A bit of good news FINALLY!

[Cr33p3r]

Well they say it is all how you look at situations that can determine the outcome, Right! I just got the email from my doctor about the CT Scan of my lungs they did last Saturday and the results are small nodules on my lungs. These can be from several things not just smoking, i.e. pneumonia, common cold, Respiratory infection, on n on. So plan of action is still to completely quite smoking all together, I have been trying for about a month now I guess and I did great the first 4 days, and with everything that has popped up over the last month I have still managed to cut the smoking in half with out the assistance of any aids except doubling up on my Welbutrin.

Also the report on the asbestos is minimal damages.:D This one was the biggest worry.

So all in all I do not have to quit welding which is a big relief to say the least, But I will be making a few changes and figure out a way to evacuate the fumes so I am not breathing them any longer as much as possible.

Here are a couple of links for anyone that is interested in learning more about this subject, I was shocked by some of the info and that is what is helping to stay positive about it all.

http://lungcancer.about.com/od/symptoms/a/Lung-Nodules.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lung-nodules/AN01082

[Aaron]

Congrats Sean! Good news. Now go dump the ciggy-pops like a... bad habit :)

[Chris]

Good to hear Sean! I'm working on quitting the smokes too but not very successful. I hope you do better than me!

[Rob]

Good to hear good news, Sean.

[Heather]

Glad things're looking better. Huge best wishes for sucessfully quitting.

[Java]

Awesome!! Good luck quitting!!! :thumb:

[Wind Dancer]

:sunny:

[Fordguy77]

Positive air hood in your future?
Congrats on the good news!

[Jackie]

Good to hear!

My daughter bought me one of those e-cigarettes. I'm hoping it helps me quit. Maybe you could try it too to take the edge off.

[Brad]

Congrats Sean! Definately find a way to filter the air around your head. :thumb:

[Brody]

Glad to hear the good news, Sean! I think you had more than a few folks worried.

[Coonburger]

good to hear man

[RidgeRunner]

Glad to hear the good news!

On a side note, 2 of my friends just did the "ear shock" thing to quit smoking. Both have been good for 2 weeks and counting. It was fairly cheap too.

[Beefy]

That's great news!!! Thanks for sharing. :)

[Funrover]

Great news, Anyway I can help?

[Hypoid]

AWESOME NEWS BUD!!!!!!!!

All I can add is to keep the mindset. When it's time to make that final drop, it hurts for only a couple days.

[96blkbeauty]

Good to hear Sean.

[Cr33p3r]

Thanks everyone! I was super relieved when I go the email from my doctor, and I knew it was time to put the fore thought into action as soon as I got good news. I am going to be fabbing up a exhaust fan set up for the garage for starters and once the truck is back on the road I will start looking into a air supplied helmet.


Good to hear Sean! I'm working on quitting the smokes too but not very successful. I hope you do better than me!

Chris we started out by not smoking in the house, then moved on to leaving the cigs somewhere away from us sorta outta sight outta mind thing. Hardest part was right after a meal or waking up, but I just made it a point to wait longer and longer then also only smoke half a cig and wait longer in between halfs. It is amazing how after a while you start not to notice how long it has been in between. If can do it anyone can, although I will say quiting drinking earlier in life was a lot easier but once your mind is made up to do it its not too bad.

[glacierpaul]

SUPERB SEAN! Keep up your method, sounds like you will do it. Exhaust hood/fan and air supplied helmet is a must! Git'r done!

[Aaron]

I wish I could get my dad to quit. It's sad to see him on oxygen at night and puffing during the day. He's definitively slowed down but... well you know.

[Cr33p3r]

I wish I could get my dad to quit. It's sad to see him on oxygen at night and puffing during the day. He's definitively slowed down but... well you know.


Oh I can relate to that Aaron, Mom has COPD/bronchial asthma and on Oxygen full time, and dad is now on oxygen at night too. Mom won't quite smoking and Dad has no choice after the 2 rounds in the hospital last month, they have had him on the patches and he is doing really good.

Anyone that does smoke and wants to quite the Colorado quiteline is giving the patches away for free so check them out, I was supposed to get my patches from them 2 weeks ago but have not seen them yet but I am not too worried about it.

[Pathrat]

Great news Sean! You will live longer without the smokes!

[Popsgarage]

Just watching my dad walk a block and get worn out when he comes to visit from Florida was enough for me, and I hope it was soon enough. Death by drowning on your own fluid that your lungs no longer process and get rid of would suck. He's carting around oxygen now. He yelled at me about it for years.

[Cr33p3r]

Just got the actual results from the hospital with the CD of the scan, Dang they gots sum messed up & hard to pronounce words, I have been looking them up on the net since I got home this morning. Here is the official diagnosis,

Normal Heart size w/ no pericardial effusion, No coronary vascular calcification.Thoracic aorta proximal brachiocephalic vessels are normal w/ no atherosclerosis and ascending aortic diameter is 3cm w/ some pulmonary outflow tract to of 2.5cm. No pulmonary arterial filling defects. No mediastinial or hilar masses or abnormal adenopathy and esophagus normal. (THAT IS ALL THE GOOD STUFF)!!!!

No alveolar infiltrate or effusion. There is some minor basal dependent to subpleural fluid using a slight increase in the peripheral basal interstitial markings although not thought to represent true interstitial disease. Can be further evaluated w/ high-resolution imaging with prone imaging. Otherwise no evidence of interstitial lung disease. No calcification pleural plaques.

There is a sharply marginated ovoid 6mm right lower lobe but the pulmonary nodule peripherally along the major fissure border image 60, noncalcified. This should be followed at about 6 months for stability. There maybe a tiny oblate to nodular pleural scar on the right image 62 measuring about5 x 3mm of the vessel bifurcation and middle lobe. There is a 4mm pleural-based posterior sulcus nodule on the left image 98, probably nodular scarring rather than true pulmonary nodule. There is an additional peripheral well marginated left lower lobe noncalcified pulmonary nodule measuring 6.8mm image 86, similar to the nodule on the right to. Additional left lower lobe of paravertebral pulmonary nodule 5.8mm image 76. A couple of small streaks of linear atelectasis.

Appears to be fatty infiltration liver but otherwise upper abdomen unremarkable. No axillary adenopathy or chest wall lesion. No focal bone lesions.

Impression:
1. The several well marginated noncalcified lower lobe pulmonary nodules measuring up to about 6mm, indeterminate to and recommend follow-up prior at about 6 months.
2. Some minor dependent edema but no evidence of significant interstitial lung disease and noncalcified pleural plaques to definitely indicate asbestosis. Consider hi-res scan if strong clinical concern.
3. Fatty infiltration liver but otherwise negative exam.

So who can explain it all besides Stephanie? LOL I typed it exact word for word from the report. Although it was kinda a cool to look at the scan it is hard to tell what really is what on it and it was neat that they sent me a CD of it too, wonder what that cost the insurance company?

[Brody]

So who can explain it all besides Stephanie?

Your doctor.

[Cr33p3r]

:lmao:Yeah Pete I knew that one I was meaning on here only because of all the medical languages they use, why is that? Just so we layman cannot understand it?

[Wind Dancer]

I have not used medical terminology for five years now, so when you do not use it, it use lose it, especially, at my age when the memory is not working adequately. :help:

What I will never forget, however, is how to read a medical word, which is read from the left to the right and the 'O' separates the following word from the next. For example: The word dermatology=dermat/o/logy. Logy mean study of and derma means skin; Study of skin diseases.

I feel you did an excellent job in your research, I followed it well. Thank you for sharing this information, kind of gives me the flame under my you know what to get back in the medical field. I am such a good procrastinator, but I love change!

[Brody]

I have a medical terminology book kicking around somewhere, probably right next to my Grey's Anatomy (The book, not the BS TV show), left over from my nursing stuff. You can have them if you want them....and if I can find them.

Whenever someone starts spouting stuff I don't understand-doctor. lawyer, whatever- I go "Whoa. Stop right there and put it into terms I can understand." You are paying the *******, so you deserve to have him or her put stuff into a format that you understand. And yes, I have little or no respect for almost all doctors. That comes from doing nursing for a few years and working in hospitals.

[Pathrat]

Here I am. ;) This sounds like your average radiology report written for another clinician, not the patient.

You are fortunate that you don't have any evidence of calcified vessels around the heart. "Crunchy", as I call them, coronary arteries are what leads to bypass surgery, if you are lucky, or a heart attack if you aren't. Not having evidence of atheroscerosis (damage from bad genes and or/diet) in the large vessels coming off the heart is something to be happy about. The fatty infiltrate in the liver means it is a good time not to start drinking.

"Well marginated" is a shape description. The shape of a mass on scans can be telling of what kind it might be. A stellate mass is generally bad. A well-defined mass is more likely to be benign. Some nodules are granulomas, which are benign masses in the lung that result from damage from inflammation. Your nodules seem to non-specific, meaning there are not any features to make a definitive diagnosis. You will go back in six months to see if any of the nodules have grown.

Interstitial lung disease means the lungs are scarred and damaged, usually from exposure to smoke, asbestos and other chemical nasties.

Mayo has some good overview information about everything you have brought up here.

Overall, if I were you, I would be pretty happy that there seems to be no signigficant damage to your system. Give up the smokes for good.

[Cr33p3r]

Steph, Thank you! I knew you would know a lot about this stuff with the career you are in. You are definitely a wealth of health info.