It’s been a while since my last blog, mostly due to the fact that I saved all of my homework over spring break for AFTER spring break, leaving me a nice week of relaxation, followed by a week of hectic homework and studying. Now that I have some free time I can finally write my blog about how incredible my PFT’s were 2 weeks ago.
First of all I’m gonna take a second to explain exactly what PFTs are because lots of my friends and family are familiar with them, but I’ve never really explained them in depth. The machine (which is now portable and is just hooked up to a laptop), involves a tube, a mouthpiece, and a device to measure the volume inhaled and exhaled in the lungs. I am given a pair of nose-clips to ensure I don’t breathe out of my nose at all. Usually the PFT tech will ask me if I prefer being coached to which I always reply YES. For some reason, I like to have a cheerleader when doing my test. The testing starts with “easy breathing” for which little blips show up on the computer screen. I am then enthusiastically told to take a “BIG BREATH IN” and quickly blow as forcefully and quickly as I can. And then the PFT tech usually says something like “push push push push all the way out come onnnn, litttle mooooore” until I’m red in the face and I watch a little dial on the screen go all the way around like a speedometer. I then take a minute to catch my breath for another round. During the next round, the computer measures how I’m doing in comparison to the last one, so a little ticker will increase up to 100 and then turn green, meaning I beat my last result. This is very exciting to see and makes doing PFTs feel like a game, as I get more and more pleased with my results.
PFTs measure two main areas which I have googled for you all!
FVC – Forced Vital Capacity – after the patient has taken in the deepest possible breath, this is the volume of air which can be forcibly and maximally exhaled out of the lungs until no more can be expired. FVC is usually expressed in units called liters. This PFT value is critically important in the diagnosis of obstructive and restrictive diseases.
FEV1 – Forced Expiratory Volume in One Second – this is the volume of air which can be forcibly exhaled from the lungs in the first second of a forced expiratory manuever. It is expressed as liters. This PFT value is critically important in the diagnosis of obstructive and restrictive diseases.
There is also FVC % predicted, and FEV1 % predicted which is calculated by a formula based on things like sex, age, height, and weight. So when I get 83% FEV1, that means I blew out 83% of how much air a person with my sex, age, height, and weight SHOULD be able to exhale.
Because CF is a progressive disease, it is rare for PFT’s to go UP very significantly. It has typically been in my life that once I get to a certain number a few times, its very improbable that I’ll ever hit higher than that number again. That’s just the way it is. But my doctor has been very adamant about bumping my FEV1 (% predicted) from the mid 80’s back up to the 90’s. He loves to hear about what I’m doing for exercise, and works with me to figure out what it is that is letting them slip. Well, whatever it was, I was able to bring them back up to the 90’s (92 in fact!) and we were both pretty flippin happy!
I’m starting to see PFT’s as a game, a way to prove to myself that I still got it, that it’s still possible to go beyond what CF tries to limit me to. Seeing those numbers go back up to the 90s after almost a year of being stuck in the 80s is a great feeling, it makes me feel accomplished, and most of all, it makes me feel hopeful; hopeful that there are still drugs that work to keep my lung function stable, hopeful that if I can keep this up, maybe once the vertex drugs come out, my lungs won’t get any worse than 90% function.
What this can teach everyone is not to get hung up when you’re “stuck.” Don’t let statistics, or expectations, or what happens in the past be a definer for what you’re capable of. If we limit ourselves, we will never truly be able to realize our true potential.
