Mesothelioma!!! Help

[kwm]

OK I am am sure I am a hypochondriac, actually I know I am. Anyway, in April my blower motor shorted out and caught my smugglers box, some of my trunk carper and mostly my duct work on fire while going down the interstate. Smoke (actually a better description would be putrid yellowish crap that smelled awful) came pouring out of my center and side vents. I hit I think all 3 switches at once for windows and sunroof. I then hit a off ramp and mashed the gas thinking I may be a few seconds away from driving a rolling fire bomb. I got to a McDs (thank god you cant throw a rock in this country w/o hitting a McDs). Between me and the manager and few helpfully citizen we got it mostly out with fire extinguishers but the fire dept still came. I'll spare you all the gruesome details but the car was repaired and cleaned up by a good shop. I have driven the car all this past weekend and everyday this week. When I picked it up from the shop the first day it did still have a fairly strong odder from the fire. I have aired it out as best I can driving it and spraying everything down with compressed air. The smell has dissipated lots. However this morning I have noticed my chest is hurting. I have never smoked nor been around people who do (lived with anyway). That old cardboard and aluminum duct that burned up would surely not have asbestos in it in 83 would it??? I just wonder if the dull chest pain is related. Can I get a reply from a Dr. stat? And please if you really don't know please don't respond saying oh yhea man you likely signed your own death warrent b/c I am a bit freak out here. Thanks

[GaryR]

Charlotte Lung & Health Center
Selwyn Spangenthal, MD
1918 Randolph Rd Ste 440
Charlotte, NC 28207-1114
(704) 342-8143

[Super_Dave_D]

Why go to the Doctor - asking a bunch of guys on the internet will get you a much better diagnosis.

[defcon65]

No on the asbestos in an '83. As far as the chest pain, maybe mild bronchitis from the smoke/odor? See your physician if it persists. And get a fire extinguisher.

[kwm]

Well I mean most people ask around before just going to a doctor dont they.

[kwm]

I already got the fire extinguishers all mounted up two of them actually. I bet it is just due to high pollen count etc.... I just never noticed a dull chest pain before. I mean the fire itself was almost 2 months ago and I was fine after it. Maybe it is just anxiety I am on pins and needles over a new job I am supposed to hear back about any day now.

[GeorgeK]

Mesothelioma has latent period of over 25 years anyway. How old are you?
No on asbestos in 1983.

[kwm]

Well that is good new George. Plus I am pretty tough I dont really do Dr. to tell you the truth so I likely would have died anyway before I went to a Dr.

[charlesbahn]

I am a physician. If you have chest pain you should be checked by a physician as soon as possible. From what you write, it is very unlikely to be serious, but there is only one way to know for sure.

I can say that it's almost certainly not a mesothelioma.

[wholberg]

I am a chemist so just to put you at ease, asbestos does not burn, so the likelihood of it aerosolizing in a wiring fire is highly unlikely; if you had asbestos ducts they would not have burned. The only place you might have asbestos in your car MIGHT be the brake pads, and even that is unlikely.

Just follow typical medical doctrine, if it lasts more than 2 weeks go see a pulmonologist. I can actually recommend a really good one at Duke Clinics.

And don't worry so much. Sure, there is some extremely small possibility that you could have a weird and rare lung disease instead of allergies and maybe mild asthma, but you're more likely to be hit by lightning.

[charlesbahn]

With all do respect, if you have chest pain caused by cardiac ischemia, or a pericarditis, or a host of other things, and you wait two weeks, you will be dead. I don't mean to be an alarmist, and I doubt you have a major problem just based on what you've written, but chest pain should always be presumed serious until proven otherwise. Simply examining where the pain is (?costochondritis), listening to the lungs and heart with a stethoscope, and an electrocardiogram would be very reassuring.

EDIT: think of it as a PPI. there's no way to know the health of an engine without compression and leakdown testing. And your health is a whole lot more important.

[yasir]

Call the law office of JAMES SOKOLOVE he is waiting for your call....
Sorry couldn't resist...

[kwm]

Originally posted by yasir
Call the law office of JAMES SOKOLOVE he is waiting for your call....
Sorry couldn't resist...

LOL....I know right.

[Hugh R]

Look at it this way, why worry, if it's Mesothelioma, it's 100% fatal anyway and there's nothing you can do about it. As others said, there is a 25 year or so latency period.

Hugh
Certified Industrial Hygienist

[kwm]

Thanks for that Hugh I do think that me and my medical staff here at the Pelican Clinic have ruled out mesothelioma thought. It was day by day there for awhile thougth....Whewww. Anyway are you sure it is 100% fatal...no lung transplant, nothing? Nothing is ever 100% fatal is it?

[KNS]

Mesothelioma did in Steve McQueen. Once he got the diagnosis it was only matter of time...

[GeorgeK]

Life is a sexually transmitted condition that is invariably fatal.

[Netspeed]

I'm not a doctor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once.....

Go see a good lung doctor. I could be entirely seperate from the smoke...maybe adult asthma.

[Hetmann]

Probably post traumatic expiratory stress manifested in the lungs due to the stress of seeing your 911 on fire. Get an x-ray.

[Plecostomus]

LMAO Super Dave!