Making a Way in the Wilderness

It's time to report my bi-annual pulmonary function test results. Drum roll... I am continuing to improve, although my pulmonologist told me that I will plateau at some point. In addition to Tagrisso working its magic, I have to think that strength training and biking (including 2 short interval training [SIT] workouts/week) are a big contributing factor. The percentage below indicates my result compared to the expected result for a woman my age. FEV1 (forced expiratory volume) measures the air you exhale in 1 second. May 2024: 98% (34% improvement since 10/22) Nov. 2023: 95% May 2023: 91% Oct. 2022: 73% TLC (total lung capacity) is the total volume of air in the lungs after inhaling as much as possible. May 2024: 102% !! (48% improvement since 6/22) Nov. 2023: 95% May 2023: 83% Oct. 2022: 72% Jun. 2022: 69% DLCO (diffusing capacity of lung for carbon monoxide, aka diffusion) is the extent to which oxygen passes from the lungs into the blood. It indicates the extent of lung damage....

I had my CT scan on Monday and oncology appointment yesterday. This time I scheduled the scan and appointment back-to-back so that I didn't have to resist temptation: reading the CT scan report before my appointment (see my previous post ). Dr. Villaruz said my scan looks stable. The 8mm nodule is still there, but she thinks it might be scar tissue and isn't concerned about it. Although my lungs don't look "normal," the cloudy webbing that draped my lungs in 2022 is much less visible now. There is always some anxiety before these appointments, but they are getting easier for us as I have stabilized. Stable is good.  In other news, Penn State employees don't know it, but we won a major behind-the-scenes healthcare battle this week. As a faculty senator, I'm serving on the Faculty Benefits Committee for the first time. ( Faculty Benefits is a misnomer: we discuss benefits, including health insurance, for all PSU employees, not just faculty.) I have zero scho...