Changing opinions - Middle lobe collapse, pectus excavatum & pneumonia?!

Changing opinions - Middle lobe collapse, pectus excavatum & pneumonia?

Hey all. About 3-4 weeks ago now I became sick. Went to the Doctors and was told it was an upper respiatory infection. Not unusual. I work in Childcare and get sick alot. Was put on antibiotics for a week. 1.5-2wks later, I went back as I was having more trouble breathing and was coughing non stop. Was sent for an Xray which returned saying "Obscuration of the right heart border, suspected medial middle lobe collapse". Went back to my GP, who said I have pneumonia and to take 5 more days of antibiotics and I should feel great. I had a repeat script just incase. Up to day 7 now, still feeling out of breath, no energy chest pain etc.. sent for Xrays again. This one says no collapse or consolidation noticed and that there is mild pectus excavatum. Dr still saying pneumonia. Any idea what all this means? I am sick of the stuff ups!

Okay...sounds like your upper resp. infection travelled down into your lung, making you develop pneumonia, which is not uncommon. Lobe collapse can happen from this, or from all the coughing associated with it. Pectus excavatum refers to more the shape of your chest from the outside (one of your x-rays may have been from the side, which could have shown this). Sometimes pneumonia takes a long time to go away...6-8 weeks in some cases. If you are concerned, you can ask your doc for a culture. For this you would cough into a cup and the microbiologists grow the bacteria in their lab. Then they test it against different antibiotics to make sure you are on one that your particular bacteria is not resistant to. You can also ask for a referral to a pulmonologist for a more specialized workup. If you do the culture and it comes back as something resistant to the first line drugs like penicillin, you might consider getting a referral to an infections disease specialist...but do the culture and pulm. doc first. Good luck!!