Pulmonalogist Appt

Hello Everyone,

 

Well, it's been a long time coming, but my appointment with the pulmonalogist is tomorrow. I have long awaited this day and now that it's here I don't know what to think. The doctors office called this morning to tell me I need to go have another chest x-ray and remind me about the appointment tomorrow.

 

I don't know why I'm writing this, I guess to just to get it off my mind. I'm sure many of you know how it is. I am glad to finally be going to find out what's going on as I struggle everyday with my breathing and burning in my chest, but I'm scared as to what the doc's going to say!

 

I've been having terrible anxiety for the last month or so this coming up is not helping that any either! Yikes...this darn disease, it just doesn't make anything easy does it?

 

Melissa

We are here for you hon. Honestly a pulmonologist is nothing. Just blow on a few things lol...try not to break machines like I do :P Let us knwo how it went.

Hello All,

Well, my appt is over, it went well I think. I really liked the doctor, he is very energtic, knowledgable and I felt confident with the way he handled things. I had the breathing tests and all that in December, that went fine, exhausting, I survived, but this is the first time I met with the doctor himself. He compared the chest x-ray from Aug, Dec and then the one from today and said there are remarkable differences. He also stated I have more nodules that have appeared, which is not good, but he was trying to keep a positive note on things and told me it could be as simple as benign arthritic nodules that are common with lupus patients.

The shortness of breath however is not that simple, the heart echo I had back in Dec showed a couple of valves that are leaky and the pulmonary pressure that they gauge is high. So, he is leaning towards pulmonary hypertension! He hasn't totally diagnosed that, but is thinking that I'm in the early stages of that. I will be going for another CT of my lungs next week, then back to see him in month. Depending on how the CT looks then we will go from there. If the CT is good then I will have a follow up heart echo in June to see if the pressures have increased or remained steady, then move from there. If the pressures are on the rise, then they begin to take aggressive action at that time. Augh!

I am not going to get all worked up until I have a firm diagnosis. There is just no sense in stressing myself out at this point, it will only make things worse with this and with my overall lupus. I truly have remained calm thus far and am praying everyday for the strength to continue because I know it's in my best interest.

Thank you all for your support! I truly appreciate each and everyone of you! It's such a relief to have a group of folks I can come and share this with that can relate to what I am going through and won't judge me for venting now and then!

Melissa