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166039 tn?1256422867

Scared is this lung cancer?

I am 32 y.o. and have a 5 month old baby.  I started having shortness of breathe 2 months after I had him.  I had a bad epidural in the hospital where they gave me too much or just didn't put it in the right spot and I stopped breathing.  Anyway I went to the doc had asthma test done everything came back fine.  Then a month later I started having sharp pains in my chest.  I again went to the doc.  The pain tends to move around down my arms, both sides of my chest, my neck, and sometimes in my back.  I thought it was just stress.  I had a stress test done, came back fine.  I had an echo done and they found that I have mitral valve regurgitation.  She just put me on Toprol XL to help with the regurgitation.  Well the pain in the chest, shortness of breathe and dizziness got really bad so my doc ordered a Chest MRI.  She just called back and told me there the tech saw a small nodule in my left lung, but wants to recheck it with the same test in 4 months.  Could this be lung cancer?  I don't want to wait 4 months. Should I go get a biopsy or have them re-do the test in 2 months?  I am overall pretty healthy.  Never really smoked, but got a lot of second hand smoke as a child from my mom.  I am freaking out and not sure what to do.  Can anyone give me any advice?  Thank you very much!!!
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166039 tn?1256422867
Sorry to bother you again.  I had the surgeon who took out my gallbladder look at my MRI results.  He told me that it was 5 mm non-calcified nodule in my left upper long.  But he said that he didn't think that the nodule nor the mitral regurgitation should be causing all the pain.  Now I am getting pain in my lower rib cage stomach and sometimes in my head along with the chest/back pain and shortness of breath.  What is the difference between non-calcified and calcified? Should I go have more test done or blood work done to determine where all this pain is coming from? Thank you for your time!
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Avatar universal
Hi,
I am actually considering that the nodule is not producing any symptoms. If the advice was simply to monitor with a subsequent scan - the nodule is likely too small to produce any problems. That was why I was wondering if this was determined to be the cause of the problems by your doctor. Of course, the location of the nodule even if it is small will also determine what likely symptoms can occur by its being there. But I think based on the current plan, the nodule is merely under suspicion so a watch and wait approach was given to you. This approach is not new - many patients have helped establish the practice.

Currently you are receiving Toprol - so it seems that the problem was ascribed to your heart. This medication will work by making your heart rate slower, hence, more time for the heart to fill and make it more efficient. Hence, the more worried and anxious you are - the less likely this drug will work as your heart is probably running faster.

If the symptoms don't seem to improve - then I see no harm in getting a new consultation.
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166039 tn?1256422867
Thank you for getting back to me.  I am trying to calm down, but it's hard.  My symptoms come and go, sometimes I even have pain in my stomach, but I think that is partially from worrying.  Mainly I am still really short of breath and chest pain comes and goes.  I am hoping that the Toprol helps with that.

I do have a question for anyone.  If the nodule is not cancerous do you still remain to have symptoms like the chest pain and shortness of breath?
I am thinking of calling my doc and going to a lung specialist right away. I can't stop worrying and making myself sick about this.

Thanks for listening!!!
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Avatar universal
Hi,

Lung cancer is pretty rare for a non-smoker at your age. Try to stay positive.  

The nodule is likely too small to consider getting a biopsy. If it is that size - it is likely not causing you any symptoms as well, but was an incidental finding. Try to find out if this is so - because your initial symptoms may mean some other disease not yet adequately investigated and this should be addressed.  

The initial size of the nodule would dictate how soon the next scan is taken. The usual practice is to do so at 3 months, but this recommendation includes sizes of up to 3 cm (and I don't think it is this size) - so 4 months sounds like a good plan.
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