TEST DAY!!!
Home, tired, alive, survived...but only got 2 of the 6 tests done!! What a day. I'm pooped! Such a rigamaroling around. Left here at 8:00 and got down there at 10:00. Easy drive but a lot of traffic. Down the expressway to South Street (exit left), turn right, go to second light, turn left and there you are. Went for the valet parking. $14.50. The lady from scheduling came down (Artifia) around 10:45, gave us all the paperwork and told us where to go and how to get there.
Test #1 - VQ - Went up to 3 Silverstein and got the VQ test done. Failed that! I was sob to start with and lying on my back without my O2 sure didn't help. They put that mask on and said I would be getting O2 and gas. Well, let me tell you, I breathed and breathed and I surely couldn't find any O2 coming into that mask! Within a minute, I was close to panicking... "Please, I can't breathe!!". I think it would have been better if they had allowed me to sit up while I was inhaling the mixture and then have me lie down while they took the pics. I was supposed to keep the mask on for 2 minutes but I couldn't even get very far past 1 minute. They said that it was okay; that it had been on long enough for them to get a reading so then they did the dye (or whatever) in the arm and they took a bunch of pics that way and that went okay. The two techs were so very nice about it. Like Colleen said, everyone down there is so helpful and friendly. You feel like you've been their patient for years.
The purpose of the VQ test is to show how the air and blood are traveling through the various parts of your lungs and where the air might be trapped.
My test showed that there is non-uniform air flow with some "tracer" in the left mid and upper lung zones as well as in the right mid lung zone. That's where the air is being trapped. This test also can show if perhaps a pulmonary embolism maybe causing the shortness of breath. How they do it (at least at U of P) is that you lie on a table (like a ctscan table) and they put a mask on you. There's supposed to be O2 in the mask along with some type of gas but I, for sure, did not feel like I was getting any O2. Now, just to show what a woose I can be sometimes, there was a little lady, aged 79 I believe she said, who had just completed this test and she did a great job! Boy, tail between the legs and head bowed time here, Penny, LOL!
The shot in the arm is to show how the blood flows through the lungs. One thing about all this...you sure get a good lung physical!