I wish I was the man in the sound-proof booth

[gridlore]

Back from my pulmonary function test. As with most new things I experience in the medical odyssey that is my life, I found the experience illuminating.

Essentially I had a tube that I had to breathe in and out off in varying degrees of depth and force. I did all of this seated in a small, glassed-in booth about the size of a telephone booth (anyone who can't picture that, get off my lawn!) because portions of the test required that the gas and pressure mix be closely controlled.

Early results are interesting. I am at about 70% of where someone of age and height/ mass should be in terms of lung capacity and function. After a short treatment with a kind of inhaler, that number goes up 10-15% in most categories. The numbers suggest that my major airways are not blocked, but the problem lies in the smaller passages. I'll learn more tomorrow when I meet with the pulmonary specialist.

Two great Giants related moments. I was wearing a Giants t-shirt, my zippered Giants hoodie, and the usual Giants hat. As we were waiting, a woman came in with a young girl, probably about 5. She pointed at me and said "that's who you like!" The mom smiled at me and said "yes, we like the Giants." The other came when I had to get a blood draw, and the phlebotomist I got had several prominent pins on her lab jacket. Dodger pins. I had to laugh, and jokingly asked the supervisor for a different vampire. He just looked me in the eyes and said "I'm from Texas. You're on your own." Very good stick, and probably the first one-tube draw I've had in fifteen years.

Comments

[eleri.livejournal.com]

I would be highly interested to see where I fell in that test.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

Nebulizer? (That trip-to-the-ER-with-bronchitis a few years back was my first introduction to one of those. Lovely things.)

I do not want to know what my lung function levels currently are. (Severe cold + homeless shelters = Bronchitis + yet more months in shelters = chronic bronchitis. ER doc asked how long I'd been smoking; I said *never*, then explained the homeless thing. At which he sagely shook his head, said "that explains it"...)

Not fun. I hope whatever it is you're dealing with can be dealt with...

[beki.livejournal.com]

Jason's had that test several times. The really whacked out one is the one where you breathe in radioactive air and they put you in a cat scan to see how your lungs oxygenate your body. It's cool to look at, but Jason doesn't like it much. It doesn't hurt, its the enclosed space thing he doesn't like.