How serious is a diagnosis of 1.1 aspergillus galactomannan?

[kate1v]

Hello Everyone,

I've just been diagnosed with the above fungal infection in my right lung. My pulmonary doctor said we need to wait 8 weeks to see what happens; she is also sending me to an Infectious Disease doctor at the University of Utah, USA. I'm concerned about doing nothing to treat this. Maybe the ID doctor will do something, though. ??? I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. Should I be concerned? I am 70 and also have a below average IgG antibody, which I'm told is the body's main antibody that fights fungal infections. Thank you.

[nnanyamka]

Hi, I would also be concerned about sitting and waiting for a miracle that will not occur in a vacumn. It may be helpful to get another opinion and a stool analysis to see the overall make-up of the microflora living within. Read, rea, read...

[kate1v in reply to nnanyamka]

Thank you very much.

[DrGraham]

This test supports the suggestion that you have a fungal infection but it is not infallible, I assume your doctor had other reasons to believe it is a lung infection. Fungal infections in people with normal healthy immune system will grow very slowly if at all so a few weeks wait to see your specialist shouldn't be a problem. However if you start coughing up blood see your doctor immediately.

[kate1v in reply to DrGraham]

Thanks much, especially about the 8-week wait being okay in healthy immune systems. I guess my concern revolves around that very premise--do I have a healthy immune system still? I used to, but despite a flu shot, I came down with the "official" flu in January 2015, landed in a local ER with secondary bronchial infection, and have subsequently experienced declining health ever since. I tell myself, "Perhaps it's all part of the aging metamorphosis; just suck it up, old woman!" But I don't FEEL old in my mind and heart, so what's up with my body?

[ I looked up the word metamorphosis:

"Some insects, fishes, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition source or behavior."

I kept reading:

"References to 'metamorphosis' in mammals are imprecise and only colloquial, ...."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met... ]

So it's definitely not "just an old age thing." I don't think some of my doctors realize this--or, in their fast and furious world of hurried diagnoses, have forgotten. As I daily rack up miles on my stationary bike, or take a brisk walk around my apartment complex (attempted "brisk"), I mull this metaphorsis definition over. Maybe I should print it out, put it in a lovely frame, and gift it to my speediest docs. 😉