Am I over reacting?

wiga58
wiga58 Member Posts: 3
edited September 2013 in Lung Cancer #1

I am 55yrs. old and have been having numerous health issues over the past year. After numerous UTIs, my primary doctor ordered a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis area. The CT scan showed a 3mm lung nodule in my lower left lobe that was believed to be partially calcified. I was referred to a pulmonologist who I first saw mid-May. The pulmonologist sent me for a CT scan. I just had my follow up appointment last week. The CT showed the 3mm partially calicified nodule and a second 8mm non-calcified nodule adjacent to the mediastinum in the upper left lobe. For the past couple of months, I have been experiencing low oxygen levels. While awake, my oxygen levels range between 89-95 (usually 92-94), and at night they drop to 79-80 percent (I was experiencing tingling on the left side of my face, and the urgent care sent me to the ER, and I dozed off a few times. My husband said I had set off the alarm twice when my oxygen level dropped to 79 and 80 percent). I've also had shortness of breath, decreased appetite, headaches, joint pain, dizziness (I've fallen 5 times and have come close to falling several times), fatigue, and most recently an unproductive cough and horseness.

I saw my pulmonologist a week ago. I let him know about the low oxygen levels at the hospital and my other symptoms. It wasn't until my neurologist asked what the pulumonogist was planning to do about the nodules (she has access to my results at the pulmonologist's office), and I told her he said he'd see me four months. In addition to these lung nodules, I have monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance - MGUS (diagnosed last December). I am being watched to make sure it doesn't go into smoldering or multiple myloma. I guess all of this has got me a little spooked as my grandfather died at 56 years of age of lung cancer. My parents are after me to go to UCLA Medical Center to be evaluated. Just to give me some piece of mind (and them as well). My insurance will cover the costs at UCLA, so that isn't a factor.

Am I over reacting to the CT scan? Waiting for four months for any follow-up seems a little too long.

Kathy

Comments

  • Ladylacy
    Ladylacy Member Posts: 773 Member
    #2
    You

    You need a second opinion asap.  If the nodule in your lung is small, some want to watch it but with your grandfather dying of lung cancer, they should biopsy it.  My husband's cancer started as laryngeal cancer and after treatment and being NED for a year, a tumor was found at the cervical of his esophagus (rare) and surgery wasn't an opinion.  So more radiation and chemo, NED for 4 months, then found after a PET/CT scan that it had reoccurred at the cervical of the esophagus and his right lung. 

    Doctors wanted to wait on the lung biopsy due to how small, but they had grown since the last PET/CT.  The H&N specialist pushed for the biopsy which had to be a needle biopsy due to location.  Well after the 3rd attempt they were able to get cells to biopsy, which turned out to be cancer.  His lung did collapse and we were warned about that.  He was in the hospital for 2-3 days and did well right away.  He had already decided he would do no further treatments, his choice.  This was in February.  To day he is holding his own, basically the same as in February.  The only treatment offered was chemo but told up front it wouldn't cure only prolong and possibly hasten.  He has no problems with his oxygen levels and his breathing is fine.  Sometimes he gets out of breathe but as soon as he sits down he is fine.  No problems at night either but with him being a laryngectomy, he breathes thru a stoma in his neck which goes directly into his lungs.

    Wishing you the best -- Sharon

  • wiga58
    wiga58 Member Posts: 3
    #3
    Ladylacy said:

    You

    You need a second opinion asap.  If the nodule in your lung is small, some want to watch it but with your grandfather dying of lung cancer, they should biopsy it.  My husband's cancer started as laryngeal cancer and after treatment and being NED for a year, a tumor was found at the cervical of his esophagus (rare) and surgery wasn't an opinion.  So more radiation and chemo, NED for 4 months, then found after a PET/CT scan that it had reoccurred at the cervical of the esophagus and his right lung. 

    Doctors wanted to wait on the lung biopsy due to how small, but they had grown since the last PET/CT.  The H&N specialist pushed for the biopsy which had to be a needle biopsy due to location.  Well after the 3rd attempt they were able to get cells to biopsy, which turned out to be cancer.  His lung did collapse and we were warned about that.  He was in the hospital for 2-3 days and did well right away.  He had already decided he would do no further treatments, his choice.  This was in February.  To day he is holding his own, basically the same as in February.  The only treatment offered was chemo but told up front it wouldn't cure only prolong and possibly hasten.  He has no problems with his oxygen levels and his breathing is fine.  Sometimes he gets out of breathe but as soon as he sits down he is fine.  No problems at night either but with him being a laryngectomy, he breathes thru a stoma in his neck which goes directly into his lungs.

    Wishing you the best -- Sharon

    Thank you for the feedback

    Thank you for the feedback. I will call down to UCLA first thing tomorrow morning. If it was just one nodule, I might be willing to take a wait and see stance, or if the pullmonologist repeated the CT scan the end of August (3 months), but with multiple nodules, the largest being non-calcified and so close to my heart, plus the shortness of breath and other symptoms that I've been experiencing, I'm not willing to take the wait and see attitude and hope for the best. I am eligible for early retirement in November, and I would like to be around to enjoy retirement.

    Kathy

     

  • Jody6251
    Jody6251 Member Posts: 2
    #4
    2nd opinion

    Hi, four weeks ago I had a lower left lobectomy.  My doctor here in Connecticut, trained with Dr McKenna at Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles...one of the best.  I loved my surgeon, Dr Mahfoozi. He was kind, compassionate and a great surgeon.  Good luck to you.

     

  • wiga58
    wiga58 Member Posts: 3
    #5
    Jody6251 said:

    2nd opinion

    Hi, four weeks ago I had a lower left lobectomy.  My doctor here in Connecticut, trained with Dr McKenna at Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles...one of the best.  I loved my surgeon, Dr Mahfoozi. He was kind, compassionate and a great surgeon.  Good luck to you.

     

    I got a call from UCLA as I was getting ready to walk out the door to work. I was impressed on how quickly they were able to get in. My appointment is next Monday afternoon. I figured I wouldn't hear from them for a week or two, and was hoping I'd get into see them sometime this month. I was talking to a friend of mine and we are wondering if we are in a cancer belt. She lost her husband a little over a year ago to cancer only a couple of months after he was diagnosed. Everyday we hear of someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, and were are a very small town (11,000).

    Kathy

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