I wanted to report and talk about pulmonary function testing, or PFTs, today. The more specific name for the test is spirometery and it measures air flow through different parts of my lungs in liters, liters/second and then a % predicted based on my height/weight/age/sex/race. I’ve probably done at least a thousand of these tests over my lifetime. It’s a simple, but very important test. You start by taking in as large a breath as possible, blow it out as fast as possible and then attempt to continue exhaling until your lungs are empty of air. It measures how much air volume you have total, Forced Vital Capacity, FVC; Forced Expiratory Volume within the first second of exhaling, FEV1, along with a lot more measurements. The doctors will look at all the measurements, however, the two that are the largest signifiers of lung health in my case are the above stated FVC and FEV1. I do PFTs everyday at home and these are the numbers I record and keep track of. If they fall for three consecutive days I must call my transplant coordinator. Luckily this has not happened.
Before transplant my FEV1 was 17% of predicted and my FVC was 33% of predicted as compared with directly after transplant the numbers being 66% and 54% of predicted. The reason that they were not higher is because the lungs have to settle in, and grow so to speak. The more air that moves through them the more they will expand. The diaphragm muscle has a lot to do with it also.
On Friday I had routine PFTs done and they were down just slightly, a slight variation that would be fine for a person with native lungs, but of concern in a person with transplanted lungs. My doctor wanted me back today to repeat the testing and based on what they showed would do a bronchoscopy or not. Luckily today they were higher than Friday so a bronchoscopy was not needed. Through exercise and acclamation of my lungs my FEV1 now stands at 89%! I’m working really hard toward that 90% of predicted.
If you can help us hit that 30% mark on our fundraising by making a donation and/or linking this page on social media to spread the word. It would be much appreciated. Many thanks for all the ways you have supported Blair and I over the years!
— Mark Passaro