PFTs and Clinical Trial
I get so frustrated with myself when I forget to finish a blog. Here's one I started last week sometime...sorry for the delay :)
I'm beyond excited to be a part of a clinical trial! I don't mind being a guinea pig :) I've gone twice now and have 1 more visit left. On the first day, I rode a bike and was hooked up to a bunch of machines measuring my heart rate, breathing, O2 count, etc. I performed a max test, meaning I pedaled until I couldn't pedal any more! I could have kept going (and I'm frustrated I didn't go longer) but my legs were exhausted, they couldn't pedal anymore...the lungs were feeling great.
So on my second visit, I worked at 20%, 40% and 60% of my max. I did some PFTs, and was hooked up to all the monitoring devices like the first time. Then, I had an ultrasound on my arm, so the doc could see my arteries and how the blood was flowing. It was pretty cool! I was given a few meds and after a 2 hour break, we did it all again. They also tried to draw some blood, but my veins refused to cooperate and they got nothing!
I am due for my third visit in the next couple weeks and we'll do the same thing as my second visit (and they are hoping for some blood that time!).
Also, I went back to the doctor for some PFTs on July 20th to see if we could narrow down if I'm asthmatic - which might be causing the chest tightening. I drug my friend Amanda along, she was quite the trooper! I had a good bribe since we left for the beach right after for a long weekend. The lung functions were good - after having a treatment of Albuterol, I only went up about 3%, so nothing dramatic to indicate Asthma - yay! But, back to square one as to what's going on with the chest tightness.
I'm beyond excited to be a part of a clinical trial! I don't mind being a guinea pig :) I've gone twice now and have 1 more visit left. On the first day, I rode a bike and was hooked up to a bunch of machines measuring my heart rate, breathing, O2 count, etc. I performed a max test, meaning I pedaled until I couldn't pedal any more! I could have kept going (and I'm frustrated I didn't go longer) but my legs were exhausted, they couldn't pedal anymore...the lungs were feeling great.
So on my second visit, I worked at 20%, 40% and 60% of my max. I did some PFTs, and was hooked up to all the monitoring devices like the first time. Then, I had an ultrasound on my arm, so the doc could see my arteries and how the blood was flowing. It was pretty cool! I was given a few meds and after a 2 hour break, we did it all again. They also tried to draw some blood, but my veins refused to cooperate and they got nothing!
I am due for my third visit in the next couple weeks and we'll do the same thing as my second visit (and they are hoping for some blood that time!).
Also, I went back to the doctor for some PFTs on July 20th to see if we could narrow down if I'm asthmatic - which might be causing the chest tightening. I drug my friend Amanda along, she was quite the trooper! I had a good bribe since we left for the beach right after for a long weekend. The lung functions were good - after having a treatment of Albuterol, I only went up about 3%, so nothing dramatic to indicate Asthma - yay! But, back to square one as to what's going on with the chest tightness.
Did you ask your doctor about trying to use hypertonic saline? I know I posted this before on your prior post but just wondered if you got a response.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Good luck with the trial and hope you get some answers regarding your chest tightness.
ReplyDelete