Tag: Pulmonary Function Testing

Hannah and the CoalBear: Signs of Fall

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Things are changing outside…

There was a huge flock of blackbirds that hung out in the backyard this week; there were so many that the CoalBear was a little worried about going outside. The days are getting colder and there are dead leaves in the catio for Mateo (AKA the CoalBear) to chase. The grasshoppers are all gone, and the squirrels are stealing food from the birdfeeder and storing it in the planters on the deck. Those squirrels are really getting out of control: one of them now barks at us from the garage roof, hanging off the rain gutter, and when that happens, we’re too scared to go outside. Bad squirrel, bad!!

Look at what’s happened to our tree!!! It is a kind of funny colored…

It was sort of a busy week. The Mother of Cats had two appointments and left us alone for hours. Then she was busy most of the rest of the week finishing up knitting the sweater that she has been working on. I love this sweater! It is fun to sleep on, and chasing the yarn is great. The Mother of Cats, however, was not very good about sharing the sweater, and then she took it off the needles, tried it on, and then packed it away on a shelf where I can’t reach it. Why does she do these things?

Today she blocked the sweater, and it is covered up with towels so I can’t lick the wool which is one of my very favorite things to do. As soon as it comes out from under the towels, however, I will have my way with it!!!!

In the meantime, the Mother of Cats is back to working on her blanket that was packed away for months and months and months. Look at how cool this blanket will be!

The Mother of Cats says that this is the next big project that is getting done.

So, that was kind of the whole week: abandoned for hours, knitting, and crazy animals that make going outside kind of scary. I’m going to go pester the Mother of Cats for some extra tuna and then I’m going to go take a nap.

Mateo: I’ll hang out with the Mother of Cats in the indoor garden while Hannah’s asleep.

This is Hannah, signing off.

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

  • The sweater is La Prairie by Joji Locatelli. This was a challenging knit with lots of elements to juggle at the same time: a charted pattern, color changes of yarn, and lots and lots of bobbles!! I had to make modifications to the sleeves as I worked to conserve some of the yarn colors, and I still may need to rip back the cuffs and knit some more to make the sleeves longer; I’ll know the sleeve length better after blocking is done. This is absolutely an individualized knit.
  • All my sweaters are safely put away in plastic lock-top bins. Sorry, Hannah.
  • The blanket is the Nectar Blanket by Ysolda Teague. It keeps growing on me, and I’m now thinking about hunting around in lace books to look at different options for the edging. The original pattern calls for a garter stitch edging, and I keep thinking that I need some more lace… I may need more yarn, too…
  • The appointments were to get my pulmonary function test done, and then a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist. I have gained back more lung volume, and he is really happy with my progress.
  • I took my little purse-sized emotional support chicken with me to the testing appointment. Then we went to the grocery store and Starbucks.

The Scleroderma Chronicles: The lung results are in.

Spoiler Alert: More good news!!

Last week I drove across town to a hospital that is connected to my pulmonologist’s Kaiser office building for my pulmonary function test. If you’ve never had one of these, there is a machine that you breathe into, a computer that is calling the shots and a sealed glass booth that isolates you from the outer world. Into the booth I went. Time to get some answers!

As part of the test I used an inhaler to get a big slug of the drug albuterol. Wow. That really helped. I’ve been avoiding my inhaler for months as I would feel just HORRIBLE after using it due to dropping blood pressure.

But I just quit using my blood pressure medications two weeks ago and now it was really obvious that my breathing was much better after using the drug. “Here, you’d better take this diffuser”, said the technician giving me the tests. “You’re going to be using this!”

Wednesday my pulmonologist called me with the results. My lungs are better than they were two years ago! More to the point, my pulmonary arterial pressure is down into normal ranges and there is less leakage (okay, they call it regurgitation… what an ugly thing to say about my heart!) at that heart valve. Woohoo!! The fatal complication that we all thought I was going to have to face down is suddenly off the table. I’m not going onto oxygen. My doctor and I virtually hugged over the phone.

Here’s the deal. I have a second autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s Syndrome that can cause small airway disease in the lungs. My Sjogren’s has been pretty bad this year, and since I responded to the inhaler drug really well it looks like that is what is going on. My doctors focus on my bad boy systemic sclerosis so much that they tend to forget about this other life-altering, but not fatal, condition. This year Sjogren’s has been stabbing me in the back.

“Time to start giving your inhaler a workout!”, my pulmonologist told me. “Then try to get more exercise. Your lungs need to continue their recovery, and we are keeping you on the high dose of your immunosuppressant drug.”

Inhaler and fitbit.
I bought a fitbit yesterday and I plan to use the inhaler daily while I steadily increase my exercise. Next week I’m going gym shopping…

It’s the drug. It absolutely is the new drug that I’ve been taking for the last 2.5 years. It is a new drug for the systemic sclerosis community, one originally developed for organ transplant patients, that is now collecting a body of evidence that shows that it not only slows down the rate of disease, but also allows some reversal and healing to occur by impairing the immune system attack on the lungs.  My heart is better because my lungs are better. In a time when I have been experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath, it was because I was getting better and needed to come off some of my drugs, not because I was getting worse. I am completely blindsided and gob smacked by the unexpected turn of events.

Next week is the Estes Park Wool Market in Estes Park, Colorado. I’m off to the mountains and boy will I be running wild with my BKB Deb. I’m going to pet the alpacas, eat lamb kabobs, and then I am going to buy a boat load of yarn. My new fitbit will be getting a workout!

After that I’m going to see my internist so she can look at the big picture with me to see what else we’re missing. There’s another drug that I want to drop…

That will be another post.