Hello Everybody,
I want to the ER because of chest pains and came out with a diagnosis of emphysema. The diagnosis was based on darkness on an x-ray (not hyperswelling of lungs or diaphragm flattening). No CT or breathing tests. It is surreal because I am 38, I have noticed no symptoms, my blood oxygen saturation is 98%, and (other than smoking) I live a very healthy life.
I live at altitude (in Colorado) and commit to three or four intense full-body workouts every week. While I get fatigued, I can breathe at a level that I am comfortable with. I also don't use any inhalers or oxygen. I just had the flu, and I recovered at the same rate as the rest of my family. Is a misdiagnosis possible?
I am scared out of my senses. The doctor and nurse said people live for decades with emphysema, but then I went online and read that most people die within two years. Within one day, I stopped smoking, balled my eyes out (my children might not remember who I am), dropped out of my master's program (what is the point, why waste the time), contemplated leaving my family (why subject my preschool children to finding their daddy dead?) and committing suicide (I live for my family, not to be a burden), and started writing that book I never got around to. I know some of you on here have lived 190 years with emphysema, but the statistics I read say that I'll be in a box before my kids are in high school, and I'm losing it. I need some support, or hope, or something, and my spouse is not comprehending what I am going through.
That's all I have to say, I'm sorry for rambling.