Breathing....

...we take it for granted.


In and out...in and out...we do it a million times a day.


We don't give it a thought because it is a natural part of who we are.


Unless you are me...


Then almost every breath you take hurts... you cannot inhale a full breath... you cannot run or do any exercise... and lately, you cannot even laugh without paying the price of shortness of breath.


And no one... not one single doctor in the past 25 years... can give you an answer as to why!! 


 Oh, I've heard doctor's shoot off an isolated diagnosis.. such as chronic bronchitis, lung scarring, or cough variant asthma.... only to be shot down by the next doctor as being improbable based on test results.


I have been given more than a dozen inhalers, nebulizers, and acid reflux meds to no avail.  (Actually the funny thing is if I ever do try my rescue inhaler - it makes things worse not better.)


The latest frustrating event has been transpiring over the past two weeks.  


Still not feeling well (from August) I went back to my primary and demanded a chest x-ray...after all...it had been four years since the last one... and right now I was symptomatic where four years ago when I had the x-ray I was not... so I figured it couldn't hurt.  After the x-ray, while showing me the results, the doctor used words such as "interesting" and "unusual" while highlighting sections of my lower right lung that contained fluid filled bronchial tubes and pointing out several mucus plugs that were in my lungs.  The last thing he said was that he was "curious" what the radiologist would say on the final read.


Now, for the average person to hear they had an abnormal chest x-ray would probably be bad news.  But I am here to tell you that I was beyond excited!!! Ah, sweet validation...visual proof... I am NOT CRAZY!  


Have you ever googled your symptoms and played home doctor?  Yeah, me neither...except I did.  I excitedly typed out the words "fluid filled bronchial tubes" and "mucus in lungs" and was eventually intrigued by something called Acute BronchoPulmonary Aspergillius or ABPA for short.  In summary, it nailed my every symptom perfectly.


Next step... involve my allergist.  She requested the x-ray read and ordered some blood tests.


The results are as follows:
- on final read the radiologist said NOTHING about ANY of the things the doctor highlighted on the x-ray (of course - by now this doesn't even phase me).  His final take was something to the effect of "mostly normal...slight sign of mild Emphysema."  Allergist tells me you cannot detect Emphysema on a chest x-ray so she has no idea what he is talking about.
In short....no answers there!
-blood work, and lots of it, comes back basically all normal with the exception of ever so slightly low platelet count and an elevated allergy count (which we already knew).  Blood levels for ABPA were negative or normal.  No answers there.


I am seriously thinking my next step may be visiting Mayo Clinic in Rochester this summer...before I lose my ever-loving mind!!