My 6-Month Checkup

July 10th, 2008 - Date of my 6-month follow-up checkup with my Pennsylvania pulmo doc. What a disappointment! I thought he'd be all happy I'd had the surgery (even though I went to Duke in NC instead of Temple in Philadelphia) but he hardly blinked an eye. Listened to my lungs; squeezed my slightly swollen ankles;scripted lasix and potassium and that was it! He didn't even say his usual parting comment that I was in good shape for an old broad! I was totally let down on this visit.

However, I did get me a PFT and some x-rays and the results on the PFT are wonderful. I increased my FEV1 from .60 liters (20%) to 1.43 liters (54%). And my Residual Volume (what's left in your lungs after you exhale everything) dropped from 225% to 165% which is still more than it should be but not as much "more". My DLCO (indicates how well your lungs exchange O2 and CO2) came up a bit. There are a lot of other numbers there but I'm not sure whether they're supposed to go up or down so I don't worry about them.

Not everyone will see as dramatic an improvement (at least I think it's dramatic) and yet others will see a more marked improvement...just shows you we're all alike (COPD) but different (test results, results from meds, etc.)

I think my most appreciated improvement from this surgery is that I no longer get sob!! I don't run races or anything but during just every day living. There are times I get breathless when I'm doing something strenuous but everyone, COPD or not, gets that way occasionally. I have noticed my sats still drop if I'm doing any "strong" walking but they rebound within a minute, or two at the most. Since we travel, I can go sightseeing and hiking without lugging my O2 along. It is just so nice not to have to plan ahead or worry whether I'll have enough O2 for whatever it is we want to do. I do keep a full portable in the truck "just in case" but it's been there since the surgery.

Yep, just goes to show you how a little bit of really bad lung (my two upper lobes) can affect your whole lung and breathing.