Hi, I’m so grateful to have found this site. I’ve been impressed by all of the kind and helpful people here and the wealth of insight and knowledge. I’m hoping for more insight as to what might be going on with my lungs.
I just turned 50 and am in good health with no health issues other than allergies for which I take Allegra. Unfortunately, I did smoke off and on during my late teens/part of my 20s. One of my biggest regrets in life. I stopped about 24 years ago.
I had a bad case of COVID pneumonia at the end of 2020, and in early 2021 during my routine physical I had an x-ray to assess my lungs post-COVID. The x-ray came back with hyperinflated lungs and a suspected nodule. A subsequent CT scan showed multiple ground glass nodules and some scarring and with pleural thickening. No hyperinflation.
I had another CT six months later which noted interstitial fibrotic changes and stable GGNs.
I had more CTs in 2022: Both only noted stable ground glass nodules, tiny micronodules most consistent with a mild inflammatory process, and stable pleural thickening. I also had a bronchoscopy which came back with no molecular or genomic changes typically associated with lung damage.
I had my last CT few weeks ago. The GGNs have mostly resolved which was great news. However, my heart stopped when I read a brand-new finding: “minimal centrilobular emphysema, biapical pleural thickening and subpleural parenchymal scarring.”
I googled the prognosis for emphysema and read the life expectancy is 3-5 years. Needless to say, I spent the entire weekend in unbearable agony until I could see my pulmonologist the following week. (I have since read that 3-5 years isn’t the norm.)
My pulmonologist had a much more measured view of the situation. He emphatically disagreed with the radiologist’s impression. He said that he went over all of my CT scans the night before and that the “blebs” have been there since the baseline CT in early 2021, and they have not changed. He said it’s possible that I’ve had them since birth. (Unfortunately I do not have any chest CT scans prior to 2021.) He said he does not think that I have emphysema because both of my pulmonary function tests were normal. And since my lung nodules have mostly resolved, he says I don’t really need to be followed anymore.
My pulmonologist said it’s interesting that even though the blebs have been there on all the other CT scans, none of the previous radiologists mentioned anything about emphysema until this last report. I also found it puzzling. Perhaps the other four radiologists did not think it was worth noting? I don’t know what to make of that.
My doctor is an excellent pulmonologist, and I certainly prefer to go with his assessment of the situation. But in the back of my mind, I have this nagging worry because of what the radiologist wrote, and also because my pulmonologist did confirm that I do have some scattered “blebs.” What he disagrees with is the diagnosis: emphysema.
Were it not for the radiologist’s report, I would have no clue that anything was wrong. My husband and I walk 7 miles a day at a brisk pace, I swim, walk our dogs, use the trampoline daily, eat mostly fish and chicken, I take a lot of vitamins, avoid stress as best I can and am overall pretty healthy. I have a strong immune system and rarely get sick. I also work from home so am not exposed to other people indoors on a regular basis.
I am really new to all of this with pulmonary function tests and what they mean. I would be so grateful if someone would be so kind to read my story and look at these PFT results and let me know your honest opinion. Do I have emphysema? What can I do to help this situation? Thank you!