Phase III- Valve Procedure
I awoke the other day and found to my dismay an inch of snow covering the slightly thawed ground that has been patiently waiting for the warmth of Spring. And as I was scanning the cold but very sunny morning landscape from my cozy bedroom window, I saw below me my first Robin of the year and then I finally realized that Spring has finally Sprung! BOING!
It was in my 4th week of pulmonary rehab when I got the call from my Medical Assistant, Aishatu from Beth Israel Hospital in Boston that I did not qualify for the valve procedure...Not yet at least. My 3-D CT scan was not to what the Doctors were looking for and my RV reading on my PFT results were not bad enough. Here is what Aishatu sent me in an email since her attempt at trying to explain the reason over the phone was not quite acknowledged on my end. I believe the combination of her Nigerian ethnicity and the medical terms she was using made me stop her in mid sentence on her third attempt over the phone to please email me an explanation as if I was a 10 year old. Here it is:
As for the reason why you did not qualify for the study based on your CAT scan eval, here goes: The target lobe (left lung, upper lobe) and ipsilateral lobe (left lung, lower lobe) was not separated with an intact fissure. An intact fissure is usually estimated visually to be ≥ 90% complete with no segmental vessels crossing from one lobe to the adjacent lobe after viewing the HRCT in 3 dimensions. I hope the explanation is clear.
Aishatu would like me to finish my pulmonary therapy and wait two weeks then give her a call and she will at that time set me up with another round of tests and perhaps my results will be worse and I will qualify for the COIL procedure rather than the VALVE. Actually when this procedure was first brought to my attention by another member of this group a few months ago, the COIL was the device implanted and only after I started communications with Boston did I hear of the VALVE.
So I finish my pulmonary therapy this week and start the waiting game. I must admit after going through 6 weeks of PT, I am breathing much better, but then again, the temperature has increased from the icy cold of winter which is not, as I found out, very conducive to our situation but rather the warm & cool climes of Spring brings relief to our breathing. Not to mention I am not wearing the 20 LBS of clothing needed to maintain body heat during the winter months. Southern California is starting to look really good!
Stay tuned for more updates and here's wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!
God speed....
It was in my 4th week of pulmonary rehab when I got the call from my Medical Assistant, Aishatu from Beth Israel Hospital in Boston that I did not qualify for the valve procedure...Not yet at least. My 3-D CT scan was not to what the Doctors were looking for and my RV reading on my PFT results were not bad enough. Here is what Aishatu sent me in an email since her attempt at trying to explain the reason over the phone was not quite acknowledged on my end. I believe the combination of her Nigerian ethnicity and the medical terms she was using made me stop her in mid sentence on her third attempt over the phone to please email me an explanation as if I was a 10 year old. Here it is:
As for the reason why you did not qualify for the study based on your CAT scan eval, here goes: The target lobe (left lung, upper lobe) and ipsilateral lobe (left lung, lower lobe) was not separated with an intact fissure. An intact fissure is usually estimated visually to be ≥ 90% complete with no segmental vessels crossing from one lobe to the adjacent lobe after viewing the HRCT in 3 dimensions. I hope the explanation is clear.
Aishatu would like me to finish my pulmonary therapy and wait two weeks then give her a call and she will at that time set me up with another round of tests and perhaps my results will be worse and I will qualify for the COIL procedure rather than the VALVE. Actually when this procedure was first brought to my attention by another member of this group a few months ago, the COIL was the device implanted and only after I started communications with Boston did I hear of the VALVE.
So I finish my pulmonary therapy this week and start the waiting game. I must admit after going through 6 weeks of PT, I am breathing much better, but then again, the temperature has increased from the icy cold of winter which is not, as I found out, very conducive to our situation but rather the warm & cool climes of Spring brings relief to our breathing. Not to mention I am not wearing the 20 LBS of clothing needed to maintain body heat during the winter months. Southern California is starting to look really good!
Stay tuned for more updates and here's wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!
God speed....
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