QuestionMy husband woke this morning and said he had blood in his mouth and continued to cough up blood. We have no insurance so I told him I would get some today and make an appointment for him for tomorrow. Will it be ok to wait a day or should he go to er today. He quit somking about 6 years ago, but is overweight. 6"1",300lbs, but otherwise seems healthy.
AnswerCoughing up blood is a potential sign of throat or lung cancers, BUT, the vast majority of people that do cough up blood do so because they have pneumonia, bronchitis, etc. If your husband has a chest cold, that would be a better sign than if he spontaneously coughed up blood, but otherwise felt normal. The money test to evaluate this is a cat scan of the chest, which has gotten a lot cheaper over the years, with competition and the advent of other imaging like MRI's. If you do have a doctor, a lot of the freestanding imaging places will do one for a non-insurance patient at a discounted rate, but you have to negotiate that beforehand. If he does have a chest cold, then that should be treated and completely resolved prior to the cat scan... maybe 2 months or so.
Hope this helps....
