Fluid around the heart

Hi All,
Dan has been doing really well. He had a 3rd Vats resection on May 1st but recovered well from that. Last Friday he started feeling some shortness of breath and feeling really exhausted. He brushed it off to the heat and humidity. However it continues and got much worse over the next several days. Yesterday he ended up in the ER and although the CT scan showed no tumors there was a large amount of fluid around his heart. I’m freaking out. We won’t know for a while if the fluid is metatastic or if it could just be inflammatory related to a virus. Does anyone have any insight into this situation?
Thanks! Katie

A few years ago, while I had nodules in my lungs, my mom experienced the symptoms you are describing. It was kind of funny that she was experiencing worse symptoms than I was. It turned out she had a pericarditis which is I think what you are describing. Her was from an infection and it was treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.

I had SOB starting in 12/12 until 05/13 when doctors found that i had cardiomyopathy from doing a BNP blood test. The doctors said I was exposed to a virus that attacked my heart which slowed the output of my heart from 65% to 15% output. This results in fluid build up in the lungs and feet. Good luck with this. Prayers for you and Dan.

My husband had fluid around his heart as a side effect of his cancer. He was having trouble breathing. The doctors in the cardiac unit drained the fluid by injecting a needle into the pleura I believe. The doctors said it wasn’t an uncommon side effect.

Thanks all. We still don’t have any answers. We are waiting for the results of the make up of the fluid. The doctors are saying they don’t see any tumors but Dan is allergic to CT dye so they don’t get the best picture.
It’s all just incredibly frustrating and scary. He now has some fluid in his lung because it was pushed down for so long by the fluid around his heart. We’re trying to stay strong and patient. Best to you all.

Good luck Katie! I do hope this problem is unrelated to synovial sarcoma and can be fixed quickly. Keep us posted...

Dan came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. They had to put two drains in his pericardium but eventually got the fluid out. They did a biopsy of the tissue and thankfully there were no signs of cancer in the fluid or in the tissue sample. Everyone is cautiously optimistic...no other cause was identified. The oncologist recommended a CT scan in 6 weeks once the dust settles from this latest adventure. That seems fair. He's feeling MUCH better and resting relatively comfortable.

This sounds like good news Katie. Hopefully this was just a bump on the road and the problem is now gone for good.