Betsy writing. It appears my lung problem is worse than I thought. They wanted me walk at a casual pace up and down the hallway for 6 minutes while they measured my oxygen level but stopped me after 4 minutes because it was down to 80% (saturation rate) and they don’t want it to drop below that level (it should be in the 90’s). I didn’t even get a chance to do the stair test… I didn’t feel out of breath so I didn’t think there was a problem! Dr. said that because of my history of sleep apnea my brain doesn’t recognize that my oxygen levels are dropping so it doesn’t “kick in” that I need to breath harder.
Anyway, after going over the tests, CT scan, etc. he is talking about a lung transplant. The next step is to make an appt. with the Walla Walla Dr. in about 2 weeks to go over my options regarding a lung biopsy and whether or not I want to do that. It would tell me if I have chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis with pulmonary fibrosis tendencies or if I have the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. There is really no treatment for either one although the life expectancy for the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is 2 to 4 years after diagnosis without the transplant. I also have to have a complete workup of my heart by a cardiologist because if you don’t have a strong heart they won’t even consider the transplant. I will need to go back to Seattle in December or January to discuss what happens next and to attend a 2 ½ hour ‘orientation’ regarding the transplant. Evidently they give these at least once a month so they must do quite a few!
I have to say this doctor visit was quite a shock to us and we are still trying to take it all in.
At the time of referral to Seattle, I was in denial that it would be something I would even need to consider. To be honest, right now I don’t like any of the options…
So, we spent the week-end with Jim, Marci and Cassie and Jim said he has been wanting to buy us a dog for a long time. Someone he works with had some golden doodle puppies, 8 weeks old. We went to see them and all fell in love with Violet!!! She is so sweet and VERY smart. Bob and I decided it was a good time since we both need a “therapy” dog to help us through the uncertainty ahead. We got her yesterday and brought her home to Cove today. We stopped by Libby and Richard’s on our way home to pick up Bell since they will be out of town and Bell is a bit put out about Violet! She will get used to her though and it will be good for Violet to have a friend.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment