Pleural Effusion

[livingwith]

I was diag. with bacterial pneumonia just before thanksgiving. I was hospitilized for 8 days. At christmas time I was noticably short of breath and was put in again. X-rays showed a large amt of fluid. 4 liters was extracted and tested for everything, but was negative.
Today I am showing signs of having it again. Tomorrow I will go to the drs. to see….more ?? I was told that it might come back multiple times… Thank god I have a good surgeon and hardly felt a thing when the fluid was...Read the full article

[rick8548]

Before Thanksgiving I also ended up with pneumonia which caused the effusion. Mine was blood colored, it was tested for cancer and other diseases everything came back negative. When I first came down with pneumonia I was coughing so hard that I felt something give in the area of the diaphagm and ribs, so on top of the pneumonia I was in severe pain on my right side every time I coughed. Thank goodness for tussinex and vicodin. My doctor referred me to a pulmonologist who performed a tap on the fluid. He withdrew 2 litres. After I could feel my whole right side move in the opposite direction everytime I moved. I was starting to feel better and then went through another coughing spell. This time I felt like someone shot me through my right shoulder blade and side. I went back to the doctor and he withdrew another litre of fluid (mostly blood), the fluid was tested no malignacies but a lot of blood that clotted. To go back a bit, my primary doctor ordered a CT Scan and because of the amount of fluid from the scan I was referred to the specialist, after the second tap the specialist ordered another CT with contrast to make sure there was no embolism. The specialist state I needed to have surgery to drain all the fluid. I went for a second opinion who agreed with the first specialist and referred me to a thoracic surgeon. By now it's the end of January the surgeon listened to my lungs, checked my vitals and ordered another CT with contrast. This CT showed a substantial reduction of fluid but also showed two broken ribs that was the cause of the trauma and bleeding. He stated I didn't need surgery but that my right lung was sitting higher than my left, he also noticed that my liver is pressed against my lung by the CT. Now I'm scheduled for a "SNIFF TEST" which it done up xray while you sniff and it suppossed to show how the diaphagm moves. The doctor thinks I may have a paralyzed diaphagm which is causing my shortness of breath. Then again I always had shortness of breath. I myself feel it was caused by my first coughing episode.

I'll let yo know.