Question and advice??

KimDK

Hello all,

I'm new to this forum and am not really sure if I belong here or now...

my story is like this:

In the beginning of September my husband had two attacks where he had problems beating... being a smoker it scared him so much that he immediately stopped smoking... about ten days after quitting smoking he got severe problems berating again... We went to several doctors, they all said the same thing "it's mental and there is nothing we can do about it"... Time passed, he still had problems berating but learned to control it so that it did not make him get a panic attack.

3 weeks ago he had a really bad weekend and we went to another doctor, first he also said "it's mental"... but he did agree to arrange for him (my husband) to have a full set of tests to check what could possibly be the cause of the problem...

Monday this week he had x-rays taken of his upper body, Tuesday he had blood-tests and a test for smokers lungs... The test for smokers lung showed that there was no problem with his lung-function, in fact according to the test his lungs were working better than what they were expected to.

The x-ray showed a shadow on the right lung, the doctor said it might be cause by an old pneumonia, but he does not remember having had it...

He is now scheduled for a CT-scan tomorrow the 2 of December 08, and we are kind of freaking because it might turn out to be lung cancer...

BTW he is 34 years, and part from the problems with breathing he is in excellent health and does not have any other symptoms of lung-cancer...

Is there any hope for an ex-smoker that the problems with breathing and the shadow on the lung might be caused by anything else than lung cancer???

I bought some Ipo Roxo tea and some Green Chi tea for him to drink, is that a good idea? is there anything else I can do?

Kim

soccerfreaks

Hope
Oh, heck yeah! There are lots of alternatives to cancer, sweetness!

I AM a lung cancer survivor, and I now know that what they see on the scans might indeed be the results of a previous pneumonia (we don't always know that we have even had pneumonia, believe it or not). It might be scars from bronchitis, more likely, since he is or was a smoker. It could be any number of benign causes.

They will likely want to see if it grows, to be honest. I'll bet that it doesn't.

Problems with breathing are not an early stage symptom of lung cancer, as far as I know. They weren't for me, at any rate.

It is great that your husband has quit smoking, and I hope that he continues to abstain. In the meantime, do not worry too much. Worrying does little to help the situation, and in your case it may be exacerbating it.

Best wishes to you and your husband and let us know how tomorrow's scan goes.

Take care,

Joe

KimDK

soccerfreaks said:

Hope
Oh, heck yeah! There are lots of alternatives to cancer, sweetness!

I AM a lung cancer survivor, and I now know that what they see on the scans might indeed be the results of a previous pneumonia (we don't always know that we have even had pneumonia, believe it or not). It might be scars from bronchitis, more likely, since he is or was a smoker. It could be any number of benign causes.

They will likely want to see if it grows, to be honest. I'll bet that it doesn't.

Problems with breathing are not an early stage symptom of lung cancer, as far as I know. They weren't for me, at any rate.

It is great that your husband has quit smoking, and I hope that he continues to abstain. In the meantime, do not worry too much. Worrying does little to help the situation, and in your case it may be exacerbating it.

Best wishes to you and your husband and let us know how tomorrow's scan goes.

Take care,

Joe

Thank you
Thank you for the message Joe, means a lot to me :-)

This has been the worst most stressing day of our marriage :-( Hopefully we'll soon get to know something more, and hopefully something good. Unfortunate my husband seems to think getting to know he has cancer is the same as saying he is going to die :-( I try to convince him otherwise, he is young, strong and does not have any other problems than shortness of breath... it's strange that the constant breathing problem only accrued after he quitted smoking, before that he sometimes got a shortness of breath when eg. cycling up hill, he does not get that any-more, and he does not have a problem eg. cycling for two hours....

No chance of him ever smoking again, he hates smoking now and wish they would forbid smoking...

We'll have to wait and see and hope for the best ;-)

Again thank you for your answer,

Take care,

Kim

soccerfreaks

KimDK said:

Thank you
Thank you for the message Joe, means a lot to me :-)

This has been the worst most stressing day of our marriage :-( Hopefully we'll soon get to know something more, and hopefully something good. Unfortunate my husband seems to think getting to know he has cancer is the same as saying he is going to die :-( I try to convince him otherwise, he is young, strong and does not have any other problems than shortness of breath... it's strange that the constant breathing problem only accrued after he quitted smoking, before that he sometimes got a shortness of breath when eg. cycling up hill, he does not get that any-more, and he does not have a problem eg. cycling for two hours....

No chance of him ever smoking again, he hates smoking now and wish they would forbid smoking...

We'll have to wait and see and hope for the best ;-)

Again thank you for your answer,

Take care,

Kim

quitting
Kim, he couldn't play on my old U12 girls soccer team if he quits that easily!

Time for him to buck up and get in the game!

Take care,

Joe

KimDK

soccerfreaks said:

quitting
Kim, he couldn't play on my old U12 girls soccer team if he quits that easily!

Time for him to buck up and get in the game!

Take care,

Joe

well, I won't let him...

Hello again Joe,

He is just freaking a bit, and I can understand that :-( I'm also freaking out, but am now trying to keep my spirit up... I hope and pray for the best outcome, if something bad happens I'm for sure not going to give up without a good and long fight... as long as there is life there is hope, and as he is doing great health-wise just now... I do not doubt that we can work together through anything life might bring us...

Take care.

Kim

cabbott

KimDK said:

well, I won't let him...

Hello again Joe,

He is just freaking a bit, and I can understand that :-( I'm also freaking out, but am now trying to keep my spirit up... I hope and pray for the best outcome, if something bad happens I'm for sure not going to give up without a good and long fight... as long as there is life there is hope, and as he is doing great health-wise just now... I do not doubt that we can work together through anything life might bring us...

Take care.

Kim

Good Advice
Joe gave you some good advice and so have the doctors. Knowledge is power. That's why they are doing the CT scan. It will give them a much better picture of what is happening in his lungs. However, they still may not know exactly what is there. If they can't tell for certain on the one CAT scan, they often request that you come back for a second scan about three to six months down the road. That's standard practice and it doesn't mean that the spot is or isn't cancer. They look to see if the spot is changing, especially if it is growing. There are lots and lots and lots of reasons why there may be a spot or a shadow. Some of those reasons are no problem at all and some are a problem. Even if it looks like it is growing it may not be cancer. But the CAT scan will give them more information and help them problem solve. Good luck!

C. Abbott

KimDK

Just an update from me, my husband had his CT-scan today and the result came back saying that there were no abnormalities in his lungs :-)

We still do not know what is causing the breathing problems, but at least we now know it's not caused by lung cancer and smokers-lungs...

Tkank you very much for your kind messages of support when we needed it the most,

Take care,

Hug,

Kim