My step dad had a cough he couldn't kick. Just a cough. It got worse and finally his granddaughter and my mother made him to go the ER. The dr. thought it might be pneumonia and did a chest xray and found a nodule and referred him immediately to the cancer dr that week. His was caught early and he has now been basically cured.

My husband had a cough where he coughed up phem and also has Parkinson's. The doctor thought he needed a swallowing assessment which he had, but last Nov. he was taken to emergency because of a chest pain and stomach pain, which turned out to be acid reflex.
Since he had the cough for several month, I was more concerned about it since he didn't have an x-ray. So while in emergency they took an x-ray and ultra sound and found a large mass on the right lower lobe.
He was referred to a Thoracic Surgeon and through many tests and x-rays and biopsies, they removed the lower lobe last month.
They think it's stage one, but we haven't had the follow up yet.
He was a smoker for 25 years, but quit 25 years ago,.

I was diagnosed with pneumonia in January - after 4 months of taking 3 bouts of antibiotics, and not getting better, my Dr contacted the pulmonologist who suggested a cat scan. Long story short, I had the cat scan on Friday, saw the pulmonologist on Monday, was biopsied (bronchoscope) on Tuesday. pathologist said it looked like cancer during the procedure

So It started with a cough and ended up with them finding another mass other than the one that showed up on the CT scan, and several lymph nodes that they believe are also involved. Will have more detailed information in a day or two.