Long story cut short my dad phoned and told me this is what his been diagnosed with. 🙁 His seen the GP and been to hospital for chest X-Ray and this is the outcome. His waiting on a appointment with the Respiratory Clinic at the hospital. Not knowing to much about this I’ve done the Google search and it doesn’t make pleasant reading.

Any experiences on here at all that could shed some more light?

Really sorry teadrinker, that’s crap news. Internet forum not really the best place, but I hope it’s benign and that he can learn to live with the symptoms he is suffering from. The respiratory clinic will give advice as well as a full prognosis and if I were you I would try and attend with him, with a list of questions.

If he smokes, get him to stop. And if he lives in an urban area, he may need to start considering air pollution levels before leaving the house (UK and London forecast).

Sorry to hear your news – horrible disease.

I can only echo what konagirl has said. Try and go to the resp appointment with your dad. It is a lot for the person with an illness to try and take everything in and they usually a) forget what was said to them and b) can’t think of any questions to ask.

Also I know money is somewhat a moot point in a situation like this and be the last thing on your mind at the moment but your dad may need some in the future. I would at some point his employer was where he was most likely to have been exposed to asbestos and look at an EL claim (and before anyone lynches me this is a bit more than a dodgy whiplash situation!).

No advise to give OP, I just wanted to say sorry and good luck.

My stepdad was diagnosed with asbestosis in his late 50’s (about 7 years ago I think).

While he had to retire early from work as a result, he has been able to manage the symptoms through drugs and lifestyle in such a fashion that they don’t impact his life too much. He does suffer from quite bad breathlessness quite easily though if exerts himself too much.

I’d echo what DbG says regarding the EL claim. Because my step dad had to retire due to ill health as a result of exposure to asbestos in the workplace, he has been successful in claiming loss of earnings as well as a sum for the physical damage inflicted. Hollow victory it may be but at least he’s not on the bread line through no fault of his own.

Fingers crossed for benign as well. Best of luck.

Im really sorry to hear that, nothing to add other than all the best for you and your dad.

Asbestosis is a bad diagnosis, if they mention mesothelioma things are very bad indeed. Best of luck to your dad Teadrinker. My Uncle died from mesothelioma a few years back. The hospice took great care of him and it looked reasonably ‘comfortable’ (there aren’t the words to do the subject justice) and a bit of a wild ride to boot.
I hope that it is just pleural plaques and as such benign.

Thanks for your messages of support people, much appreciated. We’ll just wait on the next appointment with the Respiratory Clinic and hopefully they’ll have a few more answers for us. I know things with the NHS don’t move as swiftly as I’d like them to so will speak to work about adding him onto my BUPA plan and see what the deal is there. It’s really crap for him to given the news and then just to be left waiting to find out what’s next.

Thanks also for the claim mentions, thankfully my brother is an Insurance whizz and sorting that out with/for him.

Thanks again for the posts.

My mum’s got COPD, which isn’t the same but her respiratory clinic also has a load of asbestosis sufferers in it. And the bad news is some of them are ****ed, the good news is some of them, you’d just think they’re wheezy or unfit or a smoker or whatever. So there’s a big range. I know it’s hard but, sit and wait for now. (he’s not any iller than he was before the diagnosis) Good luck!

My dad has asbestosis, he was given 3 months to live but a year on he’s still going and active, gets badly out of breath though and a nice compensation payout has allowed my parents to do a lot more things and make life a bit easier.
Me, I’m glad I’ve got my dad a bit longer.

Sorry to hear that. Mesothelioma took my dad about 7 years ago.

Echo the comments around insurance claims, as it can make life much easier if they need to stop work or get any additional help, etc.

Not much more to add except I hope your dad doesn’t develop Meso; and enjoy every day that you’ve got with him.

Asbestosis is a bad diagnosis,

I’d be asking for more detail as “asbestosis” can be interpreted very widely. My father had a chest x-ray in the 80s (by his employer) showing 50% capacity in one lung and 25% in the other, due to uncontrolled work with asbestos. He has “pleural plaque”, which is the scarring caused by asbestos fibres in the lung.

As above, mesothelioma is the dread word for anyone who has worked with asbestos, but not everyone with “asbestosis” develops mesothelioma.