Hey Everyone!
I am really worried I have a pancoast tumor. I am a 26 M, no smoking history and no history of lung cancer in the family however my doctor has sent me for a chest x-ray to rule it out.
I had really bad pain in my shoulder after a run and I then had numbness in my medial forearm which I have had now for 2 weeks. My eye went really red after the run and my eye lid has drooped. My eyelid was extremely bad but it has since improved and is now only slightly noticeable lower than the other one. The pain in my shoulder has since completely gone and I am in no pain whatsoever. The other issues I have is the numbness in my forearm and my eyelid being ever so slightly lower than the other.
I know its unlikely but the fact the Dr sent me for an X-Ray to rule it out has scared the life out of me. My GP just handed me a piece of paper that said "pancoast tumor??", he didn't offer me any re-assurance or explain why he is doing the X-Ray. Which has left me googling for the last 4-5 days and getting extremely anxious about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Reply # - August 23, 2024, 10:06 AM
Hi and welcome to GRACE. I…
Hi and welcome to GRACE. I'm sorry you are worried but I don't understand why a GP would hand you a piece of paper intimating you may have a pancoast tumor. You don't have any symptoms. You may want to search our site for the plethora of discussions on the subject. We get a lot of people worried about these but have never had anyone come back to say they've been diagnosed with one. Oh, except for me. My husband had one in 09 and I was looking for alternative reasons he would have the symptoms. After a CT that showed the tumor and rib destruction and all the constant, truly agonizing pain that goes along with that he was diagnosed and treated.
Something obviously happened during your run. There is all but 0% chance it's caused by a pancoast tumor. Listen to your body if you start having pain maybe see an ortho doc or physical therapy.
All the best,
Janine
I joined GRACE as a caregiver for my husband who had a Pancoast tumor, NSCLC stage III in 2009. He had curative chemo/rads then it was believed he had a recurrence in the spine/oligometastasis that was radiated. He's 10 years out from treatment.