So my dad didn't think anything of it at first. He was just short of breath doing yard work in April, figured it was age and being out of shape. Then the cough started, this persistent dry thing that wouldn't go away even with OTC stuff. By summer he was getting chest pain on one side and his primary care doc kept saying it was bronchitis or allergies because he had no fever.
I'm a nurse practitioner so I was pushing harder on it. The shortness of breath kept getting worse and he started noticing he couldn't do his usual stuff without getting exhausted. That's when I made him get imaging done and that's when they found the fluid in his pleural space.
I think what gets people is that a lot of these symptoms look like nothing. Cough, fatigue, mild chest discomfort. My dad would have waited months longer if I hadn't been checking in on him. The pleural effusion is what finally showed up on the CT and that led to the biopsy.
If anyone here has a persistent cough that's not responding to usual stuff, or you're getting winded doing things you used to do easily, don't let it slide. Especially if there's any history of exposure. I know everyone says that but I'm saying it as someone who sees patients and also as someone whose dad got diagnosed at stage IV in March.
What made you all go get checked out?