I Thought I'd Won

I like to win... games, tests, arguments, life... whatever, whenever and however.  I like to win.  By Spring of 2016 I thought I was the winner in my battle with Alpha 1 Antitrypsin.   At diagnosis, my first of many Pulmonary Function Tests showed my FEV1 to be 52%, but a year later it had risen to 68%.  Everyone was surprised!

A PFT involves sitting inside a glass booth and breathing into a tube.  The test measures how well your lungs exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide as well as how much oxygen you can inhale and exhale (the short version).  FEV1 is the reading that tells how your lungs compare to the expected function of someone your height, weight and age.

Prolastin C only makes the claim to stop the progression of the disease.  It makes no claims to improve lung function, so when my lung function improved that much, I was ecstatic. 

I knew that viruses were lethal to my health and took steps to avoid sick people, but I had one more hurdle to get over... pollutants.  One early summer night I left the bedroom window open.  The air smelled great, and I enjoy the sound of the creek flowing near my house.  I did not know that the neighbors would start a bonfire after I went to bed, or that the smoke would enter my window.  Breathing the trace smoke from that bonfire caused me to have a respiratory illness that took 6 weeks to recover from. I learned that my doctors' warning to stay away from any kind of smoke or pollutant was vital to my wellbeing.  

I had a three-pronged plan to win my fight with Alpha 1:  stop progression of the disease with Prolastin C Infusions, stay away from people who were ill with a virus, and stay away from air pollutants.  It worked!  My respiratory infections decreased drastically.  I really thought I had won... I felt like a champion!
 

Me teaching at LTI

Feeling like a winner