Have had Persistent cough for 2.5 months and was just diagnosed with a 6mm lung nodule

[DrinkAllTheCoffee]

Hi everyone, new here. I am a 30 year old non smoking female. At About end of September I began a cough which I chalked up a common cold, as time progressed it did not seem to get better and I was having other symptoms such as chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath. Went to the doctor 6-7 times in the past 2 months trying different medications, antibiotics, steroids, inhalers, reflux and allergy medicines, all of which have not made a difference. This past Friday I was having some shortness of breath and ended up at the ER wheee they finally did a CT scan, scan showed a 6mm ovoid nodule in left apex of lung (also a 1.2cm lesion in liver). I have an appointment for a pulmonary doctor this week, but I am terriffed that the nodule is something mkre because of the Chronic cough and other symptoms pointing to lung cancer. From whah I have read a 6mm nodule should not really be the cause of the symptoms. Has anyone had similar situation where the cough did not turn out to be related to the nodule? Or the opposite wheee it did end up being an early onset symptom of lung f cancer with a small nodule? The cough is consistent Day or njght, hoarseness and throat clearing are constant, does produce mucus. Thank you to anyone taking the taking the time to read this!!!!

 

[Susan Cornett]

Good morning.  My trip down the lung cancer road started with a persistent cough that didn't improve.  Initially, the pulmonologist thought it was my asthma getting worse.  Then late last summer and early fall, I had an upper respiratory infection that I just couldn't shake - cough, hoarseness, wheezing, fatigue, etc.  Finally in early December, I coughed up blood which took me to ER.  They found a mass in my left lung and my pulmonologist performed a bronchoscopy and said it wasn't cancer.  When it didn't go away (duh!), surgeon removed my left upper lobe and I was diagnosed with late stage cancer.  It was later discovered that I had mets to my thyroid.  

I'm sorry that you're in this position and hope and pray that yours is not cancer.  But let me give you this advice: ask questions and fight for answers until you get all the answers.  Don't let a doctor tell you that whatever it is, it can wait.  If there is something there, it should be biopsied.  Some physicians still proceed as though we can't be candidates for lung cancer because we're too young, or we don't smoke, or we don't fit other risk factors typically associated with lung cancer.  Truth is this - if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer.  Please keep us posted on your next steps and results.

[DrinkAllTheCoffee]

Thank you for your response! I am very sorry to hear of your situation and I do hope you are doing well! You're right, I will  make sure to be as proactive with testing and answers when I do go in, thank you for the advice and prayers towards your recovery/remisssion! 

[Tom Galli]

Susan offers excellent advice.  You may need to be persistant to drive to a diagnosis, especially given your history as a non-smoker.  But and unfortunately, 15 to 18-percent of us are diagnosed as nonsmokers.

I was a smoker and my symptom was coughing up blood.  So I didn't go through the long line of things your doctor thought you had.  You may not have cancer.  A biopsy, as Susan suggests, is what I'd press for.

About the liver lesion, this may or may not be related to the discovered lung nodule.  I recall reading my radiologist scan report shortly before admittance for my pneumonectomy and discovering to my horror that the report had two paragraphs of information on hypo-dense and other types of discovered liver lesions.  I fired off a quick email question to my oncologist and his answer was he was aware of these lesions but in the course of my scan history, there was no change in appearance therefore he concluded they were not cancer.  Hopefully, this outcome applies to you.

Welcome here.  I hope for a prompt resolution of your situation.

Stay the course.

Tom

[DrinkAllTheCoffee]

Thank you Tom for your feedback and advice! Appreciate it! And Glad to hear your lesion were not cancerous!