CF Happens

As I mentioned in my last blog post, my doctor wanted me to send in weekly lung functions that I do on my home spirometer while I finish the long prednisone taper. I sent them in on June 10th and they were 27%. I then sent them in on June 18th and they were 26%. My home spirometer is obviously not as accurate as the hospital machine. My home spirometer is more so used to keep track of trends. This way I can see when there is enough of a change in my numbers that would warrant me needing to be seen in clinic.

With the numbers of my lung functions done on my home spirometer that I sent to my doctor, he wanted me to be seen in clinic and do to “real PFTs.” “Real PFTs,” means he wanted all of the tests…spirometry (regular lung functions), lung diffusion and lung volume. My lung functions were 35%!! Thanks to prednisone for the boost as usual. Prednisone likes to give me “fake” numbers…as in prednisone’s job is to help open my airways, therefore it can give extra good numbers. I’ll take them when I can though. Haha

They also wanted a chest x-ray and blood work. My chest x-ray was unchanged (my normal). With the labs, they wanted to check a few things related to asthma and a fungal panel to make sure we’re not missing something there.

We’re not changing anything as of right now. My last day of prednisone will be July 11th. The goal is to not need it again, or at least not so soon. Being on prednisone as often as I have been is NOT ideal but to get the relief I need and stop the tightness, wheezing and excessive shortness of breath. That’s all I have for now.

Until next time…