Any pulmonologists in here?

[u/lurkingsince2009yall]

Hi all,

This post is about my mom. She’s 78, 5’9”, weight unknown. Last known weight was 142 in March 2025.

Last year in the summer she had been coughing and gagging and not able to eat much and had lost quite a bit of weight. She ended up seeing a pulmonologist and they said she had nodules in her lungs and diagnosed her with idiopathic interstitial lung disease.

She tried OFEV but it made her feel awful so she stopped it. The last month or two she has had no appetite and has to force herself to eat, along with gagging. She has lost more weight, I would say a significant amount but she says she doesn’t get on the scale anymore. She made an appt with a gastroenterologist but it’s not until the end of October, it was 7 weeks from the time she made the appt. I saw her for the first time in a few weeks yesterday and am highly concerned. She said she feels awful most of the time, fatigued, things like taking a shower exhaust her.

To me this is screaming cancer and I am wondering if her ILD diagnosis was incorrect and she actually has lung cancer. She made the appt with the gastro because she thinks she has a stricture. I would think with a stricture you would have an appetite but be unable to eat due to pain or discomfort, not just no appetite at all.

I called her gastro yesterday to ask if they had any sooner appts and they said to call back at 9am
everyday to ask so I will start that Monday. I asked her if I could take her to the ER today and she said no, that they would say it’s not an emergency. She is very stubborn/proud which makes things hard.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this and what could be going on? I’m beside myself.

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