Yesterday morning was a little crazy since I promised myself I would go swimming before my 10:30 PFT appointment. I allotted myself 25 minutes of swimming time. When I got in the pool I was seriously struggling. I just did NOT want to swim. I did my first set of laps and just couldn't get into it. I peeked at the clock hoping I only had a few minutes left and to my horror realized it had only been 5 minutes. I decided not to look at the clock again until I put in some serious swim time. The next time I looked at the clock I was horrified to see that I swam 30 minutes and was now running late. The good news is that my lungs can't be too bad if I could do my normal swim routine without struggling.
I made it to the doctor just a few minutes late and did my PFTs. It wasn't my usual respiratory therapist since it wasn't a CF clinic day and he made me do them 5 times. 5!! In clinic we only do them 3 times so I kept expecting to be done only to be told to do them again. So I blew a 49%. I like to stay 50 and above, but 49% isn't something that makes me freak out. I have no idea what my doctor is going to say on Tuesday as far as if I should get a PICC or not.
49-50% is my all time non-exercise high meaning when I am not active at all it is a pretty good number. Considering I haven't exercised in oh, about 7 months I would say I am in a non-exercise streak. When I exercise my all time high is around 54-56%. I personally would prefer to keep swimming and try to get my numbers up that way. I just finished Bactrim so I don't feel I have a horrible infection and so I wonder how much a PICC without swimming would do for my lungs. I was hoping my PFTs would give me a clear answer- I would have really low numbers or really high numbers, but here I am stuck right on the border of good and bad. I guess I have to wait till Tuesday to see my fate!
Good Luck Tuesday! It seems if that's kind of your baseline not exercising, maybe you'd be able to go for a another month continueing your swimming and then re-evaluate. I don't know I think that's what I would shoot for :) But you and your doctor know best! I'll be Praying for you.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that exercise may be the best route. I just hope my doctor agrees!
DeleteGood luck! Did you do a treatment between swimming and doing the PFT? I know that if I do a PFT right after exercising my numbers are actually QUITE a bit down, and if I don't do albuterol right before they are down as well.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I did not do a treatment between. I did notice I was coughing a lot. I think swimming loosened the mucus in my lungs and the PFTs were making me cough it out. It was great airway clearance, but I wonder if it would have had an effect on my numbers. Well, even if it made them lower than they really are I still need to exercise.
DeleteOh yeah - exercise is definitely important! I just try not to do it right before a PFT, esp not without a treatment in between. Last time I did that (when I was inpatient a few years ago) it dragged my number down at least 5% and maybe more. So, that could definitely have something to do with the sub-par number too... that said, I also have a strong asthma component to my CF which is part of why I MUST do a treatment before and not exercise. A year or two ago I blew a number that was a good 10% below my baseline... it turned out to be solely because it had been too many hours since my last treatment!
DeleteI absolutely have an asthma component which I think contributes to the fact that despite low PFTs I have really good energy/overall health. I am going to make sure I don't exercise right before next time! Thanks for the tip!
DeleteOh, and I realized when I reread what I wrote to your first response I wasn't very clear. I know you weren't implying exercise was bad. I meant that maybe having a 49% whether accurate or not will motivate me to exercise more. I just assumed you could read my mind and knew what I meant :)
DeleteI second the comment from Jamie!! If this is your baseline not exercising, maybe you could allow yourself another few weeks to be reevaluated to see what your PFT will be after exercising for a month.
ReplyDeleteI also like when my doctor says this to me. John the PFT is just one part of the exam. We look at other stats. How your lungs sound, how you feel, how your weight is etc etc.
You need to be evaluated on tuesday and hopefully all these other signs point to you being ok and ready to kick some CF butt in the pool!!
Good luck IH!!! I will be praying for you and looking forward to hearing from you on Tuesday :)
I completely agree that PFTs are only one part of the exam and after Bactrim I am feeling pretty good so I am not too worried about my numbers even though I know a lot of CFers would cry if you blew a 49% ;) To me, I worry more about how I feel and I don't feel to bad considering I have been keeping up with my swimming and even started jogging (yuck) again.
Delete