URGENT. Any radiologists/oncology people here?

[Dichotomouse]

Sorry. Posting here for traffic.

My husband has had a CT which which has found a 'mass like consolidation 4.5 x 3.5 x 4.2cms' in the lower lobe of his left lung, adjacent to the diaphragm.

Is this definitely cancer? We are on the two week wait but I am absolutely beside myself. He's only 42 and we have a 2.5 year old DS and an almost 6 year old DD.

I thought we'd grow old together.

I'm neither but a quick google shows, "Lung consolidation is when the air in the small airways of the lungs is replaced with a fluid, solid, or other material such as pus, blood, water, stomach contents, or cells. It can be caused by conditions like aspiration, pneumonia, and lung cancer"

So it could be cancer but it could be a lot of other things.

Whatever it is, it is there, that will not change. What will change is that you will find out what it is and your DH can start appropriate treatment.

Sorry you are worried, I wish I could take that away.

I'm neither of these things but they'll probably do a scope into the lung to see exactly what it is and take a biopsy. This is what they did for my mother when they seen a mass on her ct.

I hope your Mum turned out to be okay ❤️.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Try and stay calm and wait for the professionals to tell you what's what.

I've spend waaaay too much time on Google and it's absolutely terrifying.

You're absolutely right of course, and in my day to day life I'm managing to hold things together reasonably well, but when I get time alone all the thoughts flood in and I just feel despair.

Thank you for your kinds words. They mean a lot.

Hi, I'm not a doctor, I just wanted to share my experience.
My CT revealed a solid mass in my upper lobe, slightly larger than the dimensions you've described (it was discovered completely by chance, I had no other symptoms). Doctors were convinced it's a lymphoma (my surgical consultant said he's 99% sure!). Went for a biopsy and when I came out of surgery they told me it turned out to be a very rare case of pulmonary sequestration and that they had removed a fist sized chunk out of my lung! I'm now left with a 1 inch scar and a story to tell of how my God works in miraculous ways! I'm absolutely fine now.

All the best to you and your husband, I hope you have a miracle too :)

No, it is not definitely cancer. Consolidation would most commonly be caused by an infective process, but it’s a radiological diagnosis and you will need a tissue diagnosis which is what will happen on the 2WW pathway. Were there any other findings on the scan? There may be other signs that suggest one diagnosis over another.

How has your DH been recently? Why did he have the CT scan. I hope the next two weeks go quickly for you - the waiting is hard and it’s impossible not to worry when you don’t know what’s wrong.

Stop googling. No good will come from it, other than increasing your anxiety and sending you down rabbit holes.

Step away from the internet full stop and wait to hear from your consultant/MDT - they are the only source you should be taking information from at this juncture.

I wish you and your husband well.

Get off google. Wait for the experts to tell you what's going on. It could be a lot of things.

This has filled me with hope! Thank you so much for sharing your story. My DH is only 42 and I just can't believe it could be some as serious as cancer.

I'll post an image of the report. He has emphysema in his right lung from a past smoking habit but I'm not sure what terminology in the results is describing this.

Long story short(ish), we went away to Hungary last month (DH is Hungarian) but a few weeks before we left he had a really bad infection which he went to a&e twice for because the fever went but then returned. He ended up on oral antibiotics which slowly seemed to clear it up. He's had a residual cough ever since though, although it has improved a lot.

In Hungary they give all adults an annual chest x-ray and so he had that done. The day after we got back to the UK they sent a letter saying they'd noticed a change since his last one 6 years ago, so we decided to scrape together some money to book a private CT scan.

I have recently recovered from Pneumonia and also freaked out being told I had 'a mass like consolidation' in my lung. Turns out it was just pus/infection.

Fingers crossed for you all.

I'm an oncologist and no way can I or anyone else advise based on what you have written.
I'm really sorry, but you are going to have to wait for the outcome of the respiratory appt and any biopsies they will do.
I will say that caught in the early stage, lung cancer is treatable.

Do step away from Google and here too. No good will come from you scaring yourself with information about lung cancer.

Thank you so much. It's been about 3 months since he had a really bad infection which I now suspect was pneumonia. I don't know if pneumonia can persist for that long though?

I have cancer myself OP & all I would say is that even if it is cancer, treatment has come on a huge way in recent years. It’s no longer the death sentence it once was even at stage 4. But try to stop googling, honestly no good will come from it.

My mom years ago was a very heavy smoker. They found a mass on her lung and it was benign. Praying your husband is ok and stay off Google, you will drive yourself crazy.

Do not Google any more. I repeat, do not Google. You will get yourself even more anxious. I speak as someone who was diagnosed with cancer in another part of my body, but an upper body X-ray found what was called a 'suspicious lesion' in one of my bones. Of course I googled and convinced myself that my cancer had spread. Eventually I had a CT scan and my suspicious lesion turned out to be something totally benign.

It's there. The medics will get to the bottom of it and hopefully it will either be nothing to worry about, or, if it is, they will treat it. I hope you and your DH don't have long to wait for answers. The waiting is the hardest part.

PS, Do not Google.

I'm not either of those but I am a cancer patient in my thirties.

When I was first diagnosed with cancer, I was sent for a CT scan to find out the extent of the spread. During the scan they find two tumours on my liver. I was obviously convinced that I had stage 4 cancer as I already knew that I had an aggressive cancer and the CT scan found tumours. They weren't cancer. They were two different but benign tumors which happened to be growing on my liver at the same time that I had cancer.

I know that doesn't give you any information specific but it has taught me not to always jump to the worst conclusion, even when it seems that it must be true.

I hope he's ok.

Fair enough. I'm just spinning my wheels. He's so young, and we have 2.5 year old and an almost 6 year old. I just can't believe this is happening.

I'm so sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis, but I'm happy to hear the liver lesions were benign.

I'm hoping for the best case scenario but I'm just self soothing I suppose by overwhelming my brain with info.

Thank you so much. I'm relatively normal in my day to day life, but when I'm alone I sink into all these thoughts and Googling.

It's ok, I've been there with the spiralling and googling. It's incredibly hard not to, no matter what anybody else says to you. I think it is probably a very normal reaction - certainly one that all of the people in my cancer support group had.

But there are quite a few of us speaking from experience here. It really doesn't do any good. I did so much googling trying to find anything which would tell me that I definitely wouldn't die. I learned how to resist the urge in the end and I was a lot calmer for it. It didn't change the reality of being ill but it did mean that I wasn't suffering with such extreme anxiety on top of that.

It helped me to only think in small chunks of time and distract myself if possible if I started to look too far into the future. And I would repeat any positive things which had given me hope out loud which probably sounded crazy but I found soothing and reassuring. I also downloaded the balance app, which is free for the first year, and has meditations and breathing exercises. It forced me to calm down by slowing my heart rate. Not sure if any of those would be helpful to you but could be worth a try.

My dad did have lung cancer after something similar. Early 50s in 2005. He had an op and follow up chemo. Had the all clear for well over a decade now. He is still here today. Walked his daughters down the aisle and spends time with his grandkids.

If caught, lung cancer is very treatable. Hoping it is not cancer, but have hope even if it is.

Excellent advice from @Sirprised.

I can’t help but I understand the worry you must be going through and it’s only natural. Try to remember that its probably not going to be the worst possible outcome, hopefully they can tell you more over the coming weeks and you can put your mind to rest.