Hi, l went to my GP 2 weeks ago as l have had a cough for months. He thought perhaps asthma. Had an xray, 2 days later he rang, it showed a slight shadow on lung,he was surprised as l was. A weeks antibiotics haven't stopped the cough. Another x ray in a months time. I am 69, feel well, never smoked, do zumba, dance , walk. Lost my husband to lung cancer 17 months  ago. He was a smoker but not in the house. He went through chemo, radiotherapy, more radiotherapy when it went to his brain, lasted under a year from diagnosis.  I have no wish to go down that road. I am imaging the worse then anything else is a bonus.

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Hi, l went to my GP 2 weeks ago as l have had a cough for months. He thought perhaps asthma. Had an xray, 2 days later he rang, it showed a slight shadow on lung,he was surprised as l was. A weeks antibiotics haven't stopped the cough. Another x ray in a months time. I am 69, feel well, never smoked, do zumba, dance , walk. Lost my husband to lung cancer 17 months  ago. He was a smoker but not in the house. He went through chemo, radiotherapy, more radiotherapy when it went to his brain, lasted under a year from diagnosis.  I have no wish to go down that road. I am imaging the worse then anything else is a bonus.

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Hope we are both clear !

Touch wood. 

My bloods came back with elevated cholestrol and the chest x ray was all clear.

Interestingly, all of the other symptoms which seemed to appear suddenly disappeared. 

I didn't post a follow up (and I probably should have done).  It felt somehow wrong to post that everything was OK when for many here, it is not.

The fingernails continued to bother me a little bit, but I had read that it can be idiopathic for a very significant number of people. I also had some intermittent shoulder discomfort as well as numb fingers during the night.

I'd spoken with GP about shoulder/numbness and she thought it was maybe health anxiety and carpal tunnel. So I managed to move myself on. 

Fast forward to early February  and I coughed up some blood on a Sunday morning (only happened 3 times and was a very small amount - pea sized).

I'd had a molar tooth extracted the previous Wednesday (i.e. 4 days prior) and also had some dried blood in my noise that morning (sorry if TMI).

That said I went through 111 and was advised to go to A& E.

Doctors there were brilliant - really really thorough. I went through ECG's, x-rays and several blood tests.

The conclusion after several hours was that it may have been caused by the tooth extraction, however, my x ray showed a slight prominence on the left hand side hilar area; and so I was referred for an outpatient CT scan.

Had the CT on the Wednesday and spoke to GP soon after who ytold me nothing to worry about, suspected infection and I'll be invited back for another CT in 3 months to make sure its cleared up.  

At end of February, I got an unexpected call from the chest clinic at the hospital saying they wanted to go over my results. Receptionist on phone couldn't tell me why so had another 2 week wait.

2 weeks went by and I spoke to chest consultant.

Turns out the CT showed I have ground glass opacities in both lungs, and two 4mm nodules.

I've to go and have a lung function test  as well as a sleep test, and then a follow up CT in 3 months to see if there is any change.

In the meantime I was told any persistent cough or shortness of breath I need to call them back.

That was beginning of March, and since then I've been a bit up and down really.

I've taken a positive step in that I've organised to talk to someone about health anxiety so I'm hopeful that will help somewhat.

On the other side of things though, I'm finding that I have discomfort in my chest on the left side, particularly when laying down on either side.

The finger numbness is still there, and I seem to have a few "new" symptoms:

1) Either my hands are getting very hot, or my arms/body are cold 

2) I have a strange feeling in my left armpit. Nothing is swollen or sore to the touch, I couldn't even describe it as discomfort - its as if your clothes are a little tight over the area. Move around and it goes away

3) My mouth often feels cold when I breathe in 

I'm thinking of phoning chest clinic tomorrow about these things, particularly the discomfort when laying down. I know the doctor said persistent cough or breathlessness, but surely she would mean any kind of symptom rather than just those 2?

Part of me is worried that it is anxiety related (and in my head) as it seems to have happened before, the other part of me if mindful of the advice to get to these things early if there is anything untoward.

Psychologically I seem to just get random flashbacks on things that happened in my life - all of them with me in a negative light - never any of the good ones.  I'll talk to the anxiety people about that but seem to be having very odd thought patterns.

Apologies this is a long post. I should have replied earlier to the original one as I realise people do want to see outcomes (ideally positive).

I'll try and keep the thread up to date with whatever happens.

I had the follow up CT at 3 - 3.5 months ish.

The ground glass is still there, so unlikely to be an infection.

However the opacities haven't grown in between the two scans so that is a positive.

Am now being line up for a PET scan in the next fortnight - see if anything lights up I guess.

They don't seem to be rushing about this (which I hope is a good sign!), 

In terms of any symptoms for myself, difficult to say:

i) No real cough to speak of, a bit of throat clearing from time to time.

ii) Left shoulder sometimes gets a twinge - strangely I often feel the need to burp shortly after - I do have a hiatal hernia so whether that is related. Interestingly the respiratory consultant thinks it more likely to get symptoms on my right as right lung is worse.

iii) No shortness of breath under normal activities.

iv) I did find some old photographs of me where I can see my fingernails - to be honest I think they may have always been that way. Not sure I mentioned but my mother died of pulmonmary fibrosis and had badly clubbed fingers - I think that's what triggered my thinking on it.

Anyway, should have an update in few weeks. In the meantime I am trying to get myself in shape, eat well and all that stuff. It's a good thing to do anyway.

Peace to all,

D

How was everything with you? 
 

lou

Hi Lou,

Not a definitive update I'm afraid.

The PET scan went ahead, and there is takeup in the right lung, but the SUV is 2.6. My understanding that is just on the wrong side of borderline, but borderline none the less.

Unfortunately as it's not a "mass" as such, its ground glass without any solid component, the surgeon doesn't believe they can get a reliable biopsy.

The only way they could get the margins on surgery is to take the lobe out which given it doesn't seem to be growing means it could be a loss of tissue I need at some point.

So back for a CT in 3 months to see if any further change.

Symptom wise - no cough, no breathlessness - I get occasional pains in back and shoulders but its on both sides and is discomfort rather than pain.

CT will  be  end Oct so will post update when I find anything out.

Peace to all,

D

There's no indication of growth of the ground glass opacity,  

I wish you all the best for the next scan xx

So the October scan didn't happen as I caught covid. Nothing significant, but CT was put off till early 2022.

Caught up with respiratory consultant in Jan, and given I had no respiratory symptoms, agreed to do CT in May.

Meanwhile I have had a few odd things going on:

1) Raised liver enzyme - part of going onto statins means GP wants to monitor my liver function. The AST enzyme had been consistently climing for 6 months (not off the scale - 60 I think) so I was referrred for MRI. Only thing of note is they found a small hemangioma in my liver (benign tumour). Told to go on a low sugar diet as my blood results had me almost pre-diabetic.

2) Frothy urine (TMI, sorry!) for the last 6 (maybe?) months . I've had it checked by GP and as there is no protein in it he's not worried.

3) In a similar timeframe  as the urine, my left eye has been really gunked up in the morning and I have a strange sensation around my eyebrow/eyelid - feels like a light tickle. 

At first I thought it might be Horners or something, but the eyelid isn't drooping. GP suggested bathing the eye nightly which I've done, but the sensation is still there. Bit of searching around and I'm pretty sure the eye has sunk back into the socket (enopthalmos I think is medical term). 

4) Last 6 weeks or so I have been getting intermittent back pain, where I believe the opacity is in my right lung - around the 10th rib. I did ask the respiratory consultant whether I should have the CT sooner, but he said not to. I *think* the pain is getting more frequent, but couldn;'t 100% say.

So, scan is next week and we'll see what's what then.

I seem to be going through a whole new round of anxiety with this - permanent mind fog etc. I'm even thinking of asking if I can have some unpaid leave from work.

Not quite sure why I've typed all these details in, hopefully may help if someone else has similar symptoms.

So...still here and still don't know.