I had a follow-up meeting with my surgeon. He provided me with a lab report that showed that the nodules did not contain a fungs as they expected, but rather appeared to contain something like talc. I asked him if I could have gotten it from spackling and sanding walls while preparing them for painting. I did a bit of that over the past year, but used a mask most of the time. I may not have done so for all minor touch-ups though, but certainly tried to refrain from breathing when I sanded. He said that he didn't think that was it. He said they were still running some fungal cultures and wouldn't know the results from those for another 4 weeks or so, but he thought talc was the problem and there was nothing else to do but monitor my lungs with X-rays during my annual physicals. I hope it is that simple!
A few days later I looked at the ingredients of spackling online and one of the ingredients is talc! I'll schedule a follow-up meeting with my pulmonologist after the cultures are done and take in the spackling I used. I'll ask him his thoughts on the spackling/nodule connection. My exposure to the stuff has been fairly limited. If that is what is causing this I can't imagine what the lungs of people who work with this stuff day in and day out look like?!!
I hope everything works out for you. Based upon my limited research it seems that the Mayo in MN is pretty good. Hopefully you are in good hands.
Matt
Hi Matt how did you come out on the doctor visit
I went through 2 years of CT scans and nothing changed. At that point I was told to do annual chest X-Rays to look for any change. After 6 years or so suddenly there were more of the nodules. I'm not sure if mine grew bigger or simply spread to new areas. I'll see if I can find out when I visit my surgeon again next Wednesday. Good luck with everything.
Matt
Hi i hope everything goes great i would like to hear how it goes i posted a simalar post i have several uncalcified nodules in both lungs one 8mm and several small nodules been ct scanning for two years at the mayo in minnesota the last ct two weeks ago showed no growth on all nodules except now a new one showed up my doctor thinks there histoplasmosis found frequently around this area he wants to scan again in 6 months did your orginal ones stay the same size and then new ones showed up. Joey
I went ahead with the surgery and got the largest nodule and a row of 3 other nodules removed yesterday and they sent me home the today. A quick in and out. I'm still on some pain medicine but otherwise doing fine. They say I should know what the nodules are in 4-5 days and they are running cultures that will take 4-6 weeks to cultivate (don't know if that is the right word). I'll let you know what happens. I thought that at some point I would've heard from a doctor or RN here, but I don't know how what their turnaround time is and I didn't have a lot of time to spare. Once my doctor comes up with a proposed course of action, I'll try to see what people here say.
Thanks for your responses. Not only mine, but your responses to others as well. You seem pretty knowledgable.
Matt
I'm unsure about the types of testing that was done. I know that all tests came back negative. I know that some of them required cultures that I'm thinking took a while to grow. Other than that I can't tell you anything much. I'm out of town and don't have all my paperwork that might tell me more. I'm going back tomorrow morning though. Maybe there will be some info there regarding what was done.
Right now I'm pretty much moving forward with the surgery I guess. It is scheduled for Tuesday morning. I saw another posting here by whatever doctor/RN answers these things and they seemed to be telling somebody in a similiar circumstance that surgery was the right move. I'm guessing the same applies here.
The surgery is going to be one incision where a camera with a light will be inserted. Two others will be for utensils that I think will be used like chopsticks to cut out a small pizza wedge that contains the nodule. I'm not looking forward to it, but if it will help figure out what's going on then maybe it is the right move. I've had two doctors in different practices say the same thing. I'm just wondering though if the experts at the Jewish center in Denver would have other thoughts on the subject.
Matt
Hi Matt, your apprehension for the surgical removal of a nodule for diagnostic purpose is very understandable. Just let me know, if during broncoscopy, bronchial lavage was done or not? Also, if lavage was done, was it sent for fungal culture?
Apparently not enough information could be received from the bronchoscopy to determine what is causing the nodules. Both pulmonologists in different practices and totally unconnected to one another agreed that the only way to know how to treat the problem is to get one of the nodules out and a needle biopsy was not an option. So you are right, the surgery is for diagnostic purposes only. Not fun to think about. But apparently the anti-fungal agents can have significant side effects or be otherwise problematic and to treat with the wrong one could be a bad thing.
Matt
Is the biopsy going to change your treatment at all? I think I would get yet another opinion from a different group of pulmos. It is an invasive procedure and you don't want to be just an academic exercise. It sounds like they just want to narrow down the exact type of fungus, and that's all.