Helen has been coughing, feeling tired, experiencing chest
pain, and feverish for the past 3 weeks. Just yesterday she started
coughing up what looked like blood. The sample of "sputum" she brought
in with her was yellow with red streaks in it. She also complains of a
loss of appetite and of losing a lot of weigh (10 pounds in 4 weeks). She
wakes up in the middle of the night drenched with sweat. Three months ago
she mentioned having a similar respiratory problem only she hadn't spit
up any blood.