Lung Cancer Forum - Should I Be Concerned? small white area in the left lung!

Hi..

First of all, I'm very sorry for the length of this. But I really want to make sure I give you all the information I can think of so you can hopefully help me out!

I'm a 44 year old Male, Non-Smoker. I work in an office building that was built in the mid-1980's so I shouldn't have exposure to asbestos. The only thing I can think of that may have exposed me to something would be a couple exposures to fiberglass (didn't wear a mask) when finishing off my basement and garage in two separate occasions in 2001 and 2002.

In April of 2006, I went to the doctor's office because I had a fever of 102 degrees. They did all sorts of tests and finally did a chest x-ray which discovered a small white area (oval shaped about the size of a quarter) in the lower left lung. The doctor said it looked like walking Pneumonia and gave me anti-biotic and said I should follow up with my regular physician in 4-6 weeks. He said if it didn't clear up that I may have some "blockage" in the lung. I didn't ask, but I was guessing that the word "blockage" was a nice way of saying cancer. Those words are what have had me worried ever since.

After that night, the fever went away and never returned, but the coughing continued (very light) for the next 6 weeks so I went back to my regular doctor and got X-rays again. The spot was still there but he compared X-rays (different x-ray machine) and the area looked lighter than before. A radiologist was also going to look at both x-rays and apparently must have agreed.

For quite a while after that (about a year) I continued to consistently cough (very lightly) and also would periodically wheeze (only rarely and light) and was treated for allergies (which I know I have) and also asthma (which I was never been treated for before). For the asthma he started me on Advair and then after it seems to be working, downgraded me to flowvent. I stopped taking the asthma medication a couple months ago because the coughing and wheezing has completely stopped and haven't returned.

Within the last 6 months or so, the coughing has completely stopped other than maybe once or twice a day which I think is pretty normal. However, over the past 6 months, I have begun to experience chest and back pains on my left side (same side as the x-rays showed the white area). The pains are not very bad (maybe a 2 on a scale of 10). They are a dull, aching feeling. The back pains feel like sore muscles that I think can be temporarily relieved with a back massage. The chest pains are more on the side and are at the bottom portions of the ribs and even a little below the bottom rib. Sometimes the pain moves more toward the front of the chest again around the bottom rib. I can count on these pains going away when I lay down to sleep and I'm free of this pain for an hour or so after I get up in the morning. But as the day progresses, these pains are more persistent and more frequent as the day goes on. Again, both the back and chest pains are not severe at all.. more worrisome than anything. The back pains feel muscular in nature and the chest pains almost feel kind of numbing/aching.

Along with the chest/back pains is some discomfort when taking deep breaths. In the morning when I first wake up, I have no pains, but the first few breaths in the morning are a little painful if I take a deep breath. Also, if I laugh real hard, my lungs actually hurt quite a bit for a couple breaths and then returns to normal. Another thing weird about the breathing is sometimes when taking a deep breath I get a "clicking or popping" feeling in my lungs/chest. Kind of like what you get when you crack your knuckles. Actually feels kind of good when it happens.

Two months ago, I called the doctor about these pains and he ordered a Nuclear Stress Test for me. Didn't even want to see me beforehand about this.. This showed no problems with my heart but didn't answer the questions as to what is causing these pains. I really hate to go to the doctor yet again (seems like I'm there every couple months) but I would really like someone to ease my concerns and better yet, tell me what all of this is. I can live with the light pain but can't live with the worry!

Recently I've been trying Advil to relieve the light pain in the chest and back which don't seem to help.

Thanks for your time! I hope you can provide some insights on what this could all be!