Macu - purulent / blood stained sputum 3 years

Hi ,

I am 73, female , never smoked  . I have been having purulent blood stained sputum for about 3 years now- not often , on and off . I have a bit of a cough maybe when I lie down , not much , it doesn't bother me, just on and off now and again and sometimes feel a mild wheezeyness but nobody can hear it ( I felt that way for about 10

yeara now )

I have been to my gp a few times with This problem , I've had about 5 chest X-rays (all fine ) and 2 CT thorax's - again fine. I do have some atelectasis all the time. (I have a hernia causing this ) 
i just don't know what's going on, I feel fine besides these symptoms 

I have a cold at the moment and I am hoarse last few days. I got my gp to refer me to a respiratory specialist who is going to do a bronchoscopy and another ct scan. I'm very worried now and afraid. 

  • Hello Worry455 and a warm welcome to Cancer Chat, 

    It sounds like your GP has been thorough and ordered all these X-rays and CT scans so it seems like you are in good hands even though they haven't yet managed to determine what is causing these symptoms. 

    I hope that the bronchoscopy and this new CT scan will shed some light on what is going on. It's normal to be worried and afraid as you are waiting to find out more. I know it is really hard but try not to worry too much or anticipate what it might be. The best thing to do to avoid thinking too much about this is to keep busy and distracted if you can and avoid looking things up online. I can imagine it is hard for you to do this at the moment but it will help you feel a little less anxious. 

    I hope you will also hear from others here who have been through all this before and that they will be along soon to share their story with you. 

    Keeping everything crossed for you that everything turns out fine. 

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator