Dallas lawyer Tom O’Brien was halfway through a 100-mile bike ride in Southern California last fall when the discomfort in his lungs became too much to bear.
“It’s usually a fun ride. It was not a fun ride in 2024,” Tom says. “I was having a hard time huffing and puffing. I thought maybe I had a pulled muscle in my rib.”
It had been over 30 years since the 60-year-old Oak Cliff resident had visited the doctor for anything more than a physical. So it was a shock for Tom to learn he had fluid built up between his lungs and ribs, what’s known as a pleural effusion.
“It goes to show that even if you do everything right, sometimes stuff happens,” he says. “The doctor says it was a freak deal that’s not likely to ever happen again.”
When Tom returned home to Dallas, he sought help at Methodist Dallas Medical Center after first being mistakenly diagnosed with pneumonia at another Dallas hospital.
“The continuity of care really did make a difference at Methodist,” he says, noting that he had the same nurses throughout his stay. “I don’t know why more hospitals don’t do that.”
SEEKING A 2ND OPINION
Back in Dallas, Tom’s medical journey started with a pneumonia diagnosis in November. The doctors prescribed antibiotics, but that didn’t help, so he went to the ER at another hospital.
Doctors there drained three liters of fluid from his lungs and told Tom to return the following week for a 45-minute surgery that should uncover the underlying issue.
“It was not a pleasant experience,” he says. “We have a friend at Methodist, so my wife reached out to him.”
Tom was referred to David Mason, MD, thoracic surgeon on the medical staff at Methodist Dallas. They exchanged texts that weekend and set up an appointment the very next Monday.
“Dr. Mason was willing to get after it, and he did it in the way that I would do it,” says Tom, who runs a law firm in Dallas. “He looked at it, and he told me what the deal was.”
When he met with Dr. Mason that December, the fluid had returned to his lungs, a coughing fit had caused him to pass out, and even climbing the stairs had become a challenge.
“Usually something is seriously wrong for a person who’s so active to become short of breath sort of out of the blue,” Dr. Mason says.
Tom and his wife, Melissa, are looking forward to continuing their travels now that he’s healthy again.
‘AN AMAZING FEELING’
Dr. Mason recommended video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), a minimally invasive procedure where a thin tube with a camera would capture images in and around Tom’s lungs.
The surgery would go one of two ways: It would either take 30-45 minutes, indicating a malignant tumor, or last three hours to remove the fluid buildup. To Tom’s relief, he needed the longer surgery.
“I did what’s called a decortication, cleaning up any debris that lay between the lung and the ribs,” Dr. Mason says. “We did this all with a scope and got the lung expanded again.”
When Tom woke up, he got the good news from Dr. Mason: There was no cancer, and he could breathe easy again.
“That was an amazing feeling,” he says. “I mean there aren’t very many things that somebody can say to you that will be more impactful.”
Tom got back on his bike in May for the 20-mile Dallas Bike Ride, almost six months from his last formal ride. He’s glad to be healthy and active again but has a message for anyone who’s hesitant to take care of their health.
“People will joke around and say, ‘Well, I wasn’t sick until I went to the doctor,” he says. “But if you do have an issue, you want to get help as soon as possible because it’s not getting better on its own.”
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