If you have questions, please, ask. It's only through my asking questions of Cathy-MD, Chris, Bec-Saba, Wes and many others that I finally got brave enough to at least test.
Before we get too far into this journey, I�d like to explain some of the abbreviations and terms you might find on these pages.
COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (This �umbrella term� includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Some doctors also include chronic asthma in this category. There may be other lung diseases also under the COPD umbrella but those are the 3 most common.)
LVRS - Lung Volume Reduction Surgery - In this procedure, the surgeon removes bad parts of the lung (preferably in the upper lobes) so the good sections have room to expand and work better.
PCP - Primary care (family) doctor
Pulmo Doctor - Specializes in diseases of the lung.
U of P - Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
PFT - Pulmonary Function Test - This is a painless breathing test usually done in a hospital setting ('cause that's where the machines are). You are seated and you do various breathing exercises into a tube connected to a machine that records various numbers that will help the doctors evaluate how well the lungs are working and what components of COPD a person might have. Some testing areas have you sit in a plexiglass "phone booth" while you do these tests. You can see out to the right, left and front so there's really no "claustrophobic" feeling.
SOB - Short of breath; shortness of breath.
All right, on to my story.