Tests for the inhaled trial

I had a number of base-line tests done today (1/16/03): chest CT scan, EKG, Echo, PFT, chest x-ray. Two of them were new tests for me, so I thought I would describe them and my experience.

I started off with the pulmonary function test (PFT). The machine looked somewhat like this. This test was in three parts. The first part, I breathed into a machine a number of different ways (e.g., exhale completely, inhale quickly, and then exhale slowly). To make sure that you only breathe thru your mouth, they clip your nose closed. The technician shared some of the results with me: I have 101% lung volume for people my gender/race/height/age. And, I have 122% of the lungs ability to remove oxygen. Anything over 90% is good for someone who's had a few months of chemo.

For the second part, I received an inhaled drug to open the lungs a bit more, and some of the subtests of the first part were repeated. This was to see if I have asthma or some other breathing problem similar to asthma; if my values improved, then the drug is considered helpful. My values didn't improve.

In the third part, some blood was taken from an artery, then I climbed stairs for 90 seconds, and then more blood was taken. The drawing of the blood from the artery was painful even with the novocaine shot. Since this was a blood-based test, I didn't get any results today.

The Echo is an ultrasound of the heart. Mine was done "at rest".

Copyright © 2003 The Shriver Family: Last modified: 12/14/03.