Hi everyone.

itsme79 · New User Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 3

Hi everybody, I Hi I am a 29 year old female, healthy weight and never smoked. In April I noticed a rattle in my chest and my cough (which has been around for years) changed, after an xray I was diagnosed with mild pneumonic consoldiation in the mid and lower left lung. The pneumonia was very mild, I continued about my busines as per usual and had no fever, just a cough and rattle. After oral antibiotics, a follow up xray in June concluded there 'may be a subtle amount residual opacification at lower left zone, another dose of antibiotics and an xray in August was clear. I had a spirometry test done recently which was normal and ruled out athsma, Question is I still have a rattle at the base of left lung when I breathe deeply, especially when lying down and I still cough and produce clear sputum. I have a appointment with a specialist in a couple of weeks and after doing some research on my symptoms alot of paths came to lung cancer which led me here.

brainman · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:20 am Post subject: Re: Hi everyone.

Hi itsme79. I am so sorry for all the health issues you have been having. It does not sound like cancer but it could be. Don't be overly concerned but continue to work with your own medical team to try to identify the cause of the rattling in your chest. It could be a number of things: some chronic and some acute but only a doctor can tell you for sure. Keep us informed.

You are in my thoughts and prayers.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendroglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1386

Hello,

Welcome. I have to echo what Jim (Brainman) has said. Stay on top of this issue -- now and in the future. I've found that once you have pneumonia or some lung issue, that will always be a "weak" area for you. Two of my kids had pneumonia and whatever upper respiratory thing is going around sinks right into their chests. As long as the sputum is clear, there is no indication of infection. Green/yellow is not what you want to see.

Not to scare, but to inform, up to 20% of new lung cancer diagnosis are for people who have never smoked. You are now very aware of your lungs, so that is a good thing. Keep up with the doc visits.

Good luck and keep us posted.

PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

itsme79 · New User Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 3

Thanks. As calm as that first post sounded I am absolutely terrified! No doctor has mentioned cancer but I am painfully aware of the statistics of non smokers diagnosed with lung cancer and have have read a couple of stories about lung cancer diagnoses that followed a lung rattle.

dano · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:07 am Post subject: Re: Hi everyone.

Well who's to say about lung rattle, I had a cough, no lung rattle. I never smoked, but I have advanced NSCLC. It took a lot time pushing and waiting on doctors to get the answers.
Hope you get your answers.
God Bless
Dan
_________________
54 year old male in Hawaii
Diagnosed Nov. 9,2007 with NSCLC IV
with Mets to the lymphs and brain
Had full brain radiation treatment in Jan 08
Currently on chemo treatments every 3 weeks
with Alimta
and taking Lovenox for blood clots
Now back to work full time
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=9993

itsme79 · New User Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 3

Such stories I have read since finding this forum, I am both heartbroken yet incredibly inspired! I was wondering if anyone knew whether a lung cancer large/advanced enough to cause symptoms of pneumonia and cough would likely show up on an xray?

dano · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:28 am Post subject: Re: Hi everyone.

Thats the deal, they show up but they don't. The Doctors don't really go at it with a truly open mind, they listen to your history and look at your medical stats then try to prove what they believe.
Before all this changed for me I had a spot show up in an xray so some blood work and wala, nothing new. Lets try a CT scan, more of the same. Then a needle biopsy, and later another CT scan, the result, Nada. A year latter I get a cough that doesn't stop with all the meds they could think of. And before I was done I had three doctors tell me that it wasn't cancer. An xray, a CT scan and a bronchoscopy latter, it's oh guess what , you do have cancer. I thought they knew it wasn't cancer because there was no trace of it in my blood. Turns out that as a nonsmoker and an electrician they all guessed it was something else, and in part they may be right, I likely do have something else growing in my lungs, I'm finding out that my family has a history of lung ailments. True answer is, with out a biopsy they can't read the scans. Even after a couple of months they found a clot in my leg, and thought some more and I'm back at a CT scan again and found I had clots in my lungs, my thought was oh, they couldn't see that in the other scans, and all the other scan were the same and now they can see it? Geez. I got put on blood thinners and my coughing went away. So when in doubt, get a biopsy.
Dan
_________________
54 year old male in Hawaii
Diagnosed Nov. 9,2007 with NSCLC IV
with Mets to the lymphs and brain
Had full brain radiation treatment in Jan 08
Currently on chemo treatments every 3 weeks
with Alimta
and taking Lovenox for blood clots
Now back to work full time
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=9993

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1386

...and conversely, I wheeze, rattle, and cough all the time, but all I show is infiltrates in my chest x-rays. Whatever that means. I am a smoker and do push for x-rays whenever I'm at the doc. My husband wasn't a smoker, but his x-rays showed serious problems that required a follow-up and led us down the lung cancer road.

It really depends on the location of the tumor/tumors as to whether it kicks off coughing spells. My husband was loaded with cancer in both lungs and he passed a stress test a month before he started coughing up bloody sputum. He had a light tickle cough for several months prior to that and no other symptoms. No rules apply, so it's always hard to say and each person has such varied experiences.

Dano's right -- they tend to overlook the obvious and my husband was pretty ripped that his company stopped giving yearly chest x-rays after he had quit smoking. Twenty+ years later, he had the lung cancer. They know that it strikes decades down the road after a person quits, but we had the usual "give him an antibiotic" when he started coughing up bloody sputum. Given that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer, you'd think the doctors would be more vigilant and be aggressive about checking, but they are not. The issue of CT scans given routinely for people who are at heightened risk is a huge issue of controversy in the lc community too. Until they come up with better ways of screening, like mammograms for breast cancer, we are at the mercy of doctor's who may or may not go down those roads for screening.

I hope this made sense. I'm sick and rambling. Shocked

PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

dano · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:03 am Post subject: Re: Hi everyone.

LOL PBJ you are so right

When it comes to Cancer........No Rules Apply!

Sure makes it hard to diagnose.

Dan
_________________
54 year old male in Hawaii
Diagnosed Nov. 9,2007 with NSCLC IV
with Mets to the lymphs and brain
Had full brain radiation treatment in Jan 08
Currently on chemo treatments every 3 weeks
with Alimta
and taking Lovenox for blood clots
Now back to work full time
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=9993

UneasyRider · Regular Joined: 21 Aug 2008 Posts: 20

Hi itsme79. At your age and as a non-smoker, it's unlikely that it's lung cancer, but you are wise to get it checked thoroughly. The VA has a policy to do a chest x-ray before any surgery, and an x-ray before minor surgery is what found my cancer at an early stage.

Good luck, and be sure to let us know what you find out.
_________________
57 year old male in Texas diagnosed with Stage II NSCLC
Upper left lobectomy on December 20, 2007, then 3 rounds of adjuvant chemotherapy
July 2008 CT scan - NED
December 2008 CT scan - NED
My story is in this thread: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=39609#39609

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