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Pleural effusion

Posted by amareese @amareese, 6 days ago

I had VATS surgery 12/9/25 for NSCLC stage 2B
I’m anxious because I’ve had a persistent cough since surgery dry, seems like when air flow passes when I breath it irritates me and I cough. I had a recent ER visit for a UTI and it showed large pleural effusion lower lobe because that’s all the scan caught. I’m scheduled for a thoracentesis Monday to see if it helps with cough and some shortness of breath. I’m afraid of the whole situation and now I’m thinking what if I have cancer cells in this fluid. It’s very scared. I start chemo this Thursday 1/15/26 x 4 doses followed by a pill. I’m EGFR with co mutations
I’m so discouraged and afraid. I’m a 49yr old mom. Any advice or what are the chances this fluid I developed 4 weeks post op is malignancy.

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amareese | @amareese | 4 days ago
In reply to @mamajite "hi @amareese - what kind of surgery did you have? a lobectomy or a wedge resection?..." + (show)
Profile picture for mamajite @mamajite

hi @amareese - what kind of surgery did you have? a lobectomy or a wedge resection? I think it's more likely that the pleural effusion is related to your surgical recovery or even an infection, than the cancer. but it's good they can check the fluid just to be sure.

I'm a mom, too - and was just a little older than you when I was diagnosed. my kids are 14 and 12 now. have you heard of the Pickles program? it's a free resource for kids who have an immediate family member with cancer, or who have cancer themselves. my kids did it and I think it helped them to meet other kids in a similar situation.
https://www.picklesgroup.org/
let us know what you learn from the thoracentesis - and I hope it will help you feel better!

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@mamajite what type and stage did you have? I’m about to start chemo and don’t know what to expect.

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frouke | @frouke | 4 days ago
In reply to @amareese "@frouke I’m sorry, you did tell me in your first post the type. How long have..." + (show)
Profile picture for amareese @amareese

@frouke I’m sorry, you did tell me in your first post the type. How long have you been fighting this? Are you also EGFR mutation? I will be praying for your scans to be good and clear.

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@amareese I’m in my 6th year cancer survivor, I am not sure about what mutation I have, I will have to discuss what options I have after my next scan, however I don’t want to have chemotherapy but I hope to be able to try radiation treatment, it all depends on my next scan in February. I live in Canada and though a lot is similar to what I’ve learned from this website, things are different here in comparison to us.

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mamajite | @mamajite | 4 days ago
In reply to @amareese "@mamajite what type and stage did you have? I’m about to start chemo and don’t know..." + (show)
Profile picture for amareese @amareese

@mamajite what type and stage did you have? I’m about to start chemo and don’t know what to expect.

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@amareese I have EGFR mutated adenocarcinoma stage 1B. I have ~30 pulmonary nodules and 3 primary tumors (each has a different activating mutation). I have the genetic T790M mutation that makes it easy to develop lung cancer, similar to the BRCA mutation with breast cancer. I'm on Tagrisso, which is a targeted therapy that blocks T790M, and 2 of the 3 primary tumors have resolved. in your initial post did you mean that your EGFR tumor doesn't have any targetable mutations?

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vic83 | @vic83 | 4 days ago

I had pain in side eight months after VAT wedge resection. There was pleural fluid buildup, fortunately it went away on its own.

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lala56 | @lala56 | 3 days ago

I had my surgery in August last year. I too developed a pleural effusion immediately post op and monitored with a chest X-ray every 2 weeks if getting less. Fortunately it did not need draining as it improved as time went on. I'm now 5 months since then and I still have a trace of the pleural effusion on the CT scan. I've had RLL Vats surgery too, followed up with 4 rounds every 21 days of adjuvant chemo and taking Tagrisso 80 mg after 2 nd round of chemo. Will be on this for 3 years. I hope to have tolerable side effects. Wish you the best results in your treatments. Hugs.

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