I had surgery 10/7/11 to remove upper lobe for cancer. Cancer free for 1 year. After surgery, wheezing, the Dr put me on Spireva. No problems with that. Then I developed a cough- not constant just enough to know it was there. In May of this year, the cough got a lot worse along with congestion ( only in upper chest right below the throat) nothing comes up when I try to cough ,breathing started to get worse. Took xrays and they came out negative. I didn't improve and in October I ended up in the hospital for 4 days. oxegyn level was in the 80.s Ct scan, more xrays, blood work. No one could figure out what was wrong.
Went home with oxegyn. Was put on antibiotics, advair, inhalers. Nothing helped. This past week, again back at the Pulmonary dr for more xrays-negative. He is almost as frustrated as I am.
He has no idea what is going on and is stumped as to what to do next. They have eliminated everything they know. No COPD.
I need an idea of where to go next with this. My dr is OK with my getting another opinion ( he actually suggested it)
Any exertion at all and I'm out of breath.
Thank you for your time
Kathy
Issues after surgery - 1251085
kathyms
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Reply # - December 8, 2012, 11:08 AM
Reply To: Issues after surgery
Hi Kathy,
How awful to have such distressing problems but so unable to find what it is or how to solve the issues. I think your pulmonologist's idea of a second opinion is a good one. He is out of ideas. I wonder though if he had any suggestions of who you might see. I wonder is a pulmonologist with a specialty in lung cancer would be a good choice for you to see. Or perhaps your surgeon has thoughts on the subject. After all he or she is the one who has the most info on what's going on inside.
These are 2 blog/posts on the subjects of dyspnea and cough that may help shed light on what you're up against. After you read them you may have a specific question that I can post to one of our doctors.
http://cancergrace.org/cancer-treatments/2012/02/17/dyspnea/
http://cancergrace.org/cancer-treatments/2009/05/09/managing-cough/
I hope you are able to find a fix for this problem. At any rate I hope you will keep us posted on what happens next.
Janine
forum moderator
Reply # - December 8, 2012, 08:53 PM
Reply To: Issues after surgery
Because we're really cancer specialists, we could perhaps add more insight about how to manage a cancer issue, but I'm afraid we can't offer any additional ideas beyond what the medical team that is directly involved can provide. I'm just glad to hear that it hasn't proven to be recurrent cancer.
Good luck with getting more answers. I completely agree that a second opinion is a strong idea here.
-Dr. West