Suspition of ovca Stage III- Pnemonia 6 weeks

[LILLIAN577]

How can they tell if theres lung involvement. Here we are ready for hysterectomy and removal of her ascites fluid and now they stop us again. they are sending her to a Pulmonologist to check for Cancer in her lung, because the "pnemonia" that they say she has is not clearing up. What is going on? How do they check for that. Fluid from the lung? Painful?

[VANative]

As the previous posts said, Doctors really want to let the chemo reduce the ascites both in the lung and abdomen. They definitely prefer that to tapping the fluid off. Moms doctors have always said it usually takes  2 rounds of chemo to start to reduce it. To answer your other question, after diagnosis, My mom had chemo to reduce the fluid and then had surgery. The chemo definitely helped reduce the ascites.  Best wishes for your dr visit tomorrow.

[pattie1218]

I agree with Crecco, the chemo can help reduce that. My mom is 75 with stage 3c and her lungs sound really good now, even after 2 treatments. the oncologist thinks the fluid is diminished from her lungs! The chemo also reduce the fluid in her abdomen tremendously after 2 rounds!  I hope and pray for her that everything goes ok:)

[crecco]

Lillian,
   I just found out last week that I have fluid in my lungs, ascities from the abdomen. Chemo will a lot of times help to reduce it. When fluid was first found in my abdomen, it was reduced with chemo and did not have to be drained. I thnk this is what my onc is hoping for again. The fluid showed up on a recent CT scan that I had.
   Chris

[LILLIAN577]

Interesting... My mom sees pulmonologist on Tues. Did your mom have the surgery, Chemo, how did she do. My mom is 74 im worried sick of whats ahead of us. How bad is the surgury, chemo?

[pattie1218]

Hi:) my mom had similar problem in her lung lining also, and the oncol told us it could be pnuemonia or the cancer fluid. They said that if the fluid built up more, or caused labored breathing, then they would have to remove the fluid, which was a Thoracentesis procedure, where they drain the fluid and test it as Van had said.  Luckily Mom did not have to have that done, and thankfully the chemo treatment helped reduce the fluid in her lungs and she is doing alot better. It is scary, yes, but there is help for it, good luck and best wishes to you and your Mom...take care~ patti

[VANative]

Hi Lillian577, my mom saw a pulmonologist when she had ascites in her lung lining. They too, thought she had pneuomonia, prior to finding the ascites in her abdomen and her elevated CA-125.  It ended up that it wasnt pneuomonia, but the fluid from the ascites. I cant say that your Moms situation is the same, but I can at least tell you what they did for my mom.  The pulmonologist performed xrays and examined her to see how much fluid was in the lung.  They ended up draining the fluid.  It wasnt very painful for my Mom, and she felt much, much better a day or 2 after.  She has had this done multiple times and its amazing how much better she feels. The fluid in the lung resulted in her being very tired, her coloring was bad, and she had a hard time eating.  They did test the fluid and did find cancer cells, which they expected since it was the same fluid from the ascites in the abdomen.  The fluid can build back up but chemo reduces it over time.
I feel for you and your mom, I know this is scary and I hope you are able to get some answers very soon. Hang in there. Janice