Lung tumor in 26 year old

[Sunny210]

I am 26 years old and have just been diagnosed with a tumor in my left lung.  I believe it is in the bronchus.  It is 3x2 cm.  I had a bronchoscopy but will not get the results of the biopsy until a week from tomorrow.  I am of course thinking the worst because there is such a lack of information that I am finding.  I know the tumor is large, however, like I said, I am only 26 and I have never smoked.  I have always gotten bronchitis frequently (since about 2nd or 3rd grade) and just had my first bout of pneumonia in June.  When the pneumonia cleared up I felt fine for about a month and then developed a respiratory infection with cough that hasn't cleared up too easily.  I was told that no matter what it is the tumor will need to be removed because it is blocking my left lung, which would account for the cough and wheeze I have developed.  What are the chances that it is cancerous or benign?  I have sjogren's syndrome as well but my doctor said the tumor is most likely not related to that.  Please help if you can.  I am very scared.

[National Jewish]

Your doctor is right in saying that if this is a tumor, it is in all likelihood not associated with the Sjogren's syndrome.  Rarely is a tumor associated with Sjogren's.  At your age the odds are high that this is not cancerous.

There is no sure way to know, but this tumor may have been present for some time and contributed to your recurrent bronchitis and pneumonia.  Your doctors are also right in saying that, even if benign, it must be removed.  If it were no removed mechanical blockage would surely result in recurrent infection and possibly the loss of function of that portion of your lung served by the obstructed bronchus.  It is also almost certainly responsible for your cough and wheeze.

Sounds like you have gotten good care and good advice.  If surgery must be done, be sure to have it done by an experienced chest surgeon, one who has seen a lot of lung tumors.

Good luck.  The odds of a complete recovery are good.

[Sunny210]

Also, my right lung was totally clear and the rest of my left lung was as well.  The lymph nodes shown on the CT scan that I had done first were not enlarged and there was no pleural effusion.  I have no idea what that all means but thought it might be important.  Noone in my family has smoked around me regularly so secondhand smoke isn't a problem.

[Jane2]

HI Sunny

I am no medic but I understand the fear you are going through.
Firstly I find it difficult to believe that you have to wait so  long for a bronchoscope diagnosis, secondly the size doesn't seem so huge to me, but then again I'm no medic, I had a tumor on my lung 4 years ago, it was fingernail sized so smaller than yours, they couldn't diagnose from bronchoscope so I had to have a needle biopsy. They never called it a tumor by the way, the doctor called it a shadow, or a scar, so eventhough i was scared senseless, I can only imagine the fear you are feeling right now!

Who told you the tumor will have to be removed? Without results from the biopsy this shouldn't be so.   This could be a scar from you pneumonia and taking your history of sjogren's syndrome and age into account have they looked into Sarcoidosis ( also a systematic disorder) which cause granulomas.

Nobody can put your mind at rest, I know that, but there are a myriad of things that this could be , so hassle your doctors for results and look for second opinons. We all think the worst, but you need to be kept in the picture by your health professionals, so talk to your GP and tell them your fears, hopefully they can rush the diagnosis through.

Take Care
Jane

[Sunny210]

Thanks for your response Jane,
The pulmonologist who did the bronchoscopy said that because of where the tumor is located it is blocking my breathing enough that it will need to come out.  I've been having a lot of wheezing/breathing problems over the last few weeks.  TO be honest I think there's infection that has been trapped by it because I wasn't having all of these symptoms regularly before I got sick again.  Even with the pneumonia over the Summer it wasn't so hard to breathe.  It all seems very odd to me to suddenly have all of this going on.  I've also had 4 chest X-rays since June (due to the pneumonia which first showed the pneumonia, then showed it had shrunk, then showed it was gone...and most recently I had one at the end of August when I got sick again and was told it was totally clear).  They were all read by different radiologists (I have the reports) and none noted any mass on the X-rays.  I was sent for the CT scan at the beginning of Sept. just to check since I've been sick so much.  Since the mass or tumor or whatever apparently isn't on my X-rays there's no way to judge how long it's been there.  I keep wondering if I've been growing this thing since I was little since I do have such a history of respiratory problems or is it possible that it's totally seperate from all of that which seems like a strange coincidence.  I'm putting in a call today to see when they'll have the results and to see if I can go in to get them ASAP.  It's very difficult to wait since I really don't know anything.  You look up "lung mass" or anything like that online and all that comes up are references to lung cancer.  It's very scary but I keep hoping that this time it will be good news for a change.  Oh, the pulmonologist said she didn't think it was related to my Sjogren's but I'm not convinced of that either.  I am definitely planning to get a second opinon as soon as the results are in and my family is suggesting that we find someone to go through all of my records to determine what is ultimately causing all of the strange medical afflictions I've had.  If it's out there and it's bizarre I seem to get it.  I even had measles 2 years ago!  Anyway,hopefully I will get some definitive answers, I just wish there was more out ther of possibilites that AREN'T cancer.

[Sunny210]

Latest update:  Results are in and I have to be there at 9:00 tomorrow to get them.  Keeping my fingers crossed but scared to death :(

[Jane2]

Sunny how did you get on? my fimgers are crossed for you too.

J

[Sunny210]

Well they haven't cleared me 100% yet but said the preliminary results show that the tumor is benign.  I'm being sent for a PET scan tomorrow just to cover the bases I guess.  The pulonologist said they won't have all of the answers for me until they get the tumor out and do a full biopsy on it.  I have a meeting next Monday with the surgeon and his office said that due to my age they should be able to get me in fairly soon after that.  Oh, the results also showed that i still have pneumonia and the doctor said it won't clear up until after they gt the tumor out because it's causing so much blockage.  I'm on antibiotics (again) which is helping with my cough but I'm still very short of breath all of the time.  I will be very thankful when this is all over.  They don't feel that they'll be able to get the tumor out through a bronchoscope so it seems that I'm looking at a fairly involved surgery :(  I'm feeling much less stressed since the first samples came back negative for cancer cells though.  What a nightmare this has been!

[Jane2]

It's really good news that the tumor is benign Sunny, I wish you well with the procedure and hope it won't be too invasive. Just take your time to recover afterwards and get plenty of TLC.

All the best
J