Pleurisy can be caused by a viral infection. Have the doctor's ruled out Valley Fever? Please ask your pulmonologist what his findings are. You may want to get copies of your report to bring to any followup appts. with your primary.
As far as the weight loss, you are going to have to be aggressive with your diet to make sure you don't keep losing. I would suggest adding liquid nutritional supplements several times a day. They would increase your calories and provide much needed protein, vitamins and minerals.
If you are a smoker you need to quit now.

[QUOTE=Mari526]kea,
Pleurisy can be caused by a viral infection. Have the doctor's ruled out Valley Fever? Please ask your pulmonologist what his findings are. You may want to get copies of your report to bring to any followup appts. with your primary.
As far as the weight loss, you are going to have to be aggressive with your diet to make sure you don't keep losing. I would suggest adding liquid nutritional supplements several times a day. They would increase your calories and provide much needed protein, vitamins and minerals.
If you are a smoker you need to quit now.[

Mari526, never heard of Valley Fever.. but the pain in left side of lung was so bad today and had a hard time catching my breath very scary.pulmonologist didnt do any kinds of test since back in December..my primary doctor keeps seending me back to pulmonologist so im going around in a circle...:confused: :confused: thanks for answering back:)