OT but NEED HELP finding lung surgeon and onc in Mobile, Al.

[dianetavegia]

My mother has had the viral chest thing going around and been very sick for over 3 weeks. Two days ago she went to the ER because she felt she was getting worse and might have pneumonia. They did a chest x ray. Instead of the ER doc, the radiologist came with her results. He told her she had very bad bronchitis but 'How long have you been a smoker?' She's never, ever smoked. He then told her she had emphysema or out and out COPD. She was then told AND you have a large mass in your upper right lung that I am sure is lung cancer.

He gave her a handwritten note to take to the doctor of her choosing and she can only make out 'mass RUL' (or so she says). She wants to see her gyn or a primary and I'm trying to find a pulmonary surgeon and must be searching under the wrong terminology because nothing comes up. Plenty of general surgeons.

Anyone in that area know of a doctor you would recommend? Mother is 82 and had breast cancer 33 years ago with no chemo.

Diane

[vancouver eve]

Hi, how about looking under Thoracic(hope it is spelled correctly} Surgeon.

[O Stoma Mia]

...Anyone in that area know of a doctor you would recommend?

I have never been in Alabama and I don't know anybody there, but the American Board of Thoracic Surgery lists 7 board-certified thoracic surgeons in Mobile, AL itself.

A surgeon that works with lung cancer would likely be a thoracic surgeon, I would imagine, but not all thoracic surgeons do lung surgeries. Some have specialties in heart surgery or other areas.

Thoracic Surgery
Thoracic Surgeons treat diseased or injured organs in the chest , including the esophagus (muscular tube that passes food to the stomach), trachea (windpipe), pleura (membranes that cover and protect the lung), mediastinum (area separating the left and right lungs that contains the heart), chest wall, diaphragm (separates the chest from the abdomen), pericardium (membrane covering the heart), heart (including the pericardium, coronary arteries, valves and myocardium) and lungs. The most common diseases requiring thoracic surgery include heart lesions, such as coronary artery disease and valve problems, lung cancer, chest trauma, esophageal cancer, emphysema, and heart and lung transplantation.
Reference: http://www.certificationmatters.org/abms-member-boards/thoracic-surgery.aspx

If you go to the website of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and search for board-certified surgeons in Alabama, you will find 47. Out of the 47, seven of them are in Mobile, AL.

The website is here:

https://www.abts.org/sections/SurgeonSearch/index.aspx

The seven board-certified thoracic surgeons in Mobile itself are the following: (Note: there may be others listed in nearby cities or suburbs. These are the ones that are listed only in Mobile itself.)

• * DANIELS, LARKIN J.
  Mobile, AL
  
• * KYRIAZIS, DIMITRIS K.
  Mobile, AL
  
• * JOHNSON, WILLIAM E.
  Mobile, AL
  
• * MALTESE, CARL
  Mobile, AL
  
• * O'GORMAN, RONALD B.
  Mobile, AL
  
• * PLUSCHT, PETER
  Mobile, AL
  
• * STELLY, TERRY C.
  Mobile, AL

Out of these seven, you should be able to find one that does lung surgeries. Most of these surgeons specialize primarily in heart surgery, but they may do lung surgeries as well. (All seven of these apparently also do lung surgeries and list VATS or wedge resections among their procedures, but it's not totally clear to me. Maybe lung cancer surgeries are normally done by board certified General Surgeons. I just don't know. Ideally, I think you would want to have a board-certified thoracic surgeon whose primary specialty was in lung surgery.)

To get a better picture, you may need to look at the healthgrades.com website, where you can put in other search parameters and can look for doctors anywhere in the Mobile, AL general vicinity, and can try to find ones with a specialty in lung cancer surgery:

HEALTHGRADES.COM website

[KimT]

I would first get a repeat x Ray. It concerns me that the doctor thought she had copd or emphysema and makes me worry they had someone else's x Ray.

[dianetavegia]

Thanks! I'm going to check out that list for her.

About the emphysema or COPD. My husband has COPD but chronic bronchitis and emphysema are all a part of COPD. COPD is more of a 'catch all phrase' for chronic lung/ pulmonary disease. Jim has never smoked, either, but his parents and grandfather all smoked in the house and car. Jim's two sisters also had/have the same thing. (One has already died)

The radiologist said a CT or PET should be done after her infection is clear.

A step sister in law's mom was told the same thing but when they biopsied, she had Large B Cell Lymphoma and had chemo to treat it.

[dianetavegia]

Now she says he didn't say he was SURE it was cancer but a large lesion RUL suspicious for cancer.

I sent her the list and she's insisting on seeing her gyn, gastro and primary prior to any lung doctor.