Passed? Failed?

The first Lung Function test I had was easy peasy. Basically I had to breathe into a plastic cylinder hooked up to a big machine several times, sometimes normal breathing, sometimes blowing out hard and fast, sometimes sealed in a chamber, sometimes sitting outside of it. There was no albuterol, nor other drugs to affect my breathing so I didn't have to worry about being turned into a shaking pile of Jell-O after the fact. The tech was very sweet. We chatted about kids, marriage, mothers, and everything in between. When the test was over it seemed like I didn't have COPD or emphysema--which is awesome--but I guess we'll see. I grabbed a salad from the hospital's cafe. And man, I hate eating alone. Like really abhor it. It's not so bad when I have something to read, but when I don't and I have to just sit there staring at my food, or the table, or the wall...well, I get lonely. So I inhaled the surprisingly tasty chicken and greens then found a comfy couch to hang out on and played my DS while I waited for my next appt. Yeah, I have a DS. A pink one. I played Sudoku...love that game.

Next up was the chest CT. Also took no time at all especially since I wasn't given any contrast.

The following week I went back for the Methacholine Challenge test. I still find it fascinating that they can introduce a chemical into your lungs that restricts the airways. Just crazy to me. We started off doing a baseline. I was below what I had been the week before and had noticed that I had felt tight in my chest that day--made sense. Then she gave me a dose of the methacholine. Re-checked my breathing, another dose, etc. and so forth. After the fourth dose and breathing check I was given albuterol to open me back up. Although it lifted the extra tightness and heaviness and allowed me to breathe easier, it still didn't make me feel like, "FINALLY...I can truly BREATHE again!!" Just brought me back to what I had been before we started the test. Bummer. I think I have reactive airway disease--asthma--but we'll see what the doc says tomorrow.

Thus far I have taken three doses of the mega Vitamin D and continue to feel some improvement, yet still having bone pain. I seem to be able to stave off taking the Roxicet until later in the afternoon, though. Although some days I wake up in pain and that's never fun. Grin and bear it, baby!

I'll report back after the visit w/Dr. J tomorrow. He did have my Alpha-1 levels and liver enzymes rechecked as well so we'll see what those show. As a side note I received the results from the MUSC study regarding my phenotype re-test. I am still an MZ with a level of 18 uM. My dad is an MM so looks like the Z gene came from my mom's side of the family. We are now going to have my husband tested to see what his A1 status is and then probably wait until the children are older before we have them tested. I'm sure Ryan is an MM which means the kids will either be MM or MZ. It would be really, really awesome if they were both MM. Truly.